Chapter 9: Your licence

(Learn to Drive Smart, March 2026 edition)

This chapter explains how a new driver earns a BC licence through the Graduated Licensing Program (GLP). Several rules changed on 19 October 2026; both versions are given.

Learner (Class 7L). You need to be 16 or older and pass the 50-question knowledge test and a vision and medical screening. Applicants under 19 (under 18 since 19 October 2026) bring a custodial parent or legal guardian. Your supervisor must sit beside you: 25 or older (22 since 19 October 2026), with a valid Class 1–5 licence. Other rules: zero alcohol and drugs, no hand-held or hands-free devices, the L sign, and driving only from 5 a.m. to midnight. Passengers are limited to two, your supervisor included; since 19 October 2026, immediate family do not count.

Novice (Class 7). The Class 7 road test comes after a year as a learner; since 19 October 2026, after 9 months if you are 25 or older. The N sign and the one-passenger limit (immediate family aside) apply to every novice before 19 October 2026 and only to under-25s after.

Class 5. Before 19 October 2026, a novice with 24 prohibition-free months in a row took a second, hour-long road test; an approved GLP course taken as a learner cuts this to 18 months if those months bring no violations, prohibitions or at-fault crashes. Since 19 October 2026 the test has been replaced by a driving record assessment: 24 months of safe driving (18 for under-25s who took an approved course as learners), or 12 if you are 25 or older, with no convictions for excessive speeding or using an electronic device and no prohibitions or suspensions. Your first Class 5 licence carries a restricted period, free of alcohol, cocaine and THC, that ends after 12 months of compliant driving.

Penalties. Breaking a learner or novice restriction can cost fines and penalty points, and serious offences a prohibition, which in the novice stage wipes out your accumulated time.