Safety NL welcomes you to June

The 24th of May weekend came and went with little fanfare for most of us as we continue to protect ourselves and those around us from the threat of the pandemic. We have had a 20 day stretch with no new cases but as May comes to an end there was at least one new case. We all hope this is not the start of a new wave and that early June will see us able to move safely to Level 3 alert. But we all know we must continue to maintain a high level of vigilance to ensure we keep our province safe until a vaccine is available.

At Safety NL we have had another busy month in May. While our offices remain closed to the general public, we have held meetings and had discussions with officials from Motor Registration Division, health, PPE providers and others. We are following all recommendations and suggestions for dealing with Covid-19 as we move forward with plans to return to a new normal way of doing business. In our discussions with Motor Registration officials we were given permission to complete our March Learn to Drive program in an online format. This was an historic move, as Safety NL became the very first driving school in the province to go online with a graduated driver program. We are moving forward with making this delivery method a normal part of our program delivery moving forward.

In May we developed an online version of our Think First Alcohol Education course which Motor Registration Division has approved, and we are now working on our Points Reduction and Responsible Driver Workshops and hope to have approval to offer online versions of these courses in June. Following the guidelines set down by the Chief Medical Officer we have been able to teach limited in class sessions in Responsible Driver Workshop to groups of nine students and an instructor following health screening questionnaires and keeping physical distancing within the classroom. PPE was also a part of this new teaching environment.

Likewise, we began a Learn to Drive course in Labrador West using an approved safe facility and again keeping class sizes of nine students and one instructor. Protocols were again put in place to adhere to all health guidelines and they were strictly enforced. We are now looking at resuming in class courses in other parts of the province.

During the May 24th weekend we held the annual recertification for our motorcycle instructors from Grand Falls-Windsor and Mount Pearl. We offered our first motorcycle course of the year at the last weekend of May and have our classes full for the next few weekends. Again, safety protocols were in place for all sessions. We look forward to a successful motorcycle season in 2020 and hope people looking for a new activity while the pandemic continues might find motorcycle riding as an enjoyable option.

With June approaching we are preparing for the move to Level Three of the Government restrictions and the eventual return to in car training. We are looking at ways to put students and instructors in vehicles while protecting the health and safety of all. We have purchased a supply of PPE and we are exploring other options for sanitizing vehicles. While awaiting the return to in car training, we have remained in constant contact with the parents of students whose program was interrupted in March by providing them with a series of blogs on teaching their children to drive. These appear to be well received. In preparing to return to in car work, we have been in discussions with the Miller Center staff, as well, who do medical driver assessments. Since we assist with these, we need to follow their standards when working with their clients.

Safety NL continues to work with Municipalities NL in offering webinars in Business Continuity, Emergency Preparedness and other related areas. This is an opportunity for us to expand our suite of courses into new areas and with new clients. We are always looking for ways to spread the safety message.

As May ends, there are many high school students holding high school graduations in these unusual times. Safety NL joins with so many other organizations in wishing them a happy high school graduation. While they are limited in what they can do to celebrate, we hope they all know that the whole country wishes them the brightest of futures as we look forward to a time when Covid-19 is no longer a threat.