01
Pre-trip, one-handed and offline.
Tap through the twelve points with a live progress bar — no keyboard, no signal needed. Reorder them or add your own checks in Settings; it's your list, not ours.
Free resource
The driving instructor checklist, all three of them.
An instructor runs three checklists in a day: the one at the curb before the car moves, the one in their head while the student drives, and the one that keeps their records straight. Here are all three, written for BC — free to print, free to copy, no account needed.
Checklist 01
The pre-trip inspection, twelve points.
Run it with the student, not for them. Two minutes at the curb does three jobs at once: it catches the flat tire, it demonstrates that you take the safety check seriously, and it teaches a habit the student needs for their own road test.
01Pre-trip · at the curb
- Student has their licenceClass 7L or 7N on their person, before the vehicle moves.
- Dashboard warning lightsNothing lit. If something is, the lesson doesn't start — that's the lesson.
- Fuel or charge levelEnough for the route you've planned, plus the detour you haven't.
- Seat & headrest adjustedSet for this student's height — full pedal reach, clear sightlines, headrest behind the head not the neck.
- Mirrors alignedDriver, passenger and rear-view — adjusted after the seat, with the student already sitting properly.
- Seat beltsEvery occupied seat, latch-tested. Including yours.
- Tire pressure & conditionVisual on all four plus a thumb test. Look for the wear you'd notice and the student wouldn't.
- Lights & signalsHeadlights, brake lights, both indicators, hazards. Have the student walk round while you press.
- Wipers & defrosterBoth speeds, washer spray, rear defroster. In a BC winter this is not a formality.
- Fluid levelsOil, washer, coolant.
- Brake checkFoot brake pedal pressure before moving; confirm the parking brake actually holds.
- HornOne quick test. Cheap to check, awkward to discover you needed it.
This is a general-purpose list for a car used in Class 5/7 instruction. Your school, your insurer or your own vehicle may call for more — add to it rather than trimming it.
Checklist 02
The twelve skills to mark every lesson.
These are the things a BC road test actually looks at. Rate each one the same way every lesson — satisfactory, developing, needs attention — and a picture builds itself. One lesson's marks are an opinion; twelve lessons of marks are evidence, and evidence is what convinces a nervous parent and a hesitant student that they're ready, or that they aren't yet.
02In the lesson
- Pre-trip inspectionDid they run it themselves, or wait to be prompted?
- Mirror & shoulder checksThe single most-failed habit. Watch the head, not the mirror.
- Speed controlAppropriate to the zone and the conditions, not just under the sign.
- Following distance & space managementSpace in front, and awareness of what's beside and behind.
- Right turnsLane position, speed on approach, checking the crosswalk they're turning across.
- Left turnsGap judgement and wheel position while waiting — straight, not pre-turned.
- Intersection managementScanning, right-of-way, and the decision at a stale green.
- Lane changesSignal, mirror, shoulder, move — in that order, every time.
- Highway mergingMatching speed on the ramp instead of arriving hopeful at 50.
- Parking & reversingParallel, stall and hill parking; reversing with eyes up, not on the camera.
- Pedestrian & crosswalk awarenessSeeing the person about to step out, not just the one already crossing.
- Communication & signallingSignalling early enough to be useful, and cancelling afterwards.
A note on marking honestly: a student who is rated "satisfactory" on everything from lesson three has learned nothing from your marks. The developing ratings are the ones that make the record worth keeping.
Checklist 03
What has to end up in the record.
Division 27 of BC's Motor Vehicle Act Regulations sets out what a driving instructor keeps on file, and for how long. This is the short version — the checklist to run against your own paperwork before somebody else runs it for you.
03The record
- Student identityFull name, driver's licence or learner permit number, date of birth, mailing address, phone.
- Date of each lessonPer lesson, not per package.
- Start and end timeRecorded in 24-hour clock on the record itself.
- DurationWhat was actually taught, not what was booked, if the two differ.
- Subject coveredWhat the hour was spent on — the field most often left blank and most obviously blank on inspection.
- Fee chargedPer lesson. This is also the number your bookkeeping needs.
- Instructor identityYour name on every record; your ICBC instructor licence number if you have one.
- Night-driving hours flaggedClass 7 learners need ten of their sixty hours after dark — flag it per lesson or reconstruct it later, painfully.
- Signatures where requiredEnrolment consent, and a student sign-off on the lesson record where you use one.
- Kept for six yearsRetained, not deleted when a student passes. Plan the storage before you need it.
This is a plain-language summary written to be useful, not a legal document, and requirements change. Confirm the current wording against the regulation itself and against ICBC's published guidance before relying on it. copilotBC is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by ICBC. More detail on our compliance page.