Driver education debacle shows no signs of ending

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/05/2025 (310 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Demand for the Driver Z program offered by Manitoba Public Insurance continues to outstrip the number of available spaces in rural Manitoba. And as we go into another frustrating summer season for teens who were unable to access the popular program this week, we have to ask — yet again — why MPI has not properly addressed the problem.

This year was supposed to be different. MPI announced earlier this month that it would be offering Driver Z condensed courses in Brandon and other Manitoba communities this summer as a means to increase access to the high school driver education program.

The courses are to be offered in July across Brandon, Arborg, Beausejour, Portage la Prairie, Steinbach, Winkler and Winnipeg, with a second intake planned in August to be offered in Brandon, Steinbach, The Pas, Winkler and Winnipeg. Registration for summer courses was to begin on May 28 at 8 a.m.

Recall that the Driver Z program is an education initiative that combines online and in-car learning to equip students aged 15 and a half or older with essential skills for safe driving, allowing them to register and begin their driver-training experience. This kind of preparatory course is very helpful in conditioning new drivers with good driving habits — little wonder why it’s seen as an essential component of our driving education.

MPI updated the summer plan after frustrated rural parents and teens complained of having been forced for a number of years now to line up overnight just for a chance to get their names down for one of a limited number of available slots.

Last October, for example, scores of parents and their children braved cool morning weather to line up outside Guild Insurance on Victoria Avenue, striving for a coveted spot in the program. While some of the parents arrived at the location a night earlier, others joined the queue as early as 2 a.m. It was the same story a year ago this month — same lineup, same frustrations.

And based on what we saw yesterday morning, the scene in Brandon has not changed one whit.

On Wednesday morning, a lineup of western Manitoba parents and teenage kids could be seen queuing around the block outside Guild Insurance on Victoria Avenue and other locations around Brandon as they waited in line to enrol in the Driver Z program. In spite of the apparent efforts to improve access to the program, we were told yesterday that only 588 summer course spots were available this year — and only 204 of those available outside of the city of Winnipeg.

For any kid looking to gain summer employment later this year or the next, a driver’s licence is often essential. But it’s hardly just an employment issue.

Why on earth does MPI think it is acceptable to force teenage kids to wait — sometimes with their parents, often without them — outside of an insurance office literally overnight? There were students there from as far away as Miniota and CFB Shilo waiting in line, many of whom were out of luck after the doors opened.

We wrote about this problem in 2023 as well, but the lack of funding and staffing for open course spots is hardly a new problem. We had already been reporting the fact that students were having trouble accessing driver’s ed programming eight years ago. Here’s a quote from a story we published on May 16, 2017:

“At Guild Insurance Brokers, staff levels were bolstered for their 8 a.m. opening, at which clients were advised to arrive early in order to secure the elusive spots. About 15 vehicles were in the parking lot waiting for the doors to open, (the) auto department team leader said, reporting 30 people having registered for classes within about an hour of their opening.

“Some of these registrations will have to be pushed forward to autumn classes as the summer spots fill out, with a stream of prospective students continuing to come in throughout the day, long after the summer classes had filled up.”

We said it last October, but it bears repeating — we question whether MPI and the provincial government are approaching the Driver Z issue with the level of seriousness it requires. Last year, MPI said it was ”reviewing compensation, training and support for instructors to attract and retain instructors,” but this situation has clearly not improved.

As we said before, the province needs to consider other driver education models for teens, whether in partnership with MPI or independent of the Crown corporation. And yes, that may include private driver-training businesses — like those we have here in Brandon — to help with the course load.

Manitobans living outside of Winnipeg need and deserve a driver education program that meets the needs of all students.

And our youth and their parents shouldn’t have to stand outside all night just to get it.