Health

Driving schools get the green light to reopen

There are many milestones in life.

One is getting your driver’s license.

But for many teenagers that rite of passage has to wait since driving schools were shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic. They are now able to open under Phase 2 of the state’s reopening plan.

Sixteen-year-old Elizabeth Buckley has been putting in the driving hours and can’t wait to finally get her license.

“I’m really excited. That’s all I’ve been talking about the last several months, so I was excited when I got the call the driving school was opening back up,” she said.

The Pembroke High sophomore was just six hours of drive time away from completing driving school when the pandemic hit

South Shore Driving Academy, like all driving schools, was forced to hit the brakes for months.

“We have to reschedule a little over 1,000 hours. Hours that were canceled, not that have to be rescheduled,” said Michelle Gronlund.

Gronlund is one of 13 driving instructors at South Shore Driving Academy. They’ve been holding online classes and plan to fully reopen Monday. When they hit the road they will have to go the extra mile under strict guidelines mandated by the RMV.

“You have to wear a mask in the car, no doubt. Student wears a mask in the car and we wear a mask in the car. We will also clean and disinfect between each student and if weather permits they like us to keep the windows down so the air can circulate while we drive,” Gronlund said.

Another change is that there will only be one student and one instructor in a car at a time. For the time being the RMV is waiving the required six hours of observation. That’s when a student watches another student drive from the backseat.

For Elizabeth Buckley, the countdown is now on.

“On my 16th birthday I went to the RMV just to get my permit and I’ve been really excited since then, since November. So I’m really excited to have it happen,” she said.

The RMV said they just started rescheduling road tests on Wednesday for students who had their road tests scheduled in March, April, and May that were canceled.

The RMV is also offering learner’s permit exams to be taken online.

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