Are you prepared for Canada’s Worst Drivers
I do not know if introducing my wife to watch “Canada’s Worst Driver” show was a good thing or a bad thing. After a couple of years of Amanda not driving, with me being at home with our home based business she became used to me doing all the driving. She recently got the courage in the last couple of months to drive the streets and highways once again, until she watched Canada’s Worst Drivers season 4, and it was the last show of that season she watched. (then we went back that night on their website and watched the entire season, Amanda really broke down in a nervous fit then thinking of getting behind the wheel again)
Almost in tears her fears came rushing back why she is terrified to get behind the wheel of our truck, and not from her own driving skills. My wife a very good driver always a defensive driver from attending Young Driver’s of Canada as a new teen getting her license (many years ago), taught her defensive driving is a must and has avoided many accidents because of it. Now she understands more then ever why full attention while driving is necessary. Those drivers on the road who are not defensive drivers, are utterly offensive drivers, in the worst possible sense of the word.
I’ll give an example of how good driving habits can save your life by an incident my wife found herself in one Easter long weekend while driving home from my office. A rainy spring day and going the speed limit in our rear wheel drive vehicle at the time found herself hitting a patch of black ice. The vehicle spun out, not just once but three donuts on the road, as it crossed over to the other side onto the Durham College campus lawn doing donuts (leaving tire imprints), regaining control of her vehicle back on pavement across the road where she was able to pull over to the shoulder unharmed and undamaged.
A driver behind her witnessed the entire event, pulled over, jumped out of his vehicle, and ran over to my wife as she sat in the car stunned, shocked, and shaken up. His first question to her was “Are you alright?”, when she said “I’m fine’ he then proceeded to tell her how amazing she handled the car, and how impressed he was with her skill. Her call came to me crying and I had to have an employee drive me to her so I could drive her home. No way was she in any condition to continue after that scare.
The road she traveled on that day was a road known for transport trucks to travel on a regular basis and only a minute or two after her regaining control of her vehicle, transport trucks were oncoming once again. This taught my wife one good lesson, on a cold day in the rain, beware of black ice. If a transport had been oncoming at the time of her spin out, her chances of survival would have been slim.
Although this wasn’t her fault of bad driving skills except maybe not slowing down from the speed limit in wet cold weather, her instinct of what she did learn years prior in Young Driver’s came back to her on how to regain control of her vehicle. It was a rear wheel drive, much easier to control in that situation, but it could have been worse if she panicked, or did not remember at that last minute how to control her vehicle.
With that said, she also has a few driving habits that need to be corrected like using her side mirrors, something she refuses to do. She’ll check her rear view every few seconds while driving to know who is behind her but when it comes to side mirrors for backing up, she will not do. Parallel parking, something I find one of the easiest things to do, I’ve watched her when she’s come to visit me at work trying to parallel park to then leave the vehicle sideways on the road after attempt after attempt to just come into my office in tears telling me to go park it. Pulling out when she would leave I’d have to do that too and pointing the vehicle so all she had to do was put it in drive and go. Pulling in or backing into a tight parking spot in a parking lot, forget it, she’ll find the parking spot that has no cars around even if it means parking at the furthest distance on the coldest day.
Not that she hasn’t tried, but between frustration and her laughing so hysterically as other drivers watch her shaking their head, she now avoids it completely if she possibly can.
I’ve also had her call me in tears lost on city streets having no clue where she’s going which inhibits her ability to drive safely. Overall, yes we all have our quirks when it comes to driving but nothing compared to what I watch on the show we recently added to our weekly TV programming.
With the start of season five of Canada’s Worst Driver it brings back memories of countless accidents that I have had to deal with in the 35 years of being in the automotive business. I have said on numerous occasions I felt my job is morbid; I rely on bad drivers and their accidents to make a living. Automobile accidents are just that, an accident or for some people, they themselves are an accident waiting for a place to happen. Many times over and over again witnessing the out come from small fender benders to fatal crashes bring back haunting and some times outrageous images of how drivers at times can be so lackadaisical in just taking unnecessary risks while driving on some of the busiest highways in North America.
Host Andrew Younghusband heads this show up and a panel of four judges of which one is former Sergeant Cam Woolley of the OPP. Cam Woolley was the voice of the OPP for years giving his accounts of bad drivers and just plain dumb driving on the long weekends. The strangest incident he witnessed was a man playing a violin while driving down the highway. This show while showing the humorous side for the inability of drivers to fully understand the simple concept of driving safe, gives us the idea that some drivers purposely drive carelessly while others let their rage take over or their absolute fear of the roads. The whole premise of the show is to teach drivers who by the most part really do not care of their surroundings, are being taught through sometimes extreme situations that force them to improve on their driving skills.
These drivers who are voted in by their peers are there because they pose a hazard to themselves or to others, whether it is other drivers or even pedestrians walking or biking down the road. Most of these high-risk drivers that come on the show just do not utilize all their skills for making our roads safe. Most of these drivers do not use their mirrors in situations that warrant it or stopping in the middle of the road because they are confused or even more dangerous running red lights and stop signs on purpose because they get a high from the thrill of breaking the law. as is the case from one elderly in the last season who openly admitted she gets a thrill from this all the while guzzling her booze concealed in a non alcoholic bottle while driving. Do I want to be in the same town she resides in, I think not!
This show while entertaining is in fact a showcase for some really bad drivers and in some cases very inexperienced ones of course the almost laughable side of how inept these drivers can really be. A few drivers needed to be expelled from the show simply because they showed no signs of improvement or are just downright bad drivers who should loose their license on the spot.
Unfortunately, the show has no legal authority to suspend licenses, but with this show televised nationally, you can bet that big brother is watching very closely. A prime example is the case with the booze guzzling women from Sault Ste. Marie who loves to run stop signs and drink while driving not caring who knew she was is now having her license reviewed by the Ministry of Transport to see if it should be revoked. The drinking, the ‘rush’ she explains while running stop signs and red lights, and that in stressful situations she ends up having near heart attacks, needing her nitro we all witnessed her doing on the show, proves this woman behind the wheel of a car is like giving a child a loaded gun and telling them to point and shoot. She openly admits hitting a pedestrian and a bicyclist while she was drunk. How she kept her license even until then is somewhat dumbfounding but even more so, terrifying.
In each episode, the drivers get back their license and graduate from the show to return to their respective places of residence hoping what they learned remains planted in their head to remain a licensed, conscience and overall safe driver. The last episode of the season, one person is crowned the winner or should I say the loser of Canada’s Worse Driver. Season 4 brought a hotheaded foul-mouthed woman from Medicine Hat, Alberta to the podium that could not contain her sanity behind the wheel, constantly fighting with her husband while breaking down. While this was entertaining for the audience to watch, it also showed us of just how much road rage is out there and how extreme it can be when people get behind the wheel and cannot comprehend the meaning staying focused while driving.
I for one having traveled to work totaling 160km/day for many years witnessed some pretty stupid drivers on the roads exemplifying the fact how unsafe especially during rush hour they really are.
Let’s take the driver for example who is traveling on a bumper to bumper highway getting irritated by the minute because he cannot pass nor even come close to the posted speed limit. Looking in my rear view mirror time and time again these rubberneckers constantly weave their car back and forth behind you almost touching your bumper trying to get a glimpse of what lies ahead. Honking their horns to waving their arms in the air to flipping you the bird just because I happen to be in front of him expecting me to pull over when in fact the lanes are so jammed it makes it impossible or unsafe to do so. These type of drives really believe they own the road and you are trespassing on their roadway as if it belonged to them.
Both men and women who practice the art of getting ready for work while in their vehicle astounds me that these people should just wake up just a little bit earlier to shave or apply their makeup before hand. Then there are the shoulder drivers who for some unexplained reason think that the shoulder of the road is just another lane for the chosen few who decide to take this dangerous route of travel. While some of these drivers possess the inability to drive safe the ones who tow your vehicle away also can be a hazard on the road.
Speaking from many years of experience in the automotive repair business, tow truck drivers who prey upon accident victims as they sit on the shoulder of the highway or off ramp with their scanners on and as soon as they hear of an accident near them it’s off to the races to see who gets there first. Screaming down the shoulder of the road or passing other drivers like they are the police or some sort of authoritative figure who come to the rescue of victims of accidents. Just for the commission of the repair bill at unscrupulous body shops. Some of these drivers get a commission of around 15% of the repair bill. This major problem is spread out over all of North America and other parts of the globe. They too have caused many accidents including death on our streets and highways.
While not all tow truck drivers fall into this category the chosen ones who abide by the rules of the road do help a great deal by assisting police in clearing the road ways efficiently to minimize traffic congestion especially during rush hour.
Working in body shops I can attest to the aftermath of some of these drivers for lack of ingenuity in dodging the real bullet when it comes time for their insurance premiums to be affected. Some drivers are what you call repeat offenders of accidents. Month after month, you see a pattern develop with some of these drivers willing to shell out thousands of dollars to repair their vehicles because their insurance premiums are so outrageous from claimed accidents.
A story I use as a prime example is of a customer of mine who drove a BMW for her rather sordid business of say “lady of the evening” activities. This woman had been involved in at least 10 accidents with her vehicles, her at fault and twice while her car was in for repairs, she damaged the rental car she was given. We discovered she was using her car as a traveling brothel giving her pleasures to paying customers. The evidence was in hand with used condoms and other unmentionables inside her vehicle. In the end with numerous accidents under her belt, (or skirt) she actually believed that if she changed the colour of her car from silver to blue it would improve her driving habits, and so change the colour she did.
But alas once again while plying her trade she backed up into a dump truck causing incredible damage to her vehicle and the dump truck was for the most part undamaged. Over the course of the year she had spent about $80,000.00 in repairs to her car all paid in cash. Sure it kept us busy in repairs and my commission on her damages I can’t complain, in the end the leasing company had to take back the vehicle when they found out she did more the use the vehicle for it’s intended purpose, driving.
Another gentleman customer of mine who was 90 years old retired his vehicle to the graveyard with one last hit and subsequently admitted he should not be driving at all and gave up his license right at the body shop. That is what we call a responsible driver, but then again it took him until he was 90 and numerous accidents to do it. It sometimes dumbfounds me how repeat accident offenders don’t have their license taken away, even if they pay cash, maybe repair shops should be reporting these people to the license bureau.
Another customer had his BMW in for repairs twice for single car accidents totaling about $60,000.00 in repairs while being investigated by his insurance company for driving while having a suspended license. The driver actually tried to make a claim by trying to convince the insurance company that his keys stolen within his residence with his car and later recovered around the block from his house.
The investigator form his insurance company went to his house and found debris from his car around a large tree on his front lawn and proceeded to knock on the door of his house to be challenged by two Rottweiler’s baring canines at him. Needless to say nobody in their right mind would attempt to even enter the house with those two dogs waiting for a meal at the front door. The driver had actually wrapped his car around the tree while having a suspended license.
The list goes on and on with so many drivers being careless and not giving any care in the world to the consequences of their actions.
Why is it that the ministry of transportation even allows such buffoonery on the roads in the first place is beyond words?
With season five under way we will witness more bad driving antics to make you shake your head and wonder if one of these drivers is in a neighbourhood near you.
Here’s One Amazing Attempt at Parking… and to think I worked in this neighbourhood not to long ago
Basically why Amanda tries to find the furthest parking spot when possible.. looks way to much like it could have been her
And for some home video of our own — Teaching our then 13 year old son how to drive .. not to worry it was in a deserted park we were spending time at.
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