Learner and provisional driver safety


ACT learner licence

To apply for an ACT learner car licence, you must:

  • be at least 15 years and 9 months of age
  • complete the Pre -Learner Licence Course and Road Rules Knowledge Test
  • attend an Access Canberra Service Centre to:
    • prove your identity
    • give your Pre-Learner Licence Course and Road Rules Knowledge Test certificates
    • have your eyes tested.

Several organisations across the ACT including schools, community groups, and small businesses, offer the Pre-Learner Licence Course. Please see more information below for approved course providers.

Conditions

As a learner car licence holder, you must only drive with a supervising driver. You must also:

  • display L plates at the front and rear of the vehicle correctly
  • not use a mobile device
  • not tow a trailer greater than 750 kilograms
  • not exceed the zero blood alcohol limit
  • adhere to a 4 demerit point limit.

Your supervising driver must:

  • sit in the front passenger seat
  • hold a valid full Australian driver’s licence
  • not exceed the zero blood alcohol limit.

ACT provisional licence

The ACT has a 2 staged provisional car licensing process:

  1. a red P plate for the first 12 months (P1) with late night peer passenger restrictions
  2. a green P plate for the remaining 2 years (P2).

If you are issued a provisional car licence when you are 25 years or older, you will be a P2 for the entire 3-year provisional licence period.

To apply for an ACT provisional car licence, you must:

  • be 17 years or older
  • have held your learner licence for a minimum of 12 months if under the age of 25 years at the time of issue or
  • have held your learner licence for a minimum of 6 months if aged 25 years or older at the time of issue
  • complete your required driving hours
  • complete the Hazard Perception Test
  • pass a driving test.

Required driving hours

Practice is important especially when it comes to driving a car. To meet the required driving hours, you need to have completed:

  • 100 driving hours including 10 hours at night if you are under 25 years old when your ACT learner licence is issued or
  • 50 driving hours including 5 hours at night if you are 25 years or older when your ACT learner licence is issued.

If you complete driving lessons with an ACT Accredited Driving Instructor, you will be credited 3 hours for each hour of supervised driving, up to a maximum of 10 hours.

For other credit options for required driving hours, please see optional training courses.

Assessment

If you want to take a driving assessment to get your provisional car licence you can do one of the following:

  1. Assessment by an ACT Government assessor
  2. Competency based training and assessment (logbook)

The driving skills you must learn to become a safe driver are set out in 23 competencies. The ACT driver competencies (PDF 444KB) detail the driving tasks required to get a provisional licence.

Conditions

Once you have a provisional car licence you must:

  • display the correct colour (red/green) P plates at the front and rear of the vehicle, the correct way up
  • not use a mobile device
  • not exceed the zero blood alcohol limit
  • adhere to a 4 demerit point limit.

If you hold a P1 licence you also must:

  • adhere to the peer aged passenger restriction of only one passenger aged 16-22 from 11pm to 5am (exemptions for work, school and family apply)
  • not tow a trailer greater than 750 kilograms.

For information on how to get your licence see Access Canberra.

Incentives

Licence fee discounts

Good driving behaviour can also save the learner money. You can access discounts if you progress through your provisional licence phases free of:

  • demerit points
  • traffic infringement notices and
  • court-imposed traffic penalties.

The following discounts are available:

  • P1 discount: 50% of the P2 licence fee if you have none of the above during the P1 stage*
  • P2 discount: 30% discount on the full licence fee if you have none of the above during both P1 and P2 stages.

*Provisional licences are issued for the full 3-year period and cover both P1 and P2. The 50% discount applies to years 2 and 3. It will be subtracted from the full licence fee. This equates to 33% of the total fee paid for the provisional licence.

Examples to help explain these discounts are available below.

Scenario A (both discounts applied)

Sarah completes her P1 stage of her licence with no traffic infringements, demerit points or court-imposed penalties. Sarah automatically progresses to the P2 licence and will receive a refund of 33% of her provisional licence fee paid. This will not be processed until she renews her P2 licence to a full driver licence and is applied as a discount to the full licence fee.

Once she completes the P2 stage, Sarah applies for the renewal of her licence to a full driver licence. Sarah has not received any traffic infringements, demerit points or court-imposed penalties while on her provisional licence. A discount of 30% will be applied to her full licence fee.

If both discounts apply, the total price is calculated as:

  • 33% of the licence fee paid for provisional licence = X
  • Licence fee to be paid for full licence – 30% = Y
  • Total cost = Y – X

Scenario B (one discount applied)

Mike completes his P1 stage of his licence with no traffic infringements, demerit points or court-imposed penalties. Mike automatically progresses to the P2 licence and will receive a refund of 33% of his provisional licence fee paid. This will not be processed until he renews his P2 licence to a full licence and is applied as a discount to the full licence fee.

During Mike’s P2 licence stage he incurred a traffic infringement. When he renews his P2 licence to a full licence he is not entitled to a 30% discount. Mike will still have the 33% refund of the provisional licence fee applied to his full licence on renewal.

If only one discount applies, the total price will be calculated as:

  • Total cost = Full licence fee – 33% of the licence fee paid for provisional licence

Scenario C (no discount applied)

During Betty’s P1 stage she received a traffic infringement. Betty automatically   progresses to the P2 stage however, because the traffic infringement she is not eligible for any refund on her provisional licence fee. She is also not eligible for the 30% discount when renewing   her provisional licence to a full licence.

Betty must pay the full licence fee.

Training courses

The Pre-Learner Licence Course is a 10-hour course that educates new drivers about safe driving practices and road laws. You must successfully complete the course to be eligible to apply for an ACT learner licence.

There are also 3 optional courses are available for those with an ACT learner licence:

Pre-Learner Licence Course

The Pre-learner Licence Course is taught by most ACT schools free of charge as part of the Year 10 curriculum. It is also available from training providers in the ACT. To run this course for pre-learners, providers must be approved by the ACT Government. Check your provider is approved and included in the list below.

Optional training courses

Completion of these courses provides some of the required driving hours needed to get an ACT provisional car licence.

The Safer Driver Course is available for learner car licence holders aged under 25 when their learner licence was issued. It consists of a theory component of 2.5 hours in a workshop, and a one hour practical driving component. The course aims to help young learner car licence holders to understand and develop safe driving behaviours. This includes reducing road risk when transitioning to independent driving by learning how to anticipate hazardous situations. The practical driving component is undertaken through an approved course provider with an ACT Accredited Driving Instructor. It is designed to have 2 learner car licence holders per vehicle.

Learner car licence holders must have completed either:

  • 10 hours with an ACT Accredited Driving Instructor or
  • 30 hours with a driving supervisor before undertaking the driving component aspect of the course.

Completing this course will give you 20 of your required driving hours.

To book your place on this course, please contact one of the approved providers below:

The Vulnerable Road User Program is available for all learner car licence holders. It includes self-directed learning which must be completed before attending a 2 hour workshop. The course is focused on safely sharing the road with cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians.

Completing this course will give you 10 of your required driving hours.

To book your place on this course, please contact one of the approved providers below:

The Learner Driver First Aid Program teaches post-crash care. Other drivers are often the first on the scene of a crash.

Completing one of the approved courses will give you 5 of your required driving hours. To claim these hours you must:

  • have held your learner car licence for at least 3 months before taking an approved course
  • complete one approved course after 22 November 2023.

The approved courses are listed below.

Provider Name and RTO Number

Course Name

Aspen Medical
(RTO 88188)

ACT Learner Driver First Aid Course (Fees apply)

Allens Training
(RTO 90909)

Includes:
1. ACTWell First Aid Training
2. Canberra First Aid and Training

Road Side Safety Awareness for Learner Drivers (Fees apply)

Roadside Safety CPR (Fees apply)

Roadside Safety First Aid (Fees apply)

CBD College
(RTO 91399)

HLTAID011 Provide First Aid (Fees apply)

St John Ambulance Australia
(RTO 88041)

Driver First Aid (Free course)

Provide First Aid (4 hours or 1 day) (Fees apply)

Provide CPR (Fees apply)

Some of the courses listed above may also be nationally recognised First Aid courses.  Courses may be delivered online, face-to-face, or a combination of both. Check the course details to confirm and decide what best suits your needs.

Organisations interested in participating in the Learner Driver First Aid Program should contact tccs_roadsafety@act.gov.au for more information.

When you apply for your provisional car licence, take a copy of the course certificate with you to an Access Canberra shopfront. You can print out the certificate or show the original electronic copy to Access Canberra staff. Photographs of the certificate will not be accepted.

Contact

If you have any questions, please contact Access Canberra on 13 22 81.

We acknowledge the Ngunnawal people as traditional custodians of the ACT and recognise any other people or families with connection to the lands of the ACT and region. We acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of this city and this region.

To see how we are building stronger relationships with the Traditional Custodians of the ACT view the Reconciliation Action Plan.