(a) Every person applying for an original or renewal driver license shall be required to comply with and be issued a classified driver license meeting the following requirements:

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 55-50-301

  • Autocycle: means the same as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
  • Department: means the department of safety acting directly or through its duly authorized officers and agents. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
  • Driver: means every person who drives or is in actual physical control of a motor vehicle upon a highway or who is exercising control over or steering a vehicle being towed by a motor vehicle. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
  • Driver license: means a license issued by the department to an individual that authorizes the individual to operate a motor vehicle on the highways. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
  • Highway: means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way publicly maintained that is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel, or the premises of any shopping center, trailer park or apartment house complex or any other premises frequented by the public at large. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Motor vehicle: means a vehicle, low speed vehicle or medium speed vehicle as defined in this section, machine, tractor, trailer or semitrailer propelled or drawn by mechanical power used on highways or any other vehicle required to be registered under the laws of this state, but does not include any vehicle, machine, tractor, trailer or semitrailer operated exclusively on a rail. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
  • Person: means every natural person, firm, copartnership, association or corporation. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
  • State: means :
    (A) For the purposes of commercial driver licenses, a state of the United States and the District of Columbia. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
  • Vehicle: means every device in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a public highway, excepting devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
(1) No person, except those expressly exempted in this section, shall drive any motor vehicle upon a highway in this state unless the person has a valid driver license under this chapter for the type or class of vehicle being driven;
(2) No person, except those expressly exempted in this section, shall steer or, while within the passenger compartment of the vehicle, exercise any degree of physical control of a vehicle being towed by a motor vehicle upon a highway in this state unless the person has a valid driver license under this chapter for the type or class of vehicle being towed;
(3) No person shall receive a driver license unless and until the person surrenders to the department all valid licenses in the person’s possession, issued to that person by this or any other jurisdiction. All surrendered licenses issued by another jurisdiction shall be returned, together with information that the person is licensed in this state. No person shall be permitted to have more than one (1) valid driver license at any time; and
(4) Any person licensed as a driver may exercise the privilege granted upon all streets and highways in this state and shall not be required to obtain any other license to exercise the privilege by any county, municipal or local board, or body having authority to adopt local police regulations.
(b) This section is applicable to the issuance of temporary driver licenses and permits.
(c) A Class M license shall not be required for the operation of an autocycle.
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