Embedded Files
Every year at the Orientation for International Students (which is for all first-year international students, plus any students in 2nd or 3rd year who had been online students and are coming to live in the US for the first time), we invite a police officer to help us know the rules for driving here. We do not want you to get a ticket! Fines can be expensive—$400 or $500!
Driving in the United States
Driving in the United States
It is perfectly legal for you to drive in California with a valid (current) driver’s license from your own country because you are not a resident here.
If your status changed after a year or two and you moved here long-term, you would then need to get a California driver’s license.
If a police officer stops you and tells you that you need a California driver’s license, you can show him the document from the CHP lawyer in this folder. If he still gives you a ticket, go to the court, but they will let you go because it is legal for you to drive with the driver’s license from your country. Click here for document
If you get a ticket for anything, write to bssm.international@bethel.com and we will get information for you and go to the court with you if you do not want to go alone.
Please always keep your proof of auto insurance and your driver’s license with you when you are driving.
Obey the speed limit and make sure to stop completely at stop lights or stop signs before turning.
It is legal to turn right at a red light if there are no cars coming and you stopped completely before turning. There are cameras that take pictures of cars that do not stop completely, and the fine is $500.
You do need to have California license plates on your car and you need to register your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). The one in Redding is located at: 2135 Civic Center Dr, Redding, CA 96001
If a police officer stops you, DO NOT get out of the car. Stay in the car, roll down your window and place your hands on the steering wheel.
Here is the California Driver’s Handbook that you need to know to drive here. Click on the link to learn about driving rules here. You can also get that book in other languages.
DRIVER’S LICENSE
The State of California does not recognize an International Driving Permit (IDP) as a valid driver license.
The IDP is also sometimes called an International Driver's License or International License. (But some other states in the United States, such as Florida, do recognize it.) Here is the website of the California State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV): https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/
The State of California does allow you as a non-resident to drive with your valid driver’s license from your country.
Some of the local police are not aware of that law and might give you a ticket. You can download and print the document from a lawyer called CHP Lawyer to show the policeman. If he still gives you a ticket, just go to court and you will not be charged. If you want help with that, please write to bssm.international@bethel.com and one of us will go to court with you. But you will not have to pay a fine.
Always have your driver’s license with you when you drive. Have your insurance card with you, too.
Chains or Winter Tires
Chains or Winter Tires
If you are going to travel north in the wintertime or even to a place like Lake Tahoe, you need to check to make sure the road conditions are good without special winter tires or chains on your tires.
You can look at this California government website for information about that:click here
You can call this number to see if where you are going is at that moment icy enough for you to need chains:
Before driving, check with the CHIN: 800-427-7623
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