How to get your motorcycle licence in Canada

Newfoundland

So you want your licence, b’y? First, you’ve got to be 16 years old, and if you’re under 19 years old, you also need a parental or guardian consent form. Then, after passing a vision test, a written test, and a “balance test,” you’re issued your Class 6, Level I licence (Learner).

Your Class I is valid for two years, and you must hold it at least one year before moving to your Class II (Novice), unless you complete an approved motorcycle driver education program, which lowers the wait to eight months.

With your Class I, you are not permitted to have a passenger, you are not allowed to ride after dark, you cannot ride on highways where the speed limit exceeds 80 km/h, and you must have a 0% blood alcohol level. You must also be accompanied by someone who’s held a Class 6 licence for four years. They can be in a car or on a bike, and they must also have a 0% blood alcohol content level.

Once you pass a road test and move to the Class II licence, the restrictions ease a little — you still can’t ride between midnight and 5 AM, and you must have a 0% blood alcohol content level, but the other rules are lifted. You must hold a Class II licence for 12 months before you are granted an unrestricted Class 6 licence.

For more details on Newfoundland’s licencing system, click here.

11 COMMENTS

  1. Someone once told me that here in BC, when he got his licence back in the 70s, the clerk walked out into the parking lot and told him, “Ride out that gate there, and ride back in that gate over there.”

    Exiting through the one gate put you on a one-way street, and the only way to get back was to take a long loop around the block that went through a couple of intersections and over some railroad tracks. If you made it back in one piece you got your endorsement.

  2. Maybe check your info on the ON licence – you state in the article “You must hold your M1 licence for at least 60 days before taking a road test to advance to an M2 licence”….incorrect, you can take a recognized course anywhere in that time period, do the test within the course & be M2 qualified – the Ministry just waits until the 60 days to recognize it. Also you write “After 22 months you may then take a second road test to get your unrestricted M licence.” It is only 18 months if you take a recognized course.

    • Nope wife and I did the Ontario M licencing and the ministry states you have your M1 for ONLY 90 days after passing the written test, but after 60 days can you take your M1 exiting test and after the 90 days are up you either have your M2/ML or you have to start the process all over again.

  3. My dad took his car test back in the 50s and the examiner said, “Oh, do you want this to be good for a motorcycle too?” When my dad said “Sure!” The examiner ticked a second box and there you go – licensed for a bike for life.

  4. I had always assumed that to get your motorcycle licence in Alberta that you just went through the same process as a regular drivers’ licence there – fill out the form on the back of the cereal box, cut it out and mail it in with your proof of purchase.
    Learn something new every day.

  5. Times have changed…my dad took his test in Windsor Ontario in the late 60’s and it was basically ride around the block from the mto office and if you made it back in 1 piece you passed

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