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How hard is Quebec’s driving test?

No province makes you wait longer than Quebec, where a mandatory driving course, three years of graduated stages, and a written test split into three separately passed sections all stand between you and a full licence. Endure all of it and the payoff is real: Quebec's road laws rank it the safest jurisdiction in the country.

4th
Test difficulty of 13
How hard the written test is to pass
1st
Licensing journey of 13
How long and involved the road to a full licence is
1st
Road safety of 13
How safe the province’s roads are
02550751000255075100Test difficulty (harder →)Road safety (safer →)ONBCABSKMBNSNBPENLNTYTNUQuebec4th of 13 hardest test1st of 13 safest roads

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

The test

To pass the SAAQ knowledge test you need 75 percent on each of three parts, the road rules, signs and signals, and driving behaviours, cleared independently. Fail one section and you retake only that section, after at least 28 days. There is no at-home option: you book through SAAQclic and sit it in person. The SAAQ does not publish how many questions it holds.

Path to a full licence

You can start at 16, but only after the cours de conduite obligatoire, the driving course every new driver must take, which shortens nothing. Twelve months on the learner permit before a single road test, then twenty-four months probationary, add up to a minimum of three years and a full licence at about 19. Newfoundland can finish in roughly twenty months.

On the roads

Quebec ranks first of the thirteen jurisdictions for safety, though not on raw death counts. Its 4.7 road deaths per billion kilometres actually sit just above the national 4.5, and Ontario records fewer. What edges Quebec to the top is the strength of its road laws.

Quebec4.7 deaths3rd of 13 safest05101520← betterworse →Road deaths per billion vehicle-kilometres

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

The laws

Every learner and probationary driver, and every driver aged 21 or under, faces a zero blood-alcohol limit. And Quebec is one of the few provinces to mandate winter tires, required on every registered passenger vehicle from December 1 through March 15.

Commercial licences

Quebec was among the last to act, making Class 1 training mandatory only at the end of 2025, with a 125-hour minimum. Until then the province required no entry-level training for its largest trucks, even as commercial vehicles figured in roughly a fifth of Canadian road deaths. Classe 1 covers tractor-trailers and carries a separate air-brake exam on the SAAQ permit, tested apart from the passenger licence this page covers.

See the Quebec commercial licence test

Ready to practise, Quebec?

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

Start the free Quebec practice test

Nearby in the index

Ontario
2nd of 13 on road safety · 2nd-hardest test
New Brunswick
10th of 13 on road safety · 2nd-hardest test
Newfoundland and Labrador
9th of 13 on road safety · 1st-hardest test
Nova Scotia
6th of 13 on road safety · 2nd-hardest test
Yukon
12th of 13 on road safety · 2nd-hardest test
Saskatchewan
4th of 13 on road safety · 2nd-hardest test

Sources

Test specifications last verified July 2026.

Always confirm current rules with SAAQ 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 Quebec’s driving test? (2026)