This Thursday the Saskatchewan Safety Council (SSC) is holding a Mature Driver Refresher Course. Community Relations Coordinator with the SSC, Amanda Wood, says the program is completely free and offered in a positive open class environment.
“It's available for anybody who would like to attend but we normally see people who are age 55 and older in Saskatchewan. Participants' driver's licenses are not affected at all and there's no exams for the entire program and it's just to provide an overview of a lot of information that probably hasn't been heard for many people since they were 16 years old.”
Wood says topics covered include normal driving situations like intersections and following distance, hazardous driving environments like skids and hydroplaning, traffic guidelines like signage and road markings, and safety devices like seatbelts and airbags.
“As we age our bodies, and our driving are both affected so the program just helps to make sure the confidence is still there when you're behind the wheel and just know some things that you haven't seen in a while.”
She says they see a variety of participants, some who simply want to feel more confident in the driver's seat, and others who are deciding whether they’d like to continue driving.
“We do have some people who come and just take in all the information and decide if they are still confident to drive, or they've decided that they don't want to drive any longer. We have individuals who've been driving for a few decades, so they come to the program and just get a refresher on the information.”
Wood emphasizes the program is completely free and has no impact on licensing. They host these events across the province.
“We'll never turn away walk-ins, so we always have extra materials for the instructor if some people just heard about it and want to go.”
“We prefer registrations only because, for Weyburn's course for example, the program has a lunch that is being sponsored by Prairie Sky Co-op so we would love to get numbers to provide for the lunch so yes registration is absolutely recommended.”
The course is on November 7th at the Weyburn Credit Union community room, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a break for lunch.
Registration can be found on the SSC website HERE or by calling the toll-free line 1-855-280-7115.