Ontario G driving test changes done without safety evaluations, auditor finds

A decision to remove certain elements of the G class driving test in Ontario was done without safety evaluations or formal approval from cabinet, the province’s auditor general says.

A decision to remove certain elements of the G class driving test in Ontario was done without safety evaluations or formal approval from cabinet, the province’s auditor general says.

In his 2023 Annual General Report, acting auditor general Nick Stavropoulos noted that a change to the test, which removed what the government called “duplicative” elements such as emergency stops, three-point turns and parallel parking, was made “without the support of proper policy analysis.”

The test changes were made in an effort to clear a backlog of hundreds of thousands of appointments stemming from closures related to the COVID-19 pandemic. They were supposed to be temporary, however in June 2022, the government announced the modified test would remain in place permanently due to “high demand for class G road tests across Ontario.”

The minister of transportation at the time, Caroline Mulroney, said this would help streamline the process as the maneuvers cut are still part of the standard G2 tests.

However, the auditor general report notes that about 54,000 drivers from other countries, who can bypass the G2 road test if they have a driver’s licence from their home country, are no longer being tested for those techniques in Ontario.

“Important skills, such as parallel parking, three-point turns, and driving in proximity to pedestrians, were not consistently assessed.”

The report notes that in 2020, the ministry funded 84 additional driver examiners to help reduce a 500,000-passenger road test backlog.