500K Alberta drivers automatically free of GDL program after UCP ends 'licensing scheme'

An Alberta graduated drivers license (GDL). (Sean Amato/CTV News Edmonton)

Roughly 500,000 Albertans holding a graduated drivers license (GDL) and a clean record will soon have a full permit without having to pay the $154 fee and take another test.

Notification letters will soon be in the mail, the United Conservative Party government announced Monday, following up on a promise from last fall.

“GDL was an expensive, duplicative licensing scheme that discriminated against good young drivers," Transportation and Economic Corridors Minister Devin Dreeshen said in a news release.

"Alberta’s government will continue to make common-sense rules and make life more affordable for Albertans.”

The government first announced the change in September as a way of cutting "red tape," however some expressed safety concerns about the move.

To automatically graduate, GDL licensees must have completed their two-year driving period with no suspensions or demerits in the final year.

GDL drivers who did receive tickets, demerits or suspensions in the final year will have their probationary period extended by a year.

New licenses are not required because the government said the change will be reflected in the computer system that police officers use.

But people who drive outside of Alberta are told to keep their government letter in the vehicle or get an updated license because police outside of the province may not have access to Alberta's files.

People who want to get a new license can, for a fee, or they can wait until the next time their license is up for a renewal to get an updated card.

Alberta's GDL program was started in 2003 under a Progressive Conservative government and consisted of about 700,000 drivers as of April 1.

The government said about 150,000 GDL drivers have already exited the program through an "interim process" which started in April.