What Is a Restriction on Your Driver’s License in Arizona?

A restricted driver’s license in Arizona lets you keep driving after a conviction or suspension, but only for a specific set of purposes written into state law: travel to work, school, medical appointments, treatment, probation meetings, ignition interlock servicing, parenting time, and transporting a dependent. Each trip has to be a direct run between two approved locations. Step outside that list and you are committing a class 2 misdemeanor.¹

Where You’re Allowed to Drive

ARS 28-144 spells out nine permitted travel purposes.² Read them carefully, because the pattern matters as much as the list: every trip is a direct route between two named places, during hours that match a schedule the state can verify.

Between home and work, during your scheduled hours.
Between home or work and school, matching your class or job schedule.
Between home, work, or school and a licensed health professional’s office.
Between home, work, or school and a screening, education, or treatment facility for a scheduled appointment.
Between home, work, or school and your probation officer, or to any appointment required by a state or local government.
Between home, work, or school and a certified ignition interlock service facility.
Between home and a designated parenting-time location.
To take a dependent between either your home or the dependent’s home and that dependent’s job, school, or medical appointment.
Between home and court-ordered screening, education, or treatment for a scheduled appointment.

The dependent-transport provision is the one most people miss. If you are the only adult driver and your child needs to get to school or a doctor, the statute covers that trip. What it does not cover is the ordinary errand. A stop at the grocery store on the way home from work is not on the list, and a prosecutor can treat it as a violation.

Getting a Restricted License After a DUI

A DUI arrest is the most common reason Arizona drivers end up on a restricted license. For a standard first offense with no serious injury and no prior DUI in the past 84 months, the state imposes at least 30 consecutive days of full suspension, followed by at least 60 days of restricted driving.³ The restricted period doesn’t start automatically. You have to apply in person at an MVD office once you’ve served the full-suspension days; a third-party provider cannot process this permit.⁴

There is a second route called the special ignition interlock restricted license. It can shorten the time you spend fully off the road, but it has its own price. To qualify, you must complete at least 90 days of your suspension, have no other pending actions on your record, install an ignition interlock device and provide proof of installation, finish any required alcohol or drug treatment, file proof of future financial responsibility (usually an SR-22), and pay all fees.⁴ Applying for this version also means you agree to the administrative action against your license and give up the right to contest it at a hearing.³

How Long You’ll Need an Ignition Interlock

Interlock duration depends on the offense. Arizona breaks the requirements down by category:⁵

Standard DUI under ARS 28-1381: 12 months, with possible reduction to 6 months in some cases. Drug-only DUI offenses committed after January 1, 2017, do not require an interlock.
Extreme DUI under ARS 28-1382(A)(1): 12 months.
Super Extreme DUI under ARS 28-1382(A)(2): 18 months for a first offense, 24 months for a second within seven years.
Aggravated DUI under ARS 28-1383: 12 to 24 months, plus a one-year license revocation.
Second DUI within seven years: one-year license revocation, then 12 to 24 months of interlock, and you must reapply for your license.
Third or subsequent DUI within seven years: three-year license revocation, then 12 to 24 months of interlock, and you must reapply.

The device requires a breath sample before the vehicle will start and random retests while you drive. Routine servicing to keep it calibrated counts as one of the nine permitted trips, so a drive to the service facility is not a violation.

What Happens If You Drive Outside the Restrictions

Operating a vehicle in violation of any license restriction is a class 2 misdemeanor.¹ That carries up to four months in jail and a fine of up to $750, and it goes on your record as a criminal conviction rather than a traffic ticket. A stop at a store, a visit to a friend, or a trip that doesn’t match the schedule you gave MVD can all qualify.

Driving on a fully suspended, revoked, or canceled license is worse. That offense is a class 1 misdemeanor and carries up to six months in jail.⁶ The practical risk: if the state revokes your restricted license because you misused it and you keep driving anyway, you have escalated the charge one full class.

If You Hold a Commercial Driver License

The ARS 28-144 restricted-purposes framework does not apply to commercial driver license holders at all. The statute excludes CDLs from its scope.² The DUI consequences for a CDL holder run on a separate track: a blood-alcohol level of 0.04 percent or higher in a commercial vehicle, or 0.08 percent or higher in a personal vehicle, triggers a one-year disqualification from operating commercial vehicles, and a court conviction can add another year.⁵

A Note on Class G Teen Licenses

Arizona uses the word “restrictions” in a second, unrelated context. New drivers under 18 who hold a Class G graduated license operate under automatic rules for their first six months: no driving between midnight and 5:00 a.m. without a licensed parent or guardian in the passenger seat (with narrow exceptions for school, work, religious activity, or family emergency), no more than one passenger under 18 who isn’t a sibling, and no wireless device use beyond a pre-set audio navigation system.⁷ Violations are civil, not criminal: a first offense carries up to a $75 fine and adds 30 days to the restriction period, and a second raises the fine to $100 and the extension to 60 days. These are different rules for a different population, and they do not involve the ARS 28-144 list above.

1
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 28-3480 – Operation in Violation of Restriction; Classification; Civil Traffic Violation
2
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 28-144 – Driver License or Permit Restrictions
3
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 28-1385 – Administrative License Suspension for Driving Under the Influence
4
Arizona Department of Transportation. Restricted Driver Permits
5
Arizona Department of Transportation. Driving Under the Influence (DUI)
6
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 28-3473 – Driving on a Suspended, Revoked or Canceled License
7
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 28-3174 – Class G Driver Licenses; Restrictions; Civil Penalties; Motorcycles