Alcohol, cannabis, prescription medicine, fatigue and the phone. What impairment actually does to driving, what the law expects of a new driver, and why distraction belongs in the same lesson.
About 7 minutes to read5 Alberta questions on thisLast reviewed 2026-08-27
Worth remembering
Only time removes alcohol from the body. Coffee, food, air and a shower do nothing.
Every province requires zero alcohol for drivers in the graduated system; penalties and suspensions are provincial.
Impaired driving carries both federal criminal consequences and provincial licence consequences for the same event.
Refusing a lawful roadside breath demand is an offence in itself.
Legal cannabis is not permission to drive after using it, and roadside testing covers drugs as well as alcohol.
Prescription and over the counter medicines can impair. Read the label and ask a pharmacist.
Fatigue produces microsleeps you never notice. The only fix is to stop and rest.
Handheld phone use is banned everywhere in Canada, including while stopped at a light, and distraction is about attention rather than hands.
What impairment does to a driver
Driving is a task of watching, judging and acting, over and over, in that order. Anything that slows one of those three steps makes you a worse driver, and impairment slows all three at once. Alcohol lengthens reaction time, narrows attention onto whatever is straight ahead, blurs the judgement of speed and distance, and, worst of all, makes the driver feel that everything is going fine. A drinker who feels capable is showing an early symptom, not making an assessment.
Nothing speeds the process up. Coffee, a cold shower, fresh air and food do not remove alcohol from the body; only time does. A driver who feels sober the morning after a heavy night may still be impaired, which is why the safest plan is made before the first drink rather than after the last one: somebody else drives, transit takes you, or you stay put.
Canada treats impaired driving as one of the most serious offences on the road, and both federal criminal law and provincial licence law apply to the same event. A driver can face criminal charges and, separately, an immediate roadside licence suspension and vehicle impoundment under provincial rules. Police may demand a breath sample at the roadside, and refusing to give one is itself an offence.
The rules for learners and new drivers
Every province in Canada requires drivers in the graduated licensing system to have no alcohol in their body at all while driving. There is no allowance and no small amount that is acceptable. The same zero expectation applies to drugs that impair. The penalty for breaking it, and how long it sets your progress back, are set by each province, so check your own province page for the figures.
That zero rule is stricter than the general limit that applies to fully licensed drivers, and it exists for a plain reason: a new driver is already using most of their attention on the basic task of driving, and has the least experience to fall back on when something goes wrong. Many provinces extend the same zero requirement to all drivers under a certain age, whatever licence they hold.
The exact blood alcohol limits, the warning ranges that trigger a short roadside suspension, the penalties and the length of every suspension are provincial numbers, and they change. Use the page for your province rather than a figure remembered from somewhere else, and never rely on a number you saw in a film or in another country.
Cannabis, medicine and fatigue
Cannabis being legal to buy does not make it legal to drive after using it. It affects reaction time, attention and the ability to judge distance, and the impairment can last well beyond the point where the person feels high. Police test for drug impairment at the roadside as well as alcohol, and the criminal offence is impaired driving whatever the substance was.
Prescription and over the counter medicine belongs in the same lesson. Antihistamines, sleep aids, strong painkillers, some cough medicines and some anxiety medicines all cause drowsiness or slowed reaction. Read the label, ask a pharmacist whether it affects driving, and take the warning seriously. Mixing any of them with alcohol multiplies the effect rather than adding to it.
Fatigue impairs a driver in much the same way as alcohol: slower reactions, poorer judgement and wandering attention. The dangerous part is the microsleep, a few seconds of unconsciousness the driver does not notice, during which the vehicle travels a long way unattended. If you are yawning, drifting in your lane, missing exits or cannot remember the last stretch of road, the answer is to stop and rest, not to open a window. On a long drive, plan breaks before you set out and share the driving where you can.
A waiting area at a public service office. The sitting itself is short. The paperwork around it is what takes the morning.
The phone, and every other distraction
Every province in Canada bans holding or using a handheld phone while driving, and the ban applies while you are stopped in traffic or waiting at a light, because you are still in charge of a vehicle in a live lane. Hands free use is permitted in most places, subject to the conditions each province sets, and several provinces restrict even that for drivers in the graduated system. Penalties are provincial and heavy, and they usually include points against your record as well as a fine.
The reason for the law is not the hand holding the phone. It is the attention. Reading a message takes your eyes off the road for long enough to cover a startling amount of ground blind, and even a conversation on a hands free device pulls part of your mind off the task. A distracted driver looks straight at a hazard and does not see it, which is why the collisions look like nobody braked at all.
Phones are the obvious case and far from the only one. Eating, reaching for something on the floor, programming a navigation system while moving, turning around to deal with passengers, loud arguments in the car, grooming and watching something happening at the roadside all take attention away. Set up everything before you move: mirrors, seat, music, route, phone on do not disturb, and anything you might want within reach. If something needs your attention while driving, pull over somewhere safe and deal with it stopped.
What examiners and police both look for
On a road test, a phone in your hand ends the test. So does any sign that you are not fit to drive. But the deeper point is what impairment and distraction have in common: both remove the margin you have been building all through the rest of this material. Following distance, early scanning, the head check and speed suited to conditions all exist to buy you time, and an impaired or distracted driver spends that time before the hazard even appears.
The one habit worth carrying out of this lesson is deciding in advance. Decide how you are getting home before you go out. Decide that the phone is away before you start the engine. Decide to stop when you are tired rather than negotiating with yourself at the wheel. Decisions made in advance hold up much better than decisions made by a tired driver in a moving car.
Alberta and this topic
Alberta
Alberta follows the same rules on this topic
Nothing above changes when you cross into Alberta, so there is no separate Alberta version of this lesson to read. The stages, the fees and the format of the test are the numbers that do change, and those sit on the Alberta page with the source behind each one.
The 5 practice questions on this topic in the Alberta bank are written for Alberta, and each one shows the authority it comes from when you answer it.
I know my limit and I drive fine after a couple of drinks.
What is actually true
Feeling capable is one of the first things alcohol changes. Self assessment is the ability that goes early, which is why the law uses measurement rather than opinion.
What people think
Coffee and fresh air will sober me up before I drive.
What is actually true
They may make you feel more alert while your reaction time, judgement and vision remain impaired. Alcohol leaves the body at its own pace and nothing changes it.
What people think
Using my phone at a red light is allowed because I am stopped.
What is actually true
You are still driving in the eyes of the law, in a live lane, in charge of the vehicle. Every province treats picking up the phone at a light as the same offence as using it while moving.
What people think
Hands free is safe, so I can hold a full conversation.
What is actually true
Hands free is legal in most places, not free of cost. The attention the call takes is what causes drivers to look at a hazard without seeing it. Keep calls short or leave them.
What people think
I can push through tiredness for the last stretch of the drive.
What is actually true
A microsleep lasts a few seconds and you will not know it happened. Stopping to sleep is the only fix, and planning the breaks before you leave is easier than deciding at the wheel.
Check yourself
Three questions from the Alberta bank on impaired and distracted driving. Answer them in your head first, then open the answer to see the rule it comes from.
Impaired and distracted driving1 of 3
A driver in the graduated stage has had a single drink with dinner and feels completely normal. What does the law say about driving now?
AOne drink is inside the limit for any driver
BIt is allowed as long as they wait an hour first
CAny alcohol in the body during the graduated stage means a suspension, whatever the driver feels
DIt depends on how much they had to eat
Show the answer
The answer is C. Any alcohol in the body during the graduated stage means a suspension, whatever the driver feels
New drivers are held to zero alcohol for the whole graduated period, so the question is not how impaired someone feels but whether any alcohol is present at all. The rule is set that way because new drivers still spend most of their attention on the driving itself, and alcohol takes attention first.
Alberta Driver's Guide (Government of Alberta)
Impaired and distracted driving2 of 3
Your vehicle has a hands free system that reads messages aloud and takes replies by voice. What is the honest position on using it while driving?
AIt is legal to use, but the conversation still takes attention off the road
BIt removes the distraction, because your hands stay on the wheel
CIt is against the law, the same as holding the phone
DIt is safe as long as the traffic is light
Show the answer
The answer is A. It is legal to use, but the conversation still takes attention off the road
The law targets holding a device, reading it and entering information into it, so a hands free system is legal and it solves the hands part only. Most of the risk sits in where your mind is, which is why drivers deep in a phone conversation miss lights, signs and pedestrians they physically looked at.
Alberta Driver's Guide (Government of Alberta)
Impaired and distracted driving3 of 3
You are two hours into a long night drive across the prairie and you are struggling to keep your eyes open. What actually works?
AOpening the window and turning the music up
BCoffee and a snack, then carrying on
CStopping somewhere safe and sleeping
DDriving faster to shorten what is left of the trip
Show the answer
The answer is C. Stopping somewhere safe and sleeping
Cold air, loud music and caffeine buy a few minutes and hide how tired you are, which makes them worse than useless on a long night drive. Sleep is the only thing that repairs it, so build a stop into the trip and pull well off the road the moment your head first nods.
Alberta Driver's Guide (Government of Alberta)
Now go and answer some questions
The Alberta bank holds 5 questions on impaired and distracted driving. Answering them now, while the lesson is fresh, is how you find the parts that only felt clear.
