The Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles has added a new first step for learner drivers. From 1 January 2026, everyone applying for a learner’s permit must complete the Connecticut Work Zone Safety Course, a free online course, and give the DMV a printed completion certificate before taking the knowledge test.
Key facts
- What Connecticut Work Zone Safety Course
- From 1 January 2026
- Who Anyone applying for a learner's permit
- Cost Free, online
- Length Under one hour
How it works
The DMV says the course takes less than an hour. You create an account in your legal name, complete the course, print the completion certificate and bring it to the DMV with your other required documents. The course aims to teach what to do in a work zone and why careful driving there matters every time. The DMV now lists the course as the first step for a new driver, ahead of the learner’s permit itself.
The knowledge test is unchanged
Testing is by appointment only at selected DMV locations. Applicants take a vision test first: the minimum for a Class D license is 20/40 or better, with or without glasses or contact lenses, plus 140 degrees of peripheral vision. The knowledge test is offered on screen in Albanian, Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, English, French, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese, and a paper version can be requested in more than 20 further languages, including Hindi, Punjabi, Pashto, Dari and Urdu. If you fail the knowledge test, you must wait seven days and pay $40 to book a retake.
What this means
If you plan to apply for a Connecticut learner’s permit, finish the course and print the certificate before your appointment, since it is one of the required documents. Register for the course in your legal name, as the DMV asks. Then study the Connecticut driver’s manual for the knowledge test, which still decides whether you get the permit. See the DMV knowledge and vision test page for the course link and the full document list.