Every Virginia CDL Restriction Code, Explained

A CDL restriction is a single-letter code printed on a Virginia commercial driver’s license or commercial learner’s permit (CLP) that limits what the holder may legally drive. Some codes come directly from Va. Code § 46.2-341.16 C; others were added later by the Virginia DMV under authority the same statute gives it. Both lists are official — they just come from different sources, and this page says which is which, code by code, so a driver, employer or reviewing officer never has to guess which source to trust.

The CDL Restriction Codes the Statute Names

Section 46.2-341.16 C lists nine restriction codes directly in the Code of Virginia:

Code	Restriction	Applies to
E	No manual-transmission CMV	Licenses issued on or after July 1, 2014
L	No air-brake-equipped CMV	Licenses issued on or after July 1, 2014
Z	No full-air-brake CMV (tested on air-over-hydraulic brakes)	All license issue dates
O	No tractor-trailer CMV	All license issue dates
M	No Class A passenger vehicle	All license issue dates
N	No Class A or Class B passenger vehicle	All license issue dates
K	No air-brake-equipped CMV	Licenses issued before July 1, 2014
K	Intrastate driving only	Licenses issued on or after July 1, 2014
V	Medical variance	All license issue dates

Each of these attaches for a specific, identifiable reason — usually the equipment the applicant used for the skills test, or (for V) a documented medical exception. None of them is discretionary in the way a judge’s sentence is; DMV applies the code because a specific, documented fact about the applicant’s testing, equipment or paperwork triggered it, and that same fact is what has to change before the code comes off.

Why “K” Means Two Different Things

The K restriction is the one code on this list that genuinely means two unrelated things, split entirely by when the license was issued. Before July 1, 2014, K meant the driver could not operate a CMV with air brakes — the same substantive limit that L now carries. On or after that date, Virginia repurposed K to mean something unrelated: the driver is limited to intrastate driving only, typically because they qualified under the 18-to-20 age exception for drivers who are exempt from federal interstate age rules. A driver comparing their own older CDL against a newer one, or against something a coworker’s license shows, needs to know which era’s K they’re looking at before assuming it means the same thing.

The Restriction Codes DMV Added

Section 46.2-341.16 C.10 lets DMV add further restriction codes “at the discretion of the Department,” each explained on the front or back of the physical license. Virginia DMV has used that authority to publish additional codes at dmv.virginia.gov/licenses-ids/cdl/class beyond the nine the statute names directly:

Code	Restriction (DMV-published)
B	Corrective lenses required
C	Corrective lenses required
I	Restricted to state, county or municipal government vehicles
J	Restricted to school or activity buses
Q	No transporting children to or from school- or daycare-sponsored activities

These are just as official as the statutory nine — subsection C.10 is exactly the authority that makes them so — but they will not turn up if someone reads only the text of § 46.2-341.16 without also checking DMV’s own published list. A driver, employer or reviewing officer who wants the complete, current picture has to check both sources, because neither one alone is the whole list.

The E Restriction Deserves Its Own Explanation

Of every code on this list, E causes the most confusion, because “manual restriction” sounds like it should mean the opposite of what it does: E means the driver cannot operate a manual-transmission CMV, not that the license is restricted to one. What the E restriction actually means, and how to clear it, is covered in full detail on its own page — this page’s job is the complete list, not a repeat of that one code.

How a Restriction Gets Added to a License

Restrictions are not assigned by preference or by employer request. Each one traces back to a specific fact about the applicant’s testing, equipment or documentation:

• Equipment-based restrictions (E, L, Z, K-before-2014) attach because of the vehicle used for the skills test — an automatic-transmission truck adds E, a non-air-brake truck adds L or K, and so on.
• Vehicle-type restrictions (O, M, N) attach when the applicant did not test in, or is not licensed for, that category of vehicle.
• Medical restrictions (V) attach when DMV has approved a variance for a specific medical condition, documented through the federal medical certification process.
• Jurisdictional restrictions (K-on/after-2014, I, J, Q) attach based on age exceptions, employer type, or the kind of passengers being transported.

Clearing most equipment-based restrictions requires retaking the CDL skills test in a vehicle that no longer triggers the restriction. Jurisdictional and medical restrictions typically clear only when the underlying condition that caused them changes — turning 21 under the intrastate-only K restriction, for example, or a renewed medical variance lapsing.

Driving Against Any Restriction Is a Crime

Virginia does not treat a printed restriction as advisory. Under § 46.2-341.7 C, driving a commercial vehicle in violation of any restriction or limitation printed on a CDL or CLP — any code on either list above — is a Class 2 misdemeanor, punishable under § 18.2-11 by up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000, either or both. This applies the same way whether the restriction is one of the nine the statute names or one of the five DMV added; the source of the code does not change the seriousness of ignoring it. Someone actually facing a summons for this should talk to a Virginia traffic attorney about the specific facts, rather than treat this page as anything more than the general rule.

Restrictions on a Commercial Learner’s Permit Are a Separate List

A commercial learner’s permit carries its own restriction set defined elsewhere in the Commercial Driver’s License Act, not the identical list above — built around what a permit holder, who is still supervised by a licensed CDL holder, is not yet cleared to do independently. What a CDL permit actually allows and the commercial learner’s permit process cover that separate list in the context readers usually need it, including the passenger and cargo-tank limits unique to a permit.

This List Is for Commercial Licenses Only

Everything above applies to CDLs and commercial learner’s permits specifically. Virginia does not publish an equivalent public legend for the restriction codes that can appear on an ordinary, non-commercial driver’s license — that is a separate administrative scheme, and none of the meanings above should be assumed to carry over. A driver holding both a CDL and comparing codes between the two cards should treat them as two unrelated systems that happen to share some of the same letters.

Endorsements Are Not the Same as Restrictions

It helps to keep these two apart, because they work in opposite directions. An endorsement (T, P, N, H, S or X, from § 46.2-341.16 B) adds a capability the driver has separately tested for and been cleared to use. A restriction removes or limits one — it tells an officer or an employer what the holder is not cleared to do, not what they are. A license can carry both at once: a driver with a passenger (P) endorsement and an E restriction, for example, is cleared to carry passengers but still barred from a manual-transmission bus, and neither code changes the meaning of the other.

Where the Codes Actually Appear on the License

Restriction codes are printed in a dedicated field on the physical CDL or CLP, usually alongside the class letter (A, B or C — the Class B license page sets out what each class covers) and any endorsement codes. A license with no restriction codes in that field is unrestricted for its class and endorsements; a license listing more than one code is restricted by all of them simultaneously — a driver with both L and E, for example, cannot operate an air-brake CMV or a manual-transmission CMV, regardless of which one a particular job would require that day. Anyone unsure what a code printed on their own license means should compare it against the tables above, and confirm anything not listed directly with Virginia DMV rather than guessing.

If a Restriction Looks Wrong on Your License

A restriction that does not match what a driver actually tested for is usually a data-entry issue rather than a legal dispute — DMV prints the code based on the skills test record, and an error there (the wrong vehicle logged, a duplicate test result) can carry through to the card. The fix is administrative, not judicial: bring the test paperwork or a request for record review to DMV rather than treating it as something a court would resolve. Continuing to drive against a restriction the driver believes is mistaken still carries the same Class 2 misdemeanor exposure described above until DMV actually corrects it, so the safer course is resolving the record first.

If a Restriction Code Isn’t on Either List

Virginia’s CDL restriction codes are limited to what appears in § 46.2-341.16 C and DMV’s published additions under it. A code that does not match anything above may belong to a different state’s licensing scheme, to an ordinary (non-commercial) Virginia license — which uses an entirely different, unpublished restriction scheme — or may simply be misread from the card. Virginia DMV, not a third-party site, is the authoritative source to confirm an unfamiliar code.