Q&A - Starting Over With an N

HI there, I've been impressed reading some of your Q&A questions, I think you are a good responder, esp for young people.

I have a question. My 19 1/2 year old son has been driving with his N. He has been working full time doing a co op placement, so didn't bother to get his full licence, even though he could have for the last 6 months. Yesterday, he got a ticket for looking at his cell phone at a red light. He knows he shouldn't have done it, and totally willing ot accept fine/ points, but is now going to have to start at scratch for his N again, so will end up having an N for 4.5 years.

Is there any way to make the arguement that he should be allowed to take his full licence and have the infraction apply to full licence as he has technically driven amost 30 months without any infraction? The officer also didn't write him up for cell phone infraction, rather a lesser offense of driving aganst restrictions. I"m not sure if that helps him or not.

appreciate any advice. thank you.

Answer

Thank you very much for your kind words!

If this is the only ticket that your son has received he is standing on the brink, but the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles will not likely take any prohibition action unless there is another. See the Driver Improvement Program for more information on this.

The wise thing to do is to book a road test now and obtain a full class 5 licence. With that in hand, any traffic tickets received will fall into the experienced driver category, which has a much different threshold of action and of course will not result in an extension of his N period as he would no longer be an N driver.

From the point of view of a new driver, it is wise to test for and obtain your class 5 licence as soon as you are able to. It's easy to ignore and continue with the N, but it is risky for precisely the situation you describe here.

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taking class 5 test

thanks Tim, I agree it will be good learning for his 2 brothers behind him too. Will they let him take his Class 5 test now that he has recieved a ticket? I believe it is not on his driving record until he pays it or 30 days elapses, am I correct? can he take his test in this time period (they are only booking tests though for August, not sure how best to get a test sooner).

thanks for advice. Kathy

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Answer

Yes, unless he is prohibited from driving, ICBC will schedule and test him.

The ticket does not show up on his driving record until he pays it (before 30 days are up), at 30 days if he ignores it, and if he is convicted in traffic court if he disputes.

You may be able to sneak in on a cancellation, check with your local testing facility.

I understand that it is common practice for those facing a second ticket to dispute it as there is often almost a one year wait for a trial date, schedule and pass the road test and then either pay the ticket or carry through with the dispute. It's sort of an abuse of the court system, but it does give some extra breathing room.

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Don't let that 'August' date defeat you!

As Tim said, 'sneaking in' on a cancellation is always a possibility; you just have to understand the system, as it were. And you can still schedule that August appointment just so you have something to fall back on if nothing else happens.

On the one hand, many Driver Service centres are more than happy to take names from folks who show up when they open at 8:30am with a car available and a willingness to wait awhile to see what comes up; they get No Shows and late cancellations every day it seems, and they would much rather have their Driver Examiners out with someone else and clearing that backlog than standing around doing license renewals and other Customer Service Representative tasks at the counter.

The other thing to keep in mind for anybody trying to book a Road Test for 'as soon as possible' ties in with when 'as soon as eligible' will happen (this will vary with each individual's license situation, it's what's referred to as an EED - Early Examination Date), along with the policy usually in effect that ICBC must be given a minimum of 48 hours' notice for cancellations/reschedules. So if somebody is eligible any time, but checking for a date a week or more ahead, then they could come across a backlog/delay of several weeks or even months; this is a particular problem in the summer months, for a number of reasons. But the person who is eligible any time, and is eager to get that Road Test done, should simply get on the phone first thing (depending on when this is will be contingent on where you live in BC) or (at least in the lower mainland, Kelowna, and Prince George) simply log in to the online Road Test Booking Service, and do this repeatedly to search for appointments 24 ~ 48 hours ahead. Try this for a few days and you'll probably nail something that somebody else just cancelled, in order to avoid the $25 penalty levied for a late cancellation. Of course, you have to make certain that you can have the vehicle and yourself available, or you'll be one of those paying the $25 penalty also!