After 19 years, Alberta’s graduated driver’s licence program is getting an overhaul. Come spring 2023, drivers with a GDL will no longer have to do the $150 advanced road test for Class 5 and Class 6 motorcycle licences and an additional road test will no longer be required to upgrade to a Class 4.
The old system made sense in theory -a probationary period and retesting to ensure good diving at the end of it- but having the retest be optional and making the probationary license too similar to the full one meant most people didn’t bother with the retest.
This new move feels like even more of a step towards the previous system, but I guess with self-driving cars on the horizon and fewer young people getting licenses it might not matter anyways.
Originally, the GDL program was going to be far more restrictive until they realized that there were a massive amount of jobs performed by young adults with cars that suddenly would need to get qualified applicants.
As a result, they stripped back basically every restriction leaving only the “no more passengers than seatbelts” and “zero tolerance for BAC”
