In New Jersey you must observe the following requirements and restrictions while driving with a provisional license:

• No driving between 12:01 a.m. and 5 a.m.
• Passengers must be from your household. Only one additional person from outside your household is allowed in the vehicle
• You can't use cell phones, hand held video games or any other hand held electronic device
• Seat belts must be worn at all times
• There are GDL hours-related exemptions for employment or religious reasons

According to the New Jersey Driver's Manual holders of GDL Permits or Provisional licenses may receive a $100 fine for violating any GDL conditions.

There could possibly be other penalties but you will need to contact the court listed on your citation or the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission to find out the exact penalties for driving past the curfew time related to your license type.

In late 2007 the NJ Governor appointed a group called the Governor’s Teenage Driver Safety Study Commission whose job was to analyze a wide range of issues, including driver education, passenger restrictions for young drivers and penalties for newer drivers who violate traffic laws.

The group's recommendations came to light in March 2008. One of their recommendations is that teenagers with provisional driver's licenses should have to display a placard or sticker on the outside of their cars to identify them to police and other motorists as beginning drivers. This identifier would make it easier for police officers to know if a driver is breaking the curfew or transporting too many passengers for their license type.

The Commission also said that teenagers with learning permits should have to log 50 hours behind the wheel before qualifying for a provisional license. And parents should have to attend a teen-driving orientation program before their own teens are allowed to apply for a permit.

The report calls for immediate action for these steps which include the display of placards or stickers on vehicles driven by teens with provisional licenses, the 50-hour driving requirement for drivers with permits and the orientation for parents.

Some of the steps recommended in the report would require action by the Legislature. Others could be accomplished with administrative action by the Motor Vehicle Commission or other agencies. And still others would require actions by school districts, police departments, driving schools or parent-teacher organizations.

A recommendation of the Teen Driving Study Commission has been put in a bill that is going through NJ legislature. The bill calls for a change in the name of provisional driver's licenses to "probationary" and moves up the off-the-roads curfew to 11 p.m. from midnight for drivers under 21 in the six-month period after receiving their license. The curfew change is one of the recommendations from Commission's study.

So be aware that there may be changes to the New Jersey graduated licensing system in the upcoming years due to the recommendations the Governor's group has made in their report.

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