New drivers will have to take classes, Quebec says

Quebec plans to make driver education mandatory and will ban hand-held cellphones in cars this fall, said Transport Minister Julie Boulet.

The measures will be tabled at the national assembly under two bills that include several recommendations from the province's working group on road safety.

Driver ed is not compulsory in Quebec, but it makes sense to have to take lessons, given that people have to follow courses in order to drive a boat or an all-terrain vehicle, Boulet said at a press conference in Montreal Tuesday.

"We have to better support our young people" when they're learning to drive, she said.

Drivers' schools are also a good place to draw attention to the dangers of drinking and driving, Boulet added.

At some point Quebec should incorporate driver education into the school system, she suggested.

Driver education doesn't necessarily produce better drivers, warned George Iny, president of the Automobile Protection Association.

"A few practical hours behind the wheel and some class theory either have no effect on collision involvement, particularly for young drivers, or actually increases [the risk] slightly," he told CBC News.

The Liberal government will also introduce legislation to deal with speeding, drinking and driving, a pilot project on photo radar, and will go ahead with plans announced earlier this year to ban hand-held cell phones in cars.

Many of the measures follow up on recommendations from a road safety working group headed by Jean-Marie De Koninck, the founder of Quebec's holiday drive-home service Opération Nez Rouge.