The parking distances: five metres four times, and the one that is not
Alberta makes the parking distances easy to remember and easy to get wrong in the same way: almost all of them are five metres. The guide lists them in one place, and the test takes them apart, usually by offering the one distance on the list that is not five.
| Do not park… | Distance |
|---|---|
| near a stop sign or a yield sign | within five metres |
| near the nearest side of a marked crosswalk | within five metres |
| near a fire hydrant, or the point on the curb nearest a hydrant set back from it | within five metres |
| near the edge of an intersecting roadway, unless something like a parking meter says parking is allowed | closer than five metres |
| near the access to a garage, private roadway or driveway | within one and a half metres |
- The driveway is the odd one out, at a metre and a half; everything else at the roadside is five. A question that offers both for a hydrant or a stop sign is testing exactly that.
- The list also has entries with no number, and they come up as true-or-false style options: never on a sidewalk or boulevard, never on any part of a crosswalk, never within an intersection, never on a bridge or underpass or its approaches, never beside street construction where you would obstruct traffic, never double-parked, never where a traffic control device forbids it, and never at a fire, crash or other incident where you would be in the way of emergency crews.
- Two more numbers hide in the parking chapter, both 50 centimetres: when angle parking, you stop when the front wheel touches the curb or is within 50 centimetres of it. And on a hill, the wheels turn right in every case but one: uphill with a curb, turn them left so the tire rests against the curb; uphill without a curb, and downhill, turn them right. Always set the park brake.
Official source: Driver’s Guide – Basics of driving ↗
School zone or playground zone: the same 30 km/h, different hours, and no passing in either
Both zones have a 30 km/h limit unless a sign posts another, which is why the test does not ask about the speed; it asks when the limit applies and what else is forbidden. A school zone is in effect on school days only, in three windows: 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., unless a municipality posts different hours beneath the sign. A playground zone is in effect every day, from 8:30 a.m. to one hour after sunset, again unless the sign says otherwise. In both zones, while they are in effect, you may not pass or try to pass another vehicle going the same way, and each zone ends where a sign shows a higher limit or the end of the zone.
The trap in this topic is the word area. A school sign or a playground sign with no speed tab attached does not create a zone at all: it marks a school area or playground area, where you are warned that children may be about and must use caution, but no special limit and no passing ban apply. The sign with the speed tab is the one that changes the law.
Official source: Alberta.ca – School and playground zones ↗ · Driver’s Guide – Traffic control ↗
Demerit points: two ladders, and the three offences only a GDL driver can commit
Demerit points are added on the conviction date, which is the day you pay the ticket or are found guilty, not the day you got it, and they stay on your record for 2 years from that date. What happens as they add up depends on which ladder you are on. With a full licence, 8 or more but fewer than 15 points brings a cautionary notice by mail, and 15 or more within a 2-year period suspends the licence for one month; a second suspension within a year lasts 3 months and a third within 2 years lasts 6, possibly with a review by the Registrar; afterwards the licence comes back with 7 points on it. With a GDL licence every rung is lower: a cautionary notice at 4 or more, suspension at 8 or more, the same one, 3 and 6 months, and the licence comes back with 3 points.
The GDL ladder is also climbed faster, because three offences exist only for GDL drivers and each is 2 points: driving between midnight and 5 a.m. in the Class 7 stage, carrying more passengers than seat belts, and driving with a supervisor who is not fully qualified. Every ordinary offence counts as well, and distracted driving is the one worth knowing by number: a $390 fine and 3 demerit points, which on a GDL licence is nearly half the way to a suspension in a single ticket.
There is one way down the ladder. A defensive driving or professional driver improvement course from a licensed driving school removes up to 3 points from your record, once every 2 years, but only if it is completed before you reach the suspension threshold, 15 points or 8, because a course taken after the triggering conviction does not undo the suspension. A demerit suspension itself cannot be appealed; what you can ask for is a review to confirm the points were not assigned in error.
Official source: Driver’s Guide – Demerit driving suspension ↗ · Driver’s Guide – chapter 9, Driving within the Law ↗ · Alberta.ca – Distracted driving ↗
Red lights: where you stop, which turns are allowed, and what a flashing one means
Every red-light question starts from the same rule about where you stop: at a solid red, you come to a complete stop before the stop line or crosswalk directly in front of you, and if there is neither, before the intersection. You stay stopped until the light turns green, with one exception. A right turn on red is permitted unless a sign prohibits it, but only after that complete stop and only when it is safe, yielding to everyone else. A left turn on red is permitted in exactly one situation: from a one-way street onto another one-way street, again after a complete stop and after yielding. Any other left on red is illegal however empty the road looks, and the road test fails you outright for not stopping completely before a right on red.
A flashing red light is a stop sign in disguise: stop before the stop line or crosswalk, or before the intersection, then go only when it is safe and after yielding the right of way. When the lights flash red in every direction, the intersection becomes a four-way stop and the usual stop-sign rules decide who goes first. A flashing green, by contrast, lets you go through, turn left or turn right without stopping.
Official source: Driver’s Guide – Traffic control ↗ · Driver’s Guide – chapter 1, Licensing Information ↗
Written from the official pages linked under each section, in our own words. Fees, dates and penalties change — confirm them on alberta.ca or with a registry agent before you rely on them.