Starting next year Arkansans issued driver’s licenses will only have to renew them every eight years. The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration announced the change from four to eight years on Monday in accordance with legislation passed earlier this year. The cost of the license changes from $20 to $40.
Under the new the new time frame Arkansas joins 19 other states requiring renewal every eight years. Nine states have licenses expire every six years, eight states require renewal at five years and 12 states need it every four years. On the other end of the spectrum are South Carolina (10 years) and Arizona (12 years).
Republican state Senator Jane English of North Little Rock, who is in her mid-70s, sponsored the legislation. Of the states that allow drivers licenses to last for eight years half of them have a different, shorter expiration window for older drivers. Arkansas is among the half that does not have any different rules based on age.
Of all states, 19 have different renewal times tied to age cut-offs ranging from 59 years old in Georgia to 87 in Illinois, which has three different tiers of renewal length.
However, according to the National Highway and Transportation Safety Administration drivers 65 and up have the lowest accident rate of any other age group.
