Submitted by Cedric Hughes on Wed, 01/11/2006 - 03:40
In October 2003, BC’s graduated licensing program (GLP) was extended from two to three years consisting of two stages, the appropriate designation for which— an “L” or “N”— must be displayed on the vehicle driven by the GLP driver.
The first stage is a 12-month “L” for “Learner” term reducible by 3 months by obtaining ICBC-approved driving training certification. During the “L” stage, the Learner driver, who must be at least 16 years old, must be accompanied by a supervisor at least 25 years old with a valid Class 5 (full privilege) driver’s license, and may have only one passenger in addition to the supervisor. The Learner driver is not allowed to drive between midnight and 5 am and no level of blood alcohol content is acceptable.
The second stage is the “N” for “Novice” term, which begins after the Learner driver successfully completes the Class 7 road test. It consists of 24 consecutive months of prohibition-free driving. Novices who receive a driving prohibition must go back to the beginning of the novice stage. During the “N” stage, the Novice driver may have only one passenger excluding immediate family members, unless the driver is accompanied by a supervisor at least 25 years old with a valid Class 5 (full privilege) driver’s license. Immediate family members are defined as parents, siblings, a spouse, children, and grandparents, including the same step or foster relations. No level of blood alcohol content is acceptable. At the end of this 24-month stage, Novice drivers are eligible to take a road test, the successful completion of which qualifies them for a full-privilege Class 5 driver’s license.
Anecdotal reports indicate that these revisions have been effective. Many months passed without a teenage driving tragedy like those that happened repeatedly in 2002 and 2003. But this pause ended abruptly (January 15 at about 11 pm) when three teens in a car driven by a 19-year-old “N” designated driver went through the stop sign at Cambie and No. 7 Roads in Richmond, and slid out of control into a water-filled ditch. All three died. Speed appears to have been a factor and the driver, in having more than one passenger, was reportedly in breach of the “N” conditions. The media rightly headlined this story as “an absolute tragedy.”
A detailed interim evaluation of the effectiveness of these changes is reported on the ICBC website at www.icbc.com under Library — Research— GLP Interim Evaluation Report—Year 3. Two noteworthy items in this report are, first, that approved driving training certification has apparently not produced the expected dramatic reduction in crashes. Secondly, that, “despite a slight reduction in casualty crash rates, the GLP Novice stage has contributed little to the overall reduction observed in the new driver crash involvement rate of GLP drivers. Instead, it is likely that the primary factor contributing to the observed reduction is the extended Learner stage associated with GLP.” (Section 5.6.3).
However, even small improvements should be accepted with gratitude. Please drive safely.
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