In which province can I drive with a learner’s licence without a supervisor? I’m having a hard time finding someone who will drive with me. – Alex, Toronto
Ontario requires learners to drive with a fully licensed supervisor in the passenger seat – and it’s not alone.
If you have a learner’s licence, you’ll need to find – or hire – someone to drive with you everywhere in Canada.
“This is an age-old conundrum for new drivers across Canada,” said Angelo DiCicco, general manager with the Ontario Safety League, a Mississauga-based non-profit focusing on driver education. “You cannot safely pass a road test without many hours of driving experience – [but] you cannot gain many hours of driving experience without access to a vehicle and a [fully licensed] co-driver or by paying a professional driving instructor.”
In every province, if you’re a new driver, you need a learner’s licence, sometimes called a learner’s permit, before you can take a road test to get your driver’s licence.
Everywhere except Nunavut has graduated licensing – so after you pass your first road test, you will be granted a conditional licence that lets you drive unsupervised with some restrictions.
The official name of the learner’s licence varies by province. In Ontario, it’s the G1. In several other provinces, it’s called a Class 7. But in every province and territory, you will need to pass a vision test and a written test to get it.
In most provinces, including Ontario, you have to be 16 or older to get a learner’s permit. In Manitoba, you can get one six months earlier if you’re in a high school driver’s education class (otherwise, it’s 16). In the three territories, you can get one at 15. In Alberta, you can get it at 14.
Front-seat driver?
Once you have your learner’s licence, you need someone to accompany you when you’re behind the wheel. In every province, they must have their full driver’s licence (in Ontario, that’s the G); it can’t be conditional.
In British Columbia, they must also be at least 25. In Alberta, they must be at least 18. Other provinces don’t specify a minimum age, but Quebec, the Northwest Territories and Yukon require the co-driver to have been fully licensed for at least two years. It’s three years in Manitoba and New Brunswick – and four years in PEI and Newfoundland.
If you can’t find someone to drive with you, you can hire a driving instructor. In Ontario, paying by the hour for an instructor with a government-approved driving school can often cost $100 or more – although there may be packages that include classroom instruction.
Instructors are required to know the rules of the road and what you need to know to pass a road test; your parent, neighbour or that guy from work might not, DiCicco said.
For instance, an instructor shouldn’t let you get away with speeding in a school zone, rolling through a stop sign or not quite stopping when turning right on a red light – but your friend or relative might, DiCicco said.
“A great driving instructor is hard to replace with a kind and convenient volunteer who might inadvertently pass on poor driving habits and outright violations of the rules of the road,” DiCicco said.
In Quebec, learners have to complete a driver education program.
Family only?
If you’ve got a learner’s licence, you face other restrictions, too. In every province, you must have a zero blood alcohol concentration (BAC). British Columbia, Saskatchewan and the Yukon ban using any mobile device – even if it’s hands-free. PEI allows hands-free use only.
In Ontario, learners are not allowed on the 400-series highways. Several provinces, including B.C., Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Yukon, ban driving for all learners between midnight and 5 a.m. In NWT, the ban is from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. In PEI, it’s from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m., but only if you’re under 21.
Also, several provinces have limits on how many passengers you can have in addition to your co-driver. For instance, B.C. allows one passenger. In Saskatchewan, you can only drive with passengers who are immediate family from 1 to 5 a.m. PEI only allows immediate family at any time. Others, including New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, don’t allow passengers at all.
The point of the learner’s licence is to let you accrue enough supervised driving experience to pass the road test and go on to the next level, where you can practice on your own, DiCicco said. In Ontario, that’s the G2, which comes with fewer restrictions, but is still not a full licence.
In most provinces, you need to have a learner’s licence for at least a year before you can take your first road test. Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and PEI let you take a road test at nine months, if you’ve completed driver’s training. Ontario and New Brunswick allow it at eight months with driver training.
So how much time does a learner need behind the wheel? As much as you can get, DiCicco said.
In Ontario, beginner driver training includes 10 hours of theory, 10 hours of homework and 10 hours of in-car instruction with the student driving.
“In my 35 years of teaching, this is the minimum exposure for a competent new driver to attempt their first road test,” DiCicco said. “If a new driver is not able to take the theory with a driving school but has a competent [co-driver] in-vehicle who will work with them, [then] 30 hours driving time sounds realistic to me.”
Have a driving question? Send it to globedrive@globeandmail.com and put ‘Driving Concerns’ in your subject line. Emails without the correct subject line may not be answered. Canada’s a big place, so let us know where you are so we can find the answer for your city and province.
Jason Tchir