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Alberta government making changes to road tests system for new drivers

Oct 3, 2018 | 5:30 AM

Alberta is ending its days as the only province in Canada with fully privatized road testing for drivers.

Minister of Transportation Brian Mason says they are following up with concerns made from the public over the current testing system.

“Fees are completely unregulated and are inconsistent across the province. Service and accessibility are unreliable, especially in rural Alberta. There have been serious questions about the reliability and validity of examination services and in the overall integrity of the system.”

Mason adds Albertans brought up an array of issues with the current system.

“Almost 90 per of Albertan’s want standardized fees. Most Albertan’s, including almost 90 per cent of public safety organizations and driving schools want road tests to be conducted by government employees. Stakeholders including Alberta registry agents and driver examiners have told us the current system is broken.”

Mason says they are moving forward with improving the model by restoring driver examiners as government employees.

“The government will begin recruiting, hiring, and training driver examiners to conduct road tests for all classes of drivers license. Examiners will be subject to the government’s Code of Conduct and supervised as public servants rather than operate as independent, unregulated contractors.”

There will be a flat fee of $83 for a standard Class 5 licence starting next March.

The fee for a Class 1 commercial truck driver will be $219. 

The current system was put in place 1993.