Young drivers
In July 2007 the Queensland Government introduced a new graduated licensing system to reduce fatalities on our roads, particularly among young motorists.Young drivers aged 17–24 are twice as likely to be involved in fatal crashes than drivers aged between 25-59.
That's why the Queensland Government introduced new laws to change the licensing system for young drivers.
Changes include:
- The minimum learner age has been lowered to 16 and the learner licence period has been extended to 12 months.
- Learners under 25 years must now gain 100 hours of certified, supervised driving experience before being eligible to apply for a provisional licence.
- Mobile phone use, including hands-free, blue-tooth accessories and loud-speaker functions, has been restricted for learner and P1 provisional licence holders under 25 years.
- Mobile loud-speaker functions have been restricted for supervisors and passengers of learner and P1 provisional licence holders under 25 years, while a learner licence holder is driving.
- Motorbike learners will be required to hold a car provisional licence for 12 months before obtaining a motorbike learner licence
- A two-phased P1 and P2 provisional licence system has been introduced.
- L-plates (a black L on a yellow background) and P-plates (a red plate for P1 and green plate for P2) are now compulsory.
- Peer passenger restrictions have been introduced—P1 provisional licence holders under 25 years can only carry one passenger aged under 21 years between 11pm and 5am.
- High-powered vehicles are restricted for provisional drivers under 25.
- Drivers must pass a hazard perception test to progress from a P1 to a P2 or open licence (dependant on age).
- Restrictions, such as 'no late night driving', have been introduced for disqualified and suspended young drivers.
- Learner licence holders (PDF**, 51KB)
- Provisional licence holders (PDF**, 59KB).
- Hazard perception test (PDF**, 44KB).
Details on the full process and rules for getting a licence (from learner to open), and advice for supervising a learner driver are also detailed on this website.
Learner licence issued before 1 July 2007
If you currently hold a learner licence (issued before 1 July 2007) and will renew this licence before you take your practical driving test, you will need to comply with the new young driver laws. As part of this, you will be required to demonstrate you have completed 100 hours of supervised on-road driving before you are eligible to take your practical driving test. These hours can be recorded in a Queensland learner logbook, available from any Queensland Transport customer service centre when you renew your learner licence.
However, if you want to start recording hours of supervised on-road driving experience now, you may use the online logbook at RACQ's Learn2go website*.
For more information on the new licensing laws please contact us.
Fact sheets
Plate templates
Related information
Resources
**While this department has taken every possible precaution with the creation of these files, they are downloaded and used at your own risk. Adobe Reader is needed to open and print Portable Document Format (PDF) files and is free to download from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. Various tools to enable access to these files for people using a screen reader can be found at http://access.adobe.com. Further information is available from the"Help with downloading, reading and printing PDF".
*The content found by using this link is not created, controlled or approved by this department. No responsibility is taken for the consequences of viewing content on this site. This link will load into a new window.
Last updated 11 May 2009
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