Driving in Ontario for the first time

Your licence

• 60 days: a foreign licence can be used for 60 days after you become an Ontario resident.
• Experience credit: since July 1, 2026, drivers from countries without a licence-exchange agreement get at most 12 months of credit for driving experience abroad. Countries with an agreement follow DriveTest’s exchange rules.
• Documents from home: your driving record and a letter of experience from home, with a certified translation, are also what Ontario insurers look for (see Insurance).

The G1 test in your language

The G1 knowledge test is offered in 32 languages, including Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Bengali, Farsi, Arabic, Cantonese and Croatian. It isn’t offered in Tagalog, Mandarin, Gujarati, Vietnamese or Serbian.

If you start at G1

• No 400-series highways or high-speed expressways unless your supervisor is a certified driving instructor, and no driving from midnight to 5 a.m.
• Your supervisor needs 4+ years of licensed driving and a blood alcohol level under .05 (zero if they’re 21 or under), and must be the only other person in the front seat.
• Zero alcohol for both G1 and G2 drivers.
• G1 to G2 takes 8 months with an approved driving course, 12 without. G2 to G takes at least 12 months, and you have 5 years to finish.

Speed limits are in km/h

• No sign: 50 km/h in cities, towns, villages and built-up areas; 80 km/h elsewhere.
• Highways: about 89% of provincial highways are now 110 km/h. On the 401, central Toronto (Highway 427 to 404) is still 100. More in Highway 401 speed limits 2026.
• Cities: Toronto is moving local roads to 30 km/h ward by ward, citywide by 2028, and most wards have changed. Mississauga neighbourhoods have been 40 km/h since 2022.
• School zones: follow the sign. Some apply only at set times; with no times on the sign, the limit always applies.
• No buffer: any speed over the limit is speeding. 20 over is a $95 ticket with 3 demerit points. See the speeding fine calculator and Can you go 20 over?
• Stunt driving: 40+ over where the limit is under 80, 50+ over anywhere, or 150 km/h or more. Police suspend the licence for 30 days and impound the car for 14 days at the roadside, even if it belongs to a friend or relative.
• Cameras and detectors: municipal speed cameras have been banned since November 14, 2025, but red-light cameras still work and the limits haven’t changed. Radar detectors are illegal in Ontario ($140 set fine).

Intersections

• Right on red: allowed unless a sign says otherwise, but only after a complete stop, and you must yield to pedestrians and traffic. There’s no “3-second rule”.
• All-way (4-way) stop: the first vehicle to come to a complete stop goes first. If two stop at the same time, the vehicle on the left yields to the vehicle on the right.
• No signs or signals: yield to anyone already in the intersection. If two vehicles arrive together, the driver on the left yields to the driver on the right. Going straight doesn’t give you priority.
• Driving to Montreal? Right on red isn’t allowed anywhere on the island of Montreal ($100–200 and 3 points).

School buses

When a school bus has its red lights flashing, traffic stops in both directions unless a median divides the road. Stop at least 20 m behind the bus.

Phones

Holding a phone while driving is illegal in Ontario, even when you’re stopped at a red light. A first offence with a full licence is $615 if you pay the ticket (up to $1,000 in court), 3 demerit points and a 3-day suspension. New drivers get no points but a 30-day suspension. Mount the phone before you set off.

Signs and following distance

• White or black rectangles are rules you must obey, including speed limits.
• Yellow diamonds are warnings. A yellow tab under a curve sign shows the maximum safe speed for that curve.
• Following distance: keep at least 2 seconds behind the vehicle ahead.

Winter and wildlife

Ontario doesn’t require winter tires, but insurers must offer a winter-tire discount, typically 2–5%. Quebec requires winter tires from December 1 to March 15; vehicles registered outside Quebec are exempt.

A wildlife collision happens about every 44 minutes in Ontario. Most are on rural two-lane roads, and October and November at dawn and dusk are the riskiest times. MTO’s advice: don’t veer for deer.

Insurance

Newcomers often pay more for car insurance at first. What helps:

• Your driving record and a letter of experience from home, with a certified translation.
• An approved driver-education course. A discount is possible but not guaranteed, and it also cuts the G1 wait to 8 months.
• Winter tires, for the discount insurers must offer.
• Comparing quotes from several insurers.

A speeding conviction usually affects premiums for about 3 years. Brokers estimate roughly 10–25% for one ticket; that’s an estimate, not a rate.

Questions people ask

Sources

1. DriveTest, Licence exchanges
2. DriveTest, Knowledge tests
3. ontario.ca, Get a G driver’s licence
4. Highway Traffic Act, s.128(1), s.135(3), s.144(18)–(19)
5. MTO Driver’s Handbook, Driving through intersections
6. MTO Driver’s Handbook, Signs and Driving along
7. MTO bus handbook, Stopping for school buses
8. ontario.ca, Distracted driving
9. ontario.ca, Raising speed limits on Ontario highways
10. City of Toronto, Speed limit reductions and City of Mississauga, Neighbourhood speed limits
11. City of Mississauga and Region of Waterloo (speed-camera ban)
12. Ontario Court of Justice, Set Fines Schedule 43
13. O. Reg. 455/07 (stunt driving)
14. SAAQ, Turning right on a red light and Québec.ca, Winter tires
15. CTV Barrie, MTO on wildlife collisions

Insurance figures are broker estimates. This explains the published rules; it isn’t legal advice.

More Ontario driving guides

• Ontario speeding fine calculatorTicket totals for any speed, plus the court figures.
• Can you go 20 over in Ontario?The fine, the points and the insurance hit.
• Highway 401 speed limits 2026Where it’s 110 and where it’s still 100.
• Ontario demerit pointsHow many points, how long, and when you lose your licence.