The Safe Driver

Canada’s Worst Driver…8

Well, it’s happening again; another season of Canada’s Worst Driver. This is the 8^th season. When I first appeared as a judge during their first 3 seasons, I never thought it would last this long. Are there really that many people across our country who want to embarrass themselves on national television? Apparently there are. There are actually thousands who have “applied’ to be bad enough to be on the show. And as past years, they all want to go home after just a few days because it wasn’t as “glamorous” as they thought it was. Why would having your personality and driving abilities being made fun of be considered glamorous?

Considering that we all see bad drivers almost every day we drive, there’s something about wanting to watch people fail as they drive. Have you ever thought about your own driving? Have you ever made a comparison between one of the participants of Canada’s Worst Driver and your own driving? Maybe you should.

Over the past couple of years I’ve been able to provide insight toward what those drivers were doing and what they could have done differently. This year is no exception. As the weeks continue, keep checking back here http://bit.ly/Uij1rk  to find out what happened and maybe what should have happened. Let’s take a look at season 8’s participants;

The first participant is Azim Kanji and he’s from Edmonton. He’s a stressed out driver with a dream of wanting to drive with the “cool” guys. He’s spent over $20,000 to upgrade his vehicle but then drove it fast enough to receive a $2300 speeding ticket? More money than common sense? We’ll find out!

The next participant is Dallas Sam. She’s from Vancouver and according to her sister, she got her license through her good looks and personality and not her ability. She’s a nervous wreck behind the wheel, which contributed to her waiting 8 years to get her full license after getting her beginners license at 16 years of age. Her nervousness provides her with so much lack of confidence, should she really be driving at all? Let’s see…

Diane Zbierski is the next participant this year and she’s from Saint Jean-Sur-Richelieu Quebec. She got her license just 4 years ago when her husband asked and pleaded with her to get it. Once she got the license, she has refused to drive. Just like anything else, with lack of use, you forget things and second guess yourself. Diane is doing just that and will freak out when driving. If that’s the case, either get the much needed help or just stop driving. What will Diane do?

Flora Wang is up next and she’s from Edmonton. I think the scariest part here is that Flora had only 10 hours of driving before she was given her license! What was the examiner thinking? Like anyone with limited driving experience, she asks for a lot of advice, but then gets annoyed with people tell her what to do. Will she learn to actually become the driver or just a passenger behind the wheel? You decide.

The fifth participant this year is Kevin Simmons from McBride BC. Kevin is completely blind in his right eye, which seriously affects his depth perception and fringe vision. Kevin doesn’t seem too phased about his lack of driving ability and continues to drive – and crash. There are ways to overcome this lack of vision, but is Kevin willing to make those changes? Time will tell.

Perhaps the scariest participant this season is 18 year old Klyne Postnikoff from Kelowna BC, nominated by his mom. Klyne has written off 2 vehicles and has caused 10 collisions and has already had his license suspended in his short 2 years of driving. Perhaps his mom needs to grow up here because she keeps paying his bills each time he crashes. Will she sign his death certificate too? He needs to grow up mentally before he can become a safe driver and his mom has to let him grow up and become responsible for his own actions. Will he and will she?

The next participant is Margherita Donato from Edmonton. She’s the typical distracted driver who can’t seem to wait until she’s at her location before doing something else in the car besides driving. She tends to blame objects in her vehicle that cause her to crash as opposed to blaming herself for her crashes. Apparently her new boots caused her to crash because she was looking at them while driving. She makes the most of her time behind the wheel by doing her hair, her makeup, chatting on the phone and changing her clothes. Seriously?

The last participant is Robert Cardenas from Toronto. Robert’s main issue is that he drives far too slow for the traffic around him, mainly because of his nervousness. He’ll actually drive around 50 km/h on the local highway/freeway. Whether or not that’s a common occurrence or not, it’s needs to stop. If Robert has a hope of improving, he’ll need to gain confidence with his ability. It’s either that, or keep taking public transit. He’s even thinking of selling his car if he doesn’t improve his driving. Maybe he’s smarter than people give him credit for.

So there you have it; season 8 of Canada’s Worst Driver. As I’ve always said including the three seasons when I was a judge, why wouldn’t you go to a professional driving school instead of embarrassing yourself on national television?