Ontario
The G1 and G2 restrictions, explained
What a G1 driver may and may not do, what changes when you pass the first road test, and why the conditions belong to the stage rather than to you.
Which conditions attach to a G1, which ones survive the first road test into the G2, and what happens to a novice driver who breaks one.
Ontario hands you a licence at the first stage, not a permit. A G1 is a real licence with real conditions written into it, and every one of those conditions can be enforced at the roadside by an officer who has no interest in whether you knew about it.
The conditions are also the part of the system people get vaguest about. Everyone knows there is a supervising driver involved. Fewer people can say what happens to the highway restriction at the G2, or why a distracted driving conviction costs a novice driver something different from what it costs everyone else.
This guide sets out both stages. Where the ministry sets an exact hour, an exact age or an exact number of passengers, we say so and send you to the ministry for the figure rather than printing one we cannot source.
The conditions belong to the stage, not to you
This is the idea that makes the rest of it make sense. Ontario does not attach conditions to a driver and then relax them as the driver improves. It attaches them to a stage, and you move between stages by passing tests and serving time.
So passing a road test does not clear the conditions you were living under. It moves you into the next stage, which has conditions of its own. A G2 driver who has been driving alone for a year is still a novice driver in the eyes of the law, with novice penalties attached, and that surprises people who feel experienced by then.
It also means the conditions do not soften because of who you are. An adult learner coming to driving late holds a G1 on exactly the same terms as a teenager sitting it at the youngest age Ontario allows, supervising driver included.
What a G1 driver may not do
Every drive needs a supervising driver in the front passenger seat who holds a full G licence and meets the experience requirement the ministry sets. That person is part of the drive in law rather than a passenger doing you a favour, they have to be in a fit state to take the wheel, and their sobriety is judged against a limit the ministry publishes.
You may not drive with any alcohol in your system at all. Everyone in the vehicle needs a working seat belt, and you may not carry more people than the vehicle has belts for. You may not drive during the overnight hours, and the ministry sets when that restriction starts and ends, so read the hours before you plan a late drive home.
You may not drive on the high speed provincial highways, the four hundred series routes and several named expressways among them, unless the person beside you is a licensed driving instructor. That exception matters more than it sounds: highway driving is the skill the supervised stage exists to build, and paying an instructor for a few highway sessions is the only legal way to build it at this stage.
Joining a highway from a ramp
- Your vehicle
- Another vehicle
- Where it goes
- Divided highway begins
- Merge
- Maximum speed
Nothing on the outside of the car
Ontario asks for no plate, no sign and no sticker marking you as a learner. That is the opposite of British Columbia, where an L or an N on the back of the vehicle is a condition of the licence and driving without it showing is an offence on its own.
The practical effect is that the traffic around you has no idea you are learning. Nobody leaves you extra room at a merge, nobody hangs back while you sort out a left turn, and nobody reads a hesitant manoeuvre as anything other than a bad driver.
So choose bigger gaps than you think you need, particularly when joining a road or turning across one. The margin that a visible learner sign would have bought you has to come out of your own planning instead.
What changes when you pass the first road test
The G2 is the stage where you drive alone. No supervising driver, no highway restriction, no overnight restriction of the kind the G1 carried. For most people this is the moment the licence starts to feel real, and it is also where the remaining conditions get forgotten.
The zero alcohol rule continues. It does not relax at the G2 and it does not relax with age at this stage. There is no arithmetic to do about how much would be acceptable, because the answer is none.
The condition people trip over is the late night passenger limit for young G2 drivers. During the overnight hours the ministry defines, the number of young passengers you may carry is capped, the cap is tighter during the first months of the stage and eases after that, and there are exceptions where a fully licensed driver is in the front seat or where the passengers are members of your immediate family. The hours, the counts, the age band and the exceptions are all set by the ministry, and they are the sort of detail worth reading at the source rather than remembering from a friend.
Novice penalties bite differently
Two sets of rules apply to you at once as a new Ontario driver: the ones that apply to everybody, and the stricter ones that apply only while you hold a G1 or a G2. The second set is faster and harder.
A reading above zero at the roadside means an immediate suspension on the spot, before any court date and before any conviction, because that suspension is an administrative act rather than a sentence. Handheld devices are banned for every driver in Ontario, but the penalty for a novice driver differs in kind rather than in size: a fully licensed driver convicted of distracted driving pays a fine and takes demerit points, while a G1 or G2 driver faces a suspension of the licence for a first conviction and a longer one after that.
Demerit points count against a lower threshold for novice drivers, so the sequence of warning letters, interviews and suspensions starts sooner. Serious offences can send you back a stage or cancel the licence altogether and put you at the beginning again. The current thresholds and penalty amounts are published by the ministry and they do change, so check them at the source.
The waits, and the one lever on them
You hold the G1 for a fixed period before the first road test, and an approved driver education course shortens that period. It is the only lever. Nothing else brings the date forward, and the course changes the calendar rather than the test.
The whole journey from a fresh G1 to a full G runs to roughly two years, and most of that length is fixed by rule. The part you control is how much driving you fit into it, which is what decides whether the road test at the end is a formality or a gamble.
Use the supervised stage on purpose. Put the awkward conditions on the list rather than avoiding them: rain, dusk, a busy left turn, a highway session with an instructor, a parking lot at the end of a long day. The drivers who struggle at the road test are rarely the ones who did not know a rule.
You hold a G1 for 12 months before you can take the G2 road test.
12
Ontario Ministry of Transportation, G1 licensing rules and DriveTest fee scheduleverified 2026-08-27An approved driver education course cuts the G1 hold to 8 months.
8
Ontario Ministry of Transportation, G1 licensing rules and DriveTest fee scheduleverified 2026-08-27Going from a fresh G1 to a full G licence takes roughly 20 to 24 months.
20 to 24
Ontario Ministry of Transportation, G1 licensing rules and DriveTest fee scheduleverified 2026-08-27
Worth remembering
- Conditions attach to the stage, not to the driver. Passing a test moves you on, it does not clear them.
- A G1 needs a supervising driver with a full G licence in the front passenger seat for every drive.
- No alcohol at all, at either stage, whatever your age.
- A G1 may not use the high speed provincial highways unless a licensed driving instructor is beside you.
- Ontario puts nothing on the outside of the car, so traffic around you gives you no allowance.
- A distracted driving conviction suspends a novice licence rather than costing points alone.
Questions people ask
Who can supervise a G1 driver?
Somebody holding a full G licence who meets the experience requirement the ministry sets, sitting in the front passenger seat, sober against the limit the ministry publishes and able to take the wheel. They are part of the drive in law rather than a passenger.
Can a G1 driver go on the highway?
Not on the high speed provincial highways, which include the four hundred series and several named expressways, unless the person beside you is a licensed driving instructor. That exception is the only legal way to build highway experience at this stage.
Does a G2 driver still have restrictions?
Yes. You drive alone, but the zero alcohol rule continues, novice penalties continue, and young G2 drivers carry a limit on how many young passengers they may have during the overnight hours, tighter in the first months of the stage. The ministry publishes the hours, the counts and the exceptions.
What happens if a novice driver is caught with alcohol in their system?
A reading above zero brings an immediate roadside suspension, before any court date and before any conviction, because the suspension is administrative rather than a sentence. It also disturbs the stage clock, so an evening decision can add months to the journey.
Does Ontario make learners display a sign on the car?
No. Ontario uses no learner or novice plate or sticker, unlike British Columbia, where the L and N signs are a condition of the licence. Traffic around you has no way of knowing you are new, so plan larger gaps than you think you need.
Now answer some questions on it
Read next
What is on the G1 knowledge test
The G1 is two tests sat in one session and scored separately. Here is what each half asks, what the fee already covers, and where people lose it.
How Ontario road tests are marked, and what an automatic fail is
What the examiner is recording, why there is no published number of mistakes you are allowed, which actions end a test on the spot, and what the pass rate data says about where you book.
Sources for the figures on this page
Ontario Ministry of Transportation, G1 licensing rules and DriveTest fee schedule
Last checked 2026-08-27
Ontario Ministry of Transportation, G1 licensing rules and DriveTest fee schedule
Reported as a range of roughly 20 to 24 months. The value carries the upper end of that range.
Last checked 2026-08-27
Every practice question carries its own authority as well, shown with the answer.