Mandatory course coming for some newcomers seeking a P.E.I. driver's licence

P.E.I. Highway Safety is introducing a newcomer novice driver course this September that will be mandatory for some immigrants seeking a driver's licence.

"Driving is a complex activity anywhere, and it gets even more complex with our winter weather in P.E.I.," said Transportation, Infrastructure and Energy Minister Steven Myers in a news release from the province.

The Newcomers Novice Driver Course (NNDC) will apply todrivers exchanging a driver'slicence from a non-reciprocity country, the release said.

Newcomers are required to get a P.E.I. licence shortly after becoming a residentand the new driver education course will be required before a road test. The course will take five hours and be taught in one or two sessions, the release said.

"Some items to discuss are things like child safety seats, boosters seats, the impact of air bags if deployed if a small child is in the front seat, registrations and inspections are annual, differences in the type of insurance, the use of winter tires," said Graham Miner, director of highway safety division in an email to CBC.

Miner said in the email there hasn't been an increase in accidents involving newcomers.

Exemptions to the new rule

There are a few exemptions. Visitors to the Island are not required to exchange their driver's licence. Newcomers who have taken an approved P.E.I. driver's education course are not required to take the course, officials with the province said in the release.

P.E.I. currently has formal reciprocity agreements with Austria, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

"When we form a licence reciprocity agreement with a country, it is because we know the driver training programs in that country and we can easily verify the driver's history," Miner said in an email.

He also said the province has been doing a pilot in Mandarin.

Anyone interested in exchanging their licence can contact their nearest Access PEI for information on the course and to register.

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