Driving abroad
Driving in Canada means driving on the right, with a drink drive limit of 0.08 percent federally, with provincial suspensions from 0.05 and motorway speeds of 100 to 120 km/h. Everything below is the practical version, the things that actually cost visitors money or time.
Wildlife on the Icefields Parkway and the Cabot Trail is a real risk at dawn and dusk. Slow down rather than swerve.
Once the paperwork is sorted, this is what you came for. Icefields Parkway, Duffey Lake Road, Cabot Trail are among the highest scoring roads we hold in Canada, and all of them are open to any road legal car.
Motorway limit
100 to 120 km/h
Outside towns
80 to 90 km/h
Built up areas
50 km/h
Drink drive limit
0.08 percent federally, with provincial suspensions from 0.05
Checked by the Drivers Atlas desk
Scored and written by the Drivers Atlas editorial desk, drawing on driven routes across the UK and Europe, mapping data and member road reports. A planning summary, not legal advice. Check the national road authority before you travel. How we score roads.
Last reviewed 29 March 2026
The detail
Rare. Highway 407 near Toronto is the main one and bills by plate.
Quebec requires winter tyres from 1 December to 15 March, and mountain highways in British Columbia require them from October.
None.
A foreign licence is accepted for short visits.
Nothing mandatory
911
Now the good part
Alberta
Glacier after glacier lines a road through the spine of the Canadian Rockies.
British Columbia
An empty mountain road of long climbs and glacial lakes beyond Whistler.
Nova Scotia
A headland loop of steep coastal climbs on Cape Breton, magic in autumn.
British Columbia
Fjord walls on one side, coastal peaks on the other, all the way to Whistler.
Yukon
A gravel road across the Arctic Circle through tundra and unbroken silence.
British Columbia
Three mountain passes, canyon walls and long empty straights through the interior.
Common questions
Motorways 100 to 120 km/h, main roads outside towns 80 to 90 km/h, and built up areas 50 km/h. Lower limits are posted and always take priority.
Rare. Highway 407 near Toronto is the main one and bills by plate.
0.08 percent federally, with provincial suspensions from 0.05. Roadside testing is routine and the safest approach on a driving tour is nothing at all before you drive.
Quebec requires winter tyres from 1 December to 15 March, and mountain highways in British Columbia require them from October.
Nothing mandatory. Emergency number is 911.
A foreign licence is accepted for short visits.