To obtain your ACT learner’s licence , you must be at least 15 years and nine months old.
You must have already successfully completed a Pre-Learner Licence Training Course, which educates new drivers about safe driving practices and road laws. This is provided for free by most ACT schools as part of the Year 10 curriculum.
If you can’t do this course at school, it is also offered over two days by seven approved course providers in the ACT (at the time of writing), but a fee is payable to the course provider.
Once you have successfully done this course, and you have reached the age requirement, you need to successfully complete a computerised ACT Road Rules knowledge test at an Access Canberra Service Centre.
You’ll need to pass this test (as well as an eye test), then provide proof of identity to obtain your learner licence.
An ACT learner licence is valid for five years.
While driving on your learner licence, you have to display L-plates at the front and rear of the vehicle, have a zero blood alcohol concentration and not tow a trailer weighing more than 750kg.
You must be supervised by a passenger sitting next to you, and that person must have a full Australian driver’s licence as well as a zero blood alcohol concentration.
There is a mobile device use ban when driving on your L-plates. There is an exception for listening to music and podcast-type audio, provided the device is not being held by the driver and does not require interaction by any means, including by voice, while driving.
Using a mobile device for GPS is also permitted, provided the device is secured in a mounting affixed to the vehicle (eg mobile phone holder, using Bluetooth) and does not require interaction by any means, including by voice, while driving. You should set up your GPS instructions before you drive.
The accumulation of four or more demerit points during this period will result in licence suspension for three months. Any suspension periods served do not count towards the minimum required provisional tenure period required to upgrade to a full driver’s licence.
You can drive up to posted speed limits where safe to do so; there is no learner’s licence speed restriction in the ACT, and nor is there any vehicle power restriction.
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Once you have obtained your ACT learner’s licence, there are two key things you have to achieve while on your L-plates to be ready for the next licence level (red P1 licence): log book driving hours and a hazard perception test.
If you were under 25 when issued with an ACT learner licence, you must clock up at least 100 supervised logbook driving hours, including at least 10 hours at night over a period of at least 12 months.
If you were 25 or older when you got your learner licence, you must have undertaken at least 50 supervised driving hours, including at least five hours at night-time, over a minimum of six months.
After having an ACT learner’s licence for a minimum of three months, you are eligible to do the hazard perception test. This is an online computerised test that measures a person’s ability to detect and respond to potentially dangerous situations on the road. This is a test you have to pass before you can apply to do a provisional P1 licence test.
There are certain things you can do which will effectively reduce the minimum supervised logbook hours.
Each hour (up to 10 hours) of driving with an ACT accredited driving instructor will count as three hours towards your required logbook hours. In other words, do 10 hours with an instructor and you get 30 hours towards your minimum logbook hours.
There are also two optional courses to help you to achieve your minimum required driving hours.
The Safer Driver Course includes both theory and practical components with an aim to reduce risky driving behaviours prior to driving solo. The course is limited to learner drivers who were aged under 25 at the time their learner licence was issued. You must also have held your learner licence for at least three months before applying.
Successfully completing this course will count as 20 hours towards your required supervised driving hours.
The Vulnerable Road User Program focuses on safely sharing the road with cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians. This course can be completed by all learner drivers after you have held your learner licence for three months.
Successfully completing this course will count as 10 hours towards your required supervised driving hours. This course is available to all learner drivers irrelevant of age.
Provided you are at least 17 years old, have done the minimum logbook hours, held your learner’s licence for the minimum period and have passed the hazard perception test, you can book an ACT P1 red P-plate licence driver assessment with Access Canberra.
This up-to-45-minutes practical driving test is undertaken by a government examiner.
For more detailed information on undertaking a practical driving assessment, see the ACT government information page >>.
If were under 25 when you got your learner licence and you pass the practical test, you will be sent out your P1 licence and will be required to display red P-plates for 12 months.
If you were 25 or over when you got your learner’s licence, once you pass the P1 test you can go straight to a P2 provisional licence and display green P plates. You will need to display the green P plates for three years.
If you were under 25 when you got your learner’s licence, then you were on your red P1 plates for a year, you can apply for a P2 licence (green P plates), which you will be required to stay on for two years.
During the (red P) P1 stage of a provisional licence, you will be limited to one peer-aged passenger between the hours of 11pm and 5am. A peer-aged passenger is someone (that is not a family member) who is aged between 16 and 22 years old.
You are also under the same general restrictions as learner drivers relating to displaying the appropriate plates, not towing more than 750kg, not having any alcohol in your system and not touching a mobile device at all when driving.
The P2 provisional licence stage drops the P1 peer-age passenger rule but continues other restrictions; that is: displaying the appropriate (green P) plates, not towing more than 750kg, not having any alcohol in your system and not touching a mobile device at all when driving.
As an L or P driver, you have a maximum four demerit points before risking licence suspension.
Demerit points reset to zero upon upgrading from a learner licence to a provisional licence, however they do not reset to zero when upgrading from a provisional licence to a full licence, or a full licence to a higher class.
When the provisional period is served (three years) a full licence is issued and the above restrictions are removed.
Rules and regulations around L and P-plate driving can, and often do, change. To ensure you are referencing the most up to date information, visit your state licencing regulator’s website.
