Skip to content

How hard is New Brunswick’s driving test?

New Brunswick was the first province in Canada to let you sit the entire written driver's test from your own kitchen table. But an easy start is not an easy road: its highways are among the country's more dangerous, and the path to a full licence still runs about twenty months.

2nd
Test difficulty of 13
How hard the written test is to pass
10th
Licensing journey of 13
How long and involved the road to a full licence is
10th
Road safety of 13
How safe the province’s roads are
02550751000255075100Test difficulty (harder →)Road safety (safer →)ONQCBCABSKMBNSPENLNTYTNUNew Brunswick2nd of 13 hardest test10th of 13 safest roads

Source: Drive IQ Canada Driving Index. Road-safety data: Transport Canada CMVTCS 2023.

The test

The entry test is two exams, road signs and rules of the road, each scored and passed on its own. Study guides put the bar at 80 percent on each, though the province publishes no official number. In November 2020 New Brunswick became the first province where you could take the whole test remotely from home.

Path to a full licence

You can start at 16 on a Level 1 permit. Hold it a year, or eight months with an approved course, then at least twelve months at Level 2, with a single road test at the end of Level 1. Roughly 20 months and a full licence by about 17, one test rather than the two British Columbia demands.

On the roads

Then the roads turn the story. New Brunswick records 8.1 deaths for every billion kilometres driven, nearly double the national 4.5, and ranks tenth of the thirteen jurisdictions for safety. Rural two-lane highways, long winter nights, and wildlife account for much of it.

New Brunswick8.1 deaths8th of 13 safest05101520← betterworse →Road deaths per billion vehicle-kilometres

Source: Transport Canada CMVTCS 2023 (fatalities per billion vehicle-km).

The laws

Novice drivers carry a zero blood-alcohol limit through both Level 1 and Level 2. And despite New Brunswick winters, there is no winter-tire mandate: the province urges them but stops short of requiring them.

Commercial licences

New Brunswick brought in Mandatory Entry-Level Training for the Class 1 licence in 2024, at least 112 hours before the road test. It reflects a national reckoning with truck safety, since commercial vehicles are involved in about one in five road deaths while accounting for under a tenth of collisions. Class 1 covers tractor-trailers and adds a separate air-brake exam, licensed apart from the Class 7 test this page covers.

See the New Brunswick commercial licence test

Ready to practise, New Brunswick?

Free New Brunswick practice test, straight from the official handbook. No sign-up.

Start the free New Brunswick practice test

Nearby in the index

Quebec
1st of 13 on road safety · 4th-hardest test
Nova Scotia
6th of 13 on road safety · 2nd-hardest test
Prince Edward Island
7th of 13 on road safety · 5th-hardest test
British Columbia
5th of 13 on road safety · 5th-hardest test
Northwest Territories
11th of 13 on road safety · 2nd-hardest test
Alberta
8th of 13 on road safety · 3rd-hardest test

Sources

Test specifications last verified July 2026.

Always confirm current rules with Service New Brunswick before you book.

Drive IQ Canada is an independent study tool, not affiliated with the MTO, SAAQ, ICBC, SGI, MPI, or any provincial licensing authority. Road-safety data is from Transport Canada (2023) and Statistics Canada (2024).

Spot an error? Email [email protected] and we will look into it.

Back to the Canadian Driving Test Index

How hard is New Brunswick’s driving test? (2026)