SGI attempting to grapple with “sizeable” driver exam backlog

Prospective drivers in Saskatchewan could be waiting a long time to get behind the wheel for the first time.

SGI is currently working away at a backlog of driver exam appointments that had to be cancelled when the crown corporation ceased all road exams on March 18 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kwei Quaye, SGI’s vice-president of traffic safety, said efforts have ramped up in recent weeks to do as much testing as possible.

“We’re monitoring our availability as we go along,” he said. “We’ll be monitoring very closely the testing slots that become available and then we’ll start filling those with new appointments when we’re able to do so — we don’t know when that is yet.”

All prospective drivers that had Class 5 license exams booked prior to COVID-19’s arrival in Saskatchewan — about 4,500 of them, according to Quaye’s count — are being rebooked and completed in the order they were cancelled. Healthcare and agriculture workers were given top priority when the province reintroduced testing in mid-May.

Quaye said about 90 per cent of that list has been completed, and the remaining people on the list will have their exams completed in the next two weeks.

That’s when the tough work will begin.

SGI is diligently working to increase testing capacity, but without any way of knowing how many non-healthcare and non-agriculture workers have been turned away during the pandemic, SGI is bracing for an influx of thousands of people looking to get behind the wheel.

“I expect there might be a sizable amount of people waiting,” Quaye said. “It all depends on people’s willingness on to come out and do testing.”

With a usual capacity to perform 900 Class 5 exams a week across the province, coupled with no exams being offered for at least 10 weeks, it’s not unfathomable to imagine more than 9,000 people will be looking to complete a road test when exams are offered to all.

Examiners, both full-time and part-time workers, are under the most pressure to pick away at the growing list, especially considering modified exams are running at a third of the usual rate.

“Our examiners are working really hard right now. Some of them are also doing overtime just to make sure that we have more capacity,” Quaye said. “We’re also hiring additional examiners to allow us to increase capacity.”

Under the current protocols, examiners are not riding in the same vehicle as applicants. They follow behind the applicant in a trail vehicle.

Class 5 applicants are accompanied by a supervising driver who lives in the same household. The supervising driver is there as a safety precaution only, and cannot assist the applicant with the test.

Driving instructions are given by the examiner via hands-free cellphone. The applicant is only permitted to use a hands-free cellphone or Bluetooth device to receive instructions during the test.

SGI will provide a dash camera to record the driver and the view out the windshield.

Applicants are being cautious when it comes to rebooking the exam, according to Quaye.

“It’s demand and supply. The people we call to invite back to take the test have to go through an application process and some might be interested in testing and some might not be interested in testing. The demand is more dependent on the availability of the customers,” Quaye said.

Saskatchewan is better positioned than other provinces to deal with a licensing backlog. As of Sunday, New Brunswick is the only other province in Canada offering licensing exams.

There is no timeline for when licensing exams will be offered to non-essential workers.