Month: September 2011

by

Tip: Don’t Be Born In Quebec

The lady at Lethbridge Vehicle Licensing and Registry who processed my driver’s license application personally emailed me today to apologize for not explain the transfer process to me. Apology accepted on her end.

The reason Alberta did not give me a full license is that according to the records they could get, I only have two years of driving experience. Alberta will trade a full driver’s license from another province for a full Alberta license if you have three years of verifiable driving experience on a full license. Yukon provided this information for the last two years but Quebec doesn’t reciprocate with the other provinces.

Feeling pretty bad about the whole thing, the gal at Lethbridge Vehicle tried to make it right by calling the SAAQ, the Quebec DMV. The bastards conceded to providing her with my file number there, but would not give her any further information, stating that I had to request an abstract in writing… and provide $65 for an English translation!!!!!!

When I got home, I dug through my files and found a copy I made of the abstract I bought in 2009 (I forgot about the fee, but the receipt was stapled to the copy!). I’m getting smarter in my old age! I will bring this copy to the licensing office on Tuesday and see if that is good enough. Hopefully, Alberta won’t insist on an abstract printed this month since there would not be any additional information.

Quebec’s never-ending and completely pointless bureaucracy never ceases to amaze and infuriate me. Things don’t have to be so complicated, take so much time, or cost so much money!!!!!

Let’s see… I have both my large and small birth certificates and my full driving and insurance records from back there. Hopefully, I will never have to deal with Quebec bureaucracy again.

by

Alberta’s Clever Way of Potentially Ruining People’s Lives

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.