Today, I finally received my Alberta driver’s license. I’ve been driving with an interim one. There was a strange notation on it, GDL, and I got a bad feeling. I showed it to Jody who confirmed that I was given a ‘graduated’ driver’s license, not a full one. I found the information about that buried in their website. At no time did anyone at Lethbridge Vehicle Licensing and Registrymention to me that I was trading my full Yukon license nor was there any information to this effect in the letter I got with the license.

There are two main restrictions with this license. The first is fewer demerit points, which isn’t an issue. But the second is. It’s a zero alcohol tolerance policy. I’m probably not the only person in the universe who can drive safely after drinking a beer with dinner. Now that I know about this restriction, I can heed it, but imagine if I hadn’t noticed that I have a GDL license and was pulled over after having a beer. Boom. I lose my license for a month. Good luck getting insurance at renewal time!

I can keep driving on my GDL indefinitely, but if I want to get the full license, something I have held without a ticket or at-fault accident since 1997 or 1998, will have to wait for two years, and will have to pay $75 for a road test. It’s another way for Alberta to keep squeezing blood out of turnips I guess.

SHAME on the folks at Lethbridge Vehicle Licensing and Registry! They saw how many bloody hoops I had to jump through and should have given me a heads up. I will be sending them a link to this post.