Learner Drivers and Passengers

The short answer: yes, you may carry passengers

A learner driver may have other people in the car — as long as one of them is a properly licensed driver sitting next to you. The law does not limit how many passengers you carry. It fixes who must be beside you, and it forbids carrying people for reward.

What the regulation actually says

Regulation 99(2) of the National Road Traffic Regulations, 2000 sets out three things:

• (a) You must be supervised. The holder of a learner's licence must be accompanied by, and under the direct personal supervision of, a person seated next to them — or immediately behind them where there is no seat alongside — who holds a licence, other than a learner's, authorising them to drive that class of vehicle.
• (b) Not on a motor cycle. A motor cycle learner's licence does not authorise you to ride on a public road while carrying another person. No passenger, no pillion, no exceptions.
• (c) Never for reward. A learner's licence does not authorise driving while carrying persons for reward. You may not do e-hailing, taxi or any paid passenger work on a learner's.

Paragraph (a) does not apply to a vehicle with no seating for a passenger, or to a motor cycle — for the obvious reason that nobody could sit next to you.

Who qualifies as a supervisor

• They must hold a valid driving licence — not a learner's licence, and not a similar permit.
• Their licence must cover that class of vehicle. Someone with a car licence cannot supervise you in a heavy vehicle.
• They must be seated next to you, or immediately behind you if the vehicle has no seat alongside the driver.
• Where the class of vehicle needs a professional driving permit, the person accompanying you must be registered as a professional driver for that class.

"Direct personal supervision" means exactly that

The wording is not decoration. A supervisor who is asleep, or who has been drinking, cannot exercise direct personal supervision — and a licensed driver who is over the limit is committing an offence of their own by taking that seat. If the person beside you is not in a fit state to take over, you are, in law, driving unsupervised.

Three codes of learner's licence

• Code 1 — motor cycle, with or without side-car, motor tricycle or quadrucycle. No passengers at all.
• Code 2 — light motor vehicles up to 3 500 kg. Supervision required.
• Code 3 — any motor vehicle or combination other than a motor cycle, tricycle or quadrucycle. Supervision required.

In the test

Read these options carefully. "A learner may not carry any passengers" is wrong for a car and right for a motor cycle. The traps are the seat the supervisor occupies — next to you, not in the back — and the words for reward, which is the one kind of passenger a learner may never carry.