Canada’s Worst Driver…7
So it’s happening again; another season of Canada’s Worst Driver. This is season 7 and to be quite honest, after 7 seasons, has it run its course? I know there’s a following of this show across our great land as I still get recognized from my stint as a judge on the show for seasons one, two and three. But are we tired of seeing bad drivers showcased to make themselves look worse; both as a driver and as a person?
As the series continues each week, I’ll take a look at what the participants have done during each show and question their poor judgement and reward their good judgement. My goal is for each of you to look at them and compare your own driving and driving personalities to what you’ve seen. Maybe you need to change your own driving style too.
The first participant is Aaron Cheshire. He was in a near fatal crash that caused retrograde amnesia. He couldn’t remember his father or how to walk or….drive. He never lost his license, which confuses me because the medical officer should have taken it away from him. I commend Aaron for his urge to never give up and wanting to gain his confidence back again, but on national television? I know there are many reputable organizations out there that can help Aaron with his skill level. Can these challenges help him enough?
The next participant is Tab Parks. She’s the typical nervous driver; her anxiety grows each time she’s away from her driving comfort zone. Adding to this is her inability to understand basic traffic rules. Wouldn’t it be better for Tab if she studied the rules until she knew them and then took proper driver training? Doing challenges that CWD provides isn’t necessarily going to help her in the way she needs. That’s because she’s not only out of her comfort zone, she’s out of her province! She’s on CWD to gain confidence. We’ll see how well she does.
The third participant is Lauri Bencharski. Lauri does to herself what many other drivers across the driving world do to themselves when they drive; she distracts herself. Lauri is an animal lover so she takes her 2 dogs, cat and bird with her whenever she drives. If she truly is an animal lover, she would leave them at home. Not only are they a visual and mental distraction to the driver, if she had to suddenly stop or swerve to miss another road user, the animals could be seriously injured. I think I’m more concerned for the safety of the animals here than I am with Lauri.
The next participant for this season is Afiya Lassy. Afiya needs major help. She’ll run red lights on purpose, drive close to pedestrians to make them scatter and tends to hog the road. I’m not sure what would be better for Afiya; driver rehab or psychological rehab? Maybe if the shoe was on the other foot she may understand her driving is dangerous to not only the other road users, but to her and her passengers. She’s here to prove her friends wrong. See, I told you she needs psychological rehab!
Another participant is Sly Grosjean. Sly is addicted to modern technology related to driving. Since he has difficulty with directions, he completely relies on his GPS. Apparently he never has to think while driving. Logic and common sense don’t seem to be with this driver as he’ll blame his broken technology as opposed to accepting the blame himself…for anything. It’ll be interesting to see how he does on these challenges when electronic technology doesn’t come into play.
The sixth participant is Jon Parsons. Jon has a rush of adrenaline when it comes to driving at high speeds. This sounds familiar. During season two of Canada’s Worst Driver we had a driver who kept saying that “speeding is safer”. (Sorry Sean!) We have always had someone who seems to have a speeding issue on this series. I think the solution can be easy if Jon met up with a professional race driver who took him to the track and showed him the thrill it is to race there. Perhaps then racing on public roads wouldn’t have the same thrill.
Ben Reiman is the seventh participant this season on Canada’s Worst Driver. Ben and his wife can’t be in the vehicle together any longer. That’s because Ben doesn’t seem to grasp how to drive any longer. His lack of understanding means he should probably take a more detailed driver training program and not do these challenges that CWD asks of him. We’ll see how he progresses each week.
The last participant this season is Shirley Sampson. Shirley seems to have the total package…to become Canada’s Worst Driver! She can’t drive with traffic, doesn’t know basic rules and road signs, doesn’t who how to steer and when she gets confused; which seems like it a lot of the time; just stops her vehicle where ever she is in traffic. I’m curious to see how she does this season as well. My money is on her to get to the final three.
So there you have it; season 7 of Canada’s Worst Driver. As I’ve always said, including the three seasons I was a judge on the series, why someone would go on national television to showcase their poor driving and sometimes embarrassing personalities? Would you?
Great post Scott, and I’ve nominated someone for the show because he needed a dose of humble pie and some instruction too! He wasn’t ‘bad enough’ for the show but even being nominated got him thinking about his driving a bit.
I wouldn’t go on the show, unless it was to drive and share about my personal pet driving peeves- awareness and safe gravel road driving. I shared with you on FB about the accident I watched happen and aided at last week.
Anyone who goes on the show should be commended for their courage to be challenged in the public eye like that. Having gotten to know a few of the former nominees I can say it has helped them but often in ways they did not expect.
Perhaps the best thing about Canada’s Worst Driver is that it gives all of us watching a chance to see some really bad drivers and learn some important driving techniques. I know I have the most traffic and road aware homeschooler around because we have watched the show with him from the start. He knows his signs, road safety and is very aware of other drivers when we are out and about. That alone has value because too many people are so unaware of what is going on around them, fatally unaware.
I hope Andrew keeps going with the show, and I hope they can find their way to some different challenges and really keeping it about driving better and not about the drama of watching horrible drivers!
No I wouldnt go on national television to embarass myself
I would and did go on this national television for two good reasons. One I wanted driving lessons from experts.This shows has the best.! No where would one be able to practice avoidance techniques on our roads. That’s just one example. The other reason for agreeing to this show was for fun.That I had(with lots of stress and tears added). The friendships and laughs I took away with me are priceless. So please watch and enjoy. Don’t be so critical!
Thanks for your comment Shirley. However, most people across Canada who watch the show are critical of everyone there. It’s the premise of Canada’s WORST Driver. The moment anyone goes on television, they become fair game to be applauded… or criticized. It’s par for the course. I wish you well, but everyone on the show is fair game. Watch and listen to the experts on the show as each episode continues and you’ll see they too are critical of the actions of each driver. It was like that when I was a judge on CWD for seasons 1, 2 and 3. It’s nothing personal, it’s about becoming a safer driver. I applaud you for wanting to improve your driving ability. I hope it works for you. I still chat with members from the show when I did it as well. For the most part, they had fun too! Take care.
Oh, I know all is fair and I love that about it. When I agreed to the show I was willing for the positive and negative. Thanks for the response and we will keep watching!!
You will always be the #1 Captain in many lives….. thats all that matters xoxo:)
What do the participants do for a living? I cant find this info.
That information is hard to find. Most of that info is kept secret by the production company so their personal life remains… personal.
Hey Scott,
Here are a few of the reasons that I think CWD deserves to continue its run for as long as people are willing to be put through their paces as participants of the Canada’s Worst Driver t.v. show.
Every time CWD shows a driving lesson and then follows it up with a challenge, those of us watching from home have a chance to learn something. How can that be a bad thing? Personally, I enjoy best Phillipe’s advanced techniques, leading me to consider taking an advanced driving course myself. On national t.v.? Hmm… not sure I’m that brave! Nevertheless, if I’m considering this, perhaps there are others too. That’s got to be a good thing: More driver education in Canada… safer roads.
Next, please consider the spotlight that CWD shines on what often turn out to be the most memorable of participants such as the very courageous and likeable Aaron from this season (2011). I’ve just finished watching the episode that shows John vowing to stop speeding outrageously and to stop texting while driving. Perhaps there are more people like John whose eyes have been opened by Aaron and his story and to the very real danger that distracted, speeding drivers present on our roads. Maybe there are people watching who, in John’s words, “don’t want to be that guy”.
Finally, yes, it’s a good thing that the show is critical of the participating drivers’ skills. This helps the drivers (and us) learn. Of course, in any critique, it helps to include positive feedback, as long as it honest. Honestly, I think CWD does a great job of balancing humour and sensitivity with the seriousness that driving demands of all of us.
Thank you to all the participants for having the courage to help us learn from your mistakes.
Thanks for your thoughts Jay. Apparently, the show’s actions are making you think about your driving. That works for me!
Your comment sums it up perfectly, not everyone would want to be on t.v. but, ‘EVERYONE” could truly learn something from watching,whether it be a driving skill… or a reminder to not use a cell phone while driving or multi tasking… sadly… distracted driving is more common than most will admit to, if people were honest about it everyone has done it at some point in their lives.I hope people will think twice after weatching this season.. it only takes a second, lets do our part one by one to make our roads a llittle safer.:)
Thank you for your comment L.B. I also think you added a key point…honesty. If drivers were more honest with themselves, crashes, injury and road deaths would decrease significantly. Thanks again.
Hi my name is Desiree I’m 23 yrs old and I wanted to thank Aaron Cheshire for helping me with my struggles with driving! I was in a bad car accident last year I suffer from ptsd and I almost lost my hand/ wrist and mid arm and I have a plate and screws holing my wrist together I was absolutely devastated after the accident because I loved driving before the accident but now I’m completely scared to drive ! It’s like I’ve forgotten how to drive and I’m constantly in fear of driving even sitting in a car made me cry ! I watched Aaron go through the challenges when I was recovering from my accident and I was in tears the whole time I was also inspired by him to over come my fear ! I even applied for CWD season 9 because if they could have helped you with confidence and real life skills they could help me ! I’m slowly getting back to normal i take it one day at a time ! Thank you Aaron and CWD !!!