Las Vegas-area driving schools face instructor shortages, new DMV policy could make problem worse

By Sophia Perricone

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    LAS VEGAS (KVVU) — Many businesses are looking for new employees, including driving schools.

“We advertise everywhere to get instructors, We’re in desperate need,” said Kathy Kelly, co-owner of Safeway Driving School.

Kelly said she believes extended COVID-19 benefits, which end Saturday, are stopping her from hiring and keeping instructors.

“We’ve had 14, and now we’re down to, like, three.”

The instructor is becoming an issue new drivers are starting to feel. New student Conner Hull said it took him two months to even schedule classes.

“With how hard it is to get in, and hard it was to get in, I’m actually lucky to even have the dates I have to do the driving on the roads and be bale to learn all of this stuff,” he said.

Kelly said finding instructors is about to get even harder.

Typically, new teachers are required to take 30 hours of drivers education classes, plus five hours behind the wheel.

Starting Sept. 1, Kelly said the DMV is changing that.

“DMV would like some type of certificate stating that they have done some type of instruction, anywhere, and I guess in any profession,” Kelly explained.

If they don’t show proof of any type of certification, the training goes from 35 hours total to 115.

“Is anybody going to wait that long to be employed once they start – if they ever come back to work?” Kelly said.

As of Tuesday, Safeway doesn’t have enough instructors to get new students in until the middle of November.

Hull said his girlfriend is one of those waiting. but he’s using his luck to help her in the meantime.

“With me helping trying to do this, I can also help them learn a little bit, be able to help them prepare for the drivers test,” he said.

But while he tries to do his part until more people can get on the books, he’s concerned about the long-term effects of instructor shortages, and what it’ll mean for the safety of the rest of the valley on the roads.

“We definitely need to be able to understand what it’s like to drive on the roads, be able to properly pass on knowledge to be safe on the road,” Hull said.

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