WA Learner Driver Logbook: Tips for Completing Your 50 Hours Properly

The WA learner driver logbook is your official record of supervised driving experience. Before you can book your Practical Driving Assessment, you need at least 50 hours of supervised driving logged correctly — including at least 5 hours of night driving.

Getting the logbook right from the start saves a lot of stress later. Here's what you need to know.

Getting Your Logbook

The WA learner driver logbook is issued by the Department of Transport when you get your learner's permit. If you've lost it, you can get a replacement from a DoT service centre.

Don't keep your logbook in the car — if the car is stolen or involved in an accident, you lose your records. Keep it somewhere safe at home and bring it to lessons.

Who Can Supervise You

To count toward your 50 hours, your supervisor must:

Hold an Australian full licence (not a provisional or learner's licence)
Have held their full licence for at least 2 years
Be seated next to you while you're driving

A qualified driving instructor's lessons count. Hours driven with a licensed parent, guardian, or other adult also count.

The supervising person must sign each logbook entry. Unsigned entries don't count.

Filling In Each Entry

Each entry in the logbook requires:

Date
Start and finish time
Duration (in hours and minutes)
Start location and finish location
Conditions (day or night, dry or wet)
Supervisor signature

Fill in the entry immediately after each driving session, not at the end of the week from memory. Errors in timing or location are harder to explain at the DoT if entries look inconsistent.

Be honest. The logbook is a legal document. Falsifying entries is an offence and can result in cancellation of your permit.

What Counts as Night Driving

Night driving means driving after sunset and before sunrise. The 5-hour minimum must be genuine night driving — not twilight, not dusk, actual nighttime conditions.

Night driving is genuinely different from day driving (reduced visibility, headlight management, judging distances is harder) and the requirement exists for good reason. Don't try to meet the requirement by recording marginal evening hours as night — both for legal reasons and because the experience genuinely matters for your safety.

Making Your Hours Count

50 hours is the minimum, but the quality of those hours matters as much as the quantity. Driving the same route to school and back every day builds limited skill. Try to include:

Varied road types: suburban streets, arterial roads, freeways, and where possible, country roads
Varied conditions: day, night, wet and dry
Different traffic situations: school zones, busy intersections, roundabouts, merging lanes
Manoeuvres: parking, three-point turns, reversing

Your driving instructor can help you identify what's missing from your experience and make sure your practised hours are building the broadest skill base.

Night Driving Hours: Plan Them In Advance

Night driving is the part most learners leave too late. If you're only driving after school or on weekends in summer, sunset is at 7–8pm and opportunities are limited.

Plan your night driving hours deliberately. Winter in Perth means dark evenings from around 5:30pm — use that. Book specific evening lessons with your instructor that are dedicated to night driving. Don't leave this until you're 45 hours in and realise you've only got one hour of night driving logged.

Common Logbook Mistakes

Not getting the supervisor to sign immediately. They forget, or you forget, and entries pile up unsigned. Unsigned entries don't count.

Rounding times. A 45-minute session isn't an hour. Record what actually happened.

Logging insufficient variety. 50 hours of the same suburban circuit doesn't prepare you for a PDA route that includes freeway driving and busy intersections.

Losing the logbook. Keep it at home, not in the car.

Leaving night hours to the last minute. As above — plan these in.

Submitting Your Logbook

When you book your PDA, bring your completed and signed logbook. The assessor will verify the entries meet the requirements before the assessment begins. If your logbook doesn't meet the requirements, your assessment will not proceed and you'll have paid for a booking you can't use.

Check your own logbook against the requirements before booking:

50+ hours total
5+ hours genuine night driving
All entries signed

Qualified DriveBook instructors count toward your logbook hours and can give you a lesson record to include in your documentation.

Find a qualified instructor near you →