The Safe Driver

Canada’s Worst Driver 8…the updates

So here it is; another season of Canada’s Worst Driver. This is the 8^th year that people try to prove to others they aren’t bad drivers or try to get the much needed help they or other people wish they could get. I like to think that by watching what these drivers do, others who watch them may actually relate their own driving to them and maybe…just maybe…improve their own driving or at least want to. To help, since I was a judge for the first 3 seasons of this series, I’ll be providing my insight on each participant. So here goes!

Check out http://bit.ly/QAD05N to find out the participant’s profile first!

Flora didn’t start off too well. Her husband just may be the biggest problem of her driving. He grabs the wheel on her constantly and at one point hit her arm! Who needs to have the control in that relationship? Her husband, Frank, does the thinking for her and even though his thoughts are often wrong, he still blames Flora. When he got out of the vehicle on the first challenge, she did much better. But once he returned, she hit things and completely lost her confidence. Maybe he needs to stay out of the vehicle or better yet, maybe he’s the one that needs the help.

Episode 2 started a little better for Flora. That’s because her husband Frank didn’t say anything to try to ‘help’ her. Once she hit her first object, Frank decided to control her thoughts, so to speak. Flora still needs to be given the chance to do her own thinking while behind the wheel. I think there’s part of Flora that relies on Frank. Will she learn to tell him to be quiet? Maybe she needs to ask Frank to stay out of the vehicle so she can make her own driving decisions. The good news is that Flora passed the last challenge of the blind spot check. Finishing on a positive note can go a long way for rehabilitation.

Episode 3 saw Flora’s husband Frank say far less than in past episodes, but after she got to 140 km/h instead of the 70 km/h recommended speed for the eye of the needle challenge. She was more focused on the arches and not on her speed. So much for thinking Frank was the problem; SHE’s the problem. Flora also fails to change her driving decisions when it’s not going well. When she lost sight of the open space behind the bus while she was backing up, she kept going blindly. As the saying goes, when all else fails do anything else. She won’t go home anytime soon.

Episode 4 saw Flora struggle once again…whenever her husband Frank try to help. His instructions while she was backing up a trailer allowed to fail. Is Frank learning anything from these challenges? The water tank challenge saw Flora brake late and dump a load of water on Frank. Was that on purpose for retaliation? Only Flora knows for sure. When Flora did the avoidance swerve challenge, she passed it quite well. Was this because of the training, or because Frank was quiet? Maybe both. Flora’s not ready to graduate yet.

A simple exercise started off episode 5; parallel parking. Flora’s husband Frank tried to “help”, but the results failed to work. She was too far from the curb with each attempt. Frank also “helped” during the gas station assalt. He told Flora what to do, she did it, and they still didn’t do well. Finally, during the reverse flick Flora failed to steer straight while backing and destroyed the course. I do mean destroyed. After all the challenges were completed, Flora said Frank puts pressure on her and he acted surprised. Seriously??

Episode 6 turned out to be the same as every other episode for Flora; Frank gave bad advice and Flora failed challenges. She reached her maximum time limit on each challenge and refused to learn how to change a tire. How many more years will Flora need to be in rehab? I’m not talking about driving rehab.

Flora continued to show lack of concentration and skill during episode 7. She relies on Frank to help her, but his suggestions are terrible. Maybe he should have done these challenges too. Flora continues to have target fixation and aims for the items she’s trying to avoid. During the backing challenge, she still feels, as she did a few episodes ago, that if the car is straight and the wheels are straight, she doesn’t have to steer while backing. Did she not notice the car was drifting in her lane? It’s about changing your thought quickly and making quick adjustments each time you drive. Will Flora ever understand that?

As with most viewers, I believe that Flora deserved to be in the last episode this year. Episode 8 was no difference than any other episode. Flora lost control of her vehicle during the slalom, both while going forward and while reversing. She lost so much control that she left the road multiple times. During the mega challenge she ended up hitting 24 objects. I think the scariest for all other drivers around her was her city drive. Flora is completely clueless on basic rules of the road. She can’t tell which roads are one way versus two way. She stopped at green lights and tried to proceed on red lights. Flora hasn’t retained much information on vehicle control from previous challenges either. Does Flora deserve to keep her driver’s license? Should Flora take added training when she gets back home? She said she will keep driving when she returns home. The problem is, Flora isn’t a driver; she’s someone who is sitting in the driver’s seat. She’s not a driver…yet.

Robert seems to be concerned about road safety, except for the fact his slow driving is causing a lot of risks for himself and the other drivers around him. During the drive to the rehab centre, he maxed out his speed at 81 km/h. That would be fine if he was driving on a secondary highway, but he was driving on a 100 km/h freeway. During his drive he ran through red lights and since he drives slowly all the time, he had plenty of time to stop. During the evaluation challenge, he didn’t hit anything until the slalom. He maxed out at 38 km/h instead of the requested 50 km/h and hit the objects. Turns out he looks just over the hood. That may work as a pedestrian to look just in front of you, but not as a driver.

The second episode didn’t start off to well for Robert. After he was taught how to reverse correctly by looking over his shoulder, he decided to only use his driver’s side mirror to back up. This stopped him from seeing well ahead out the rear and see both sides of the course. He didn’t learn anything from the lesson taught to him. The Trough was also a failure. He spent the entire 30 minutes allowed to follow along the course, but was unsuccessful. He seems unaware of what’s around his vehicle. The last challenge was a tough one for Robert to understand because he had to travel at 70 km/h before checking his blind spot. Andrew got him to look ahead in a practice run and he was able to surpass 100 km/h! He said he didn’t notice how fast he was driving. That may explain why he got up to 90 km/h instead of 70 km/h on his first run. However, he was able to do the required 70 km/h on his second run and was successful.

Dallas has huge anxiety about driving. Because of this, she asks questions all the time. She needs to learn to think for herself. Maybe if she drove alone more often it would force her to think more like a driver. On the way to the rehab centre Dallas had to pull over to the side of the road to cry. The good news was that she stopped driving to get her composure up. The bad news is that it had to happen to begin with. With each error Dallas makes, it adds to her anxiety. Maybe she needs confidence? Maybe she needs to gain more knowledge and skill? We’ll find out soon enough.

Episode 2 was challenging for Dallas. She failed to use the information given to her about how to reverse safely. She only used her driver’s side mirror and crashed over and over again. She can’t seem to control her enxiety as she fell off the trough and failed that challenge as well. The good news was she was able to control herself on the blind spot challenge, which allowed her to control her vehicle. Is this a start of good things to come?

Well, as good as episode 2 ended, episode 3 started off in a good way. She had a therapy session to help her reduce her anxiety while driving. A good move as she was able to enter each archway cleanly even though it was at 65 km/h. Her ability to stay calm was a huge success. This calmness stayed with her while she backed up the bus with success. Dallas didn’t shed a tear during the entire episode. Is she ready to make a positive change in her everyday driving and graduate?

Kevin has one glass eye, which really affects his depth perception and peripheral vision. Since he can only see out of his left eye, he wandered quite often from lane to lane on the way to the rehab centre and he can’t see directly in front of him. There were a couple of times that he wanted to enter the intersection from a stopped position, but the traffic light was still red. Kevin will need to learn to move his eyes constantly to pick up the big picture. He’ll have to learn how to adjust to the problems of lack of visibility. But will he?

Kevin had a difficult time during episoide 2. He used his mirror only instead of looking out the rear window and crashed and actually got stuck. He had a brutally bad time with the trough and couldn’t get past the first turn…even after 7 attempts! Oh, and since he is blind in his right eye, he fails to check his right blind spot…including on the blind spot challenge. He failed. Will he improve at all?

Kevin started episode 3 with an example of distracted driving. He crashed multiple times at 25 km/h doing the things he does on a regular basis at home. If he’s missing the sight from his right eye, shouldn’t he work hard to compensate for that lack of visibility by staying fully concentrated on his driving? It was a truly pathetic display of vehicle control. During the eye of the needle Kevin hit each arch on the passenger side and failed to use his mirrors at all while backing up. Why would he not want to aim where he wanted to go? Would he ever think about staring over his shoulder while driving forward? Kevin’s not making the needed changes in his driving to get off this show.

Kevin, Kevin, Kevin. When will he learn to make adjustments? Episode 4 was just as bad as all the other episodes. He failed to use the information taught to him previously to help him improve. He jack knifed the trailer so often that he actually quit the backing a trailer challenge. He constantly hits things on the right side of his vehicle and fails to look behind him while backing. If plan “A” doesn’t work, go to plan “B”. But plan “B” shouldn’t be plan “A” louder. By the way, Kevin hasn’t passed any challenges yet. Maybe he’ll never go home.

Episode 5 was no real difference than the first 4 episodes for Kevin. He hit objects and failed to use the information that was taught to him prior to the challenges, which forced him to fail the challenges. When Andrew finally told him to use the steps he was taught, he finally passed his first challenge! Maybe the worst thing he did was steal the gas pump out of Flora’s hands. Rude isn’t the first word I was thinking when I saw this act. Disgust.

After episode 6 was completed, Kevin has passed only 2 challenges. You would think with his failure rate he would be a little more humble. His attitude about bad driving was pathetic at the end of the episode and it had Cam giving him the “death stare”. Considering that Kevin popped the clutch, stalled over 40 times and grinded gears during the standard challenge and barely was able to control the ball in the golf challenge, he was talking pretty big words. Is he suffering from denial? Maybe he needs to look in the mirror before judging others.

Kevin apparently has short term memory problems. He can’t seem to remember what he’s been taught in previous episodes and doesn’t think for himself. he’s also in denial when it comes to his own driving skill. Passing 2 of 18 challenges doesn’t make you a better driver. Looking forward while reversing is a basic no no that most new drivers won’t do. He can’t judge his speed and he constantly hit things during his attempts at a 3 point turn. He’s not really thinking while he’s behind the wheel. Will he ever change? Only if he really wants to.

Kevin also deserves to be in episode 8 as a finalist. There’s an old saying; doing the same thing over and over again expecting to get a different result is a sign of insanity. Is kevin insane when it comes to driving? kevin hasn’t retained much information from previous challenges, which is why he failed the slalom challenge. he doesn’t look behind him while he’s backing and doesn’t look where he wants to go. My honest opinion is that Kevin should avoud backing as much as possible in real life. Kevin lost control of his vehicle during the mega challenge by starting off doing 100 km/h instead of the required 70 km/h during the eye of the needle section. He hit a bunch of items both going forward and reversing and at one point got the vehicle stuck on a rim that stopped the vehicle moving in any direction. The city drive was also pretty unreal. As Flora, kevin doesn’t understand basic rules of the road. He needs to adjust to his lack of sight from his right eye by moving head more to the right and looking further ahead. He doesn’t and cut off a lot of other drivers while in the city drive. He misses seeing signs, traffic lights, lanes markings and…pedestrians in the crosswalk! Kevin said he’ll continue to drive when he returns home. A scary thought for those who live in his community.

Diane asked Andrew immediately which was the gas and which was the brake pedal. Seriously? I believe she’s her own worst enemy (like most others) as she swears up a storm when she’s driving with her husband. I think she distracts herself. During the evaluation challenge, she was the only driver to actually get out of the vehicle to see where the vehicle was in relation to the objects. Good call, except she didn’t use that information to stop her from hitting things. She also can’t back up in a straight line and hit almost every “pedestrian” in the slalom challenge. Will she learn to calm down and think like a driver? Maybe.

Episode 2 started off well for Diane until she got stuck a little bit. When that happened, she started swearing wildly and lost all concentration. Can you say “anger management”? Her ability to control her vehicle at low speed is better than at quicker speeds. This may have something to do with how far ahead she’s looking. If she looks further ahead she can make earlier choices. And apparently her chin is attasched to her hands. When she turns to check her blind spoot her hands move the wheel. This needs to change sooner rather than later, but will it be soon enough?

One of Diane’s biggest problems is herself. During episode 3 she stayed much more calm during most of the driving chanllenges. her cursing was heavily reduced which seemed to help her stay more focused on what she’s doing. Even though she reduced the speed of the eye of the needle from 70 km/h to 50 km/h, she still hit a couple of arches. However, her confidence has improved as well. This added confidence and mentality helped Diane stay calm while backing up the bus and she did well with that challenge. Is that enough to allow Diane to graduate?

Diane was close to graduating from the lasrt episode, but failed miserably during episode 4. Sge took 55 minutes to back up the trailer, constantly braked late for the water tank challenge and crashed straight ahead of her on the avoidance swerve challenge. Can Diane put her training to good use and make the changes to her driving enough to become a saafe driver? Not yet.

Episode 5 was an improvement for Diane…for the first challenge of parallel parking. She talked herself through each step and was successful. The gas station challenge saw her hit a stopped vehicle at the pumps. After that she actually did do well and park properly at the gas pumps. The final challenge of a reverse flick was a major disaster. She crashed into many objects and never really got the hang of this challenge. Were the first 2 challenges enough for Diane to graduate this episode?

I have to give Diane a lot of credit after episode 6. She’s come right around as a person who really didn’t want to be a driver to begin with. She did very well with the standard challenge and also learned gentle vehicle control with the golf challenge. Diane’s only real mistake was misjudging her position during 180 degree hand brake turn. Is that good enough to head home?

Episode 7 saw Diane returning to her angry self while behind the wheel. Her constant swearing and lack of focus stopped her from doing the 3 point turn safely, until her husband helped helped her through it. After that, her backing challenge also started off poorly, but she excelled after just first few seconds. And finally, her last challenge was excellent where, when she was able to think on her own and stay calm, was able to handle the “icy corner”. I ask this again, isn’t Diane ready to go home?

As stated in the previous episode, i didn’t feel Diane should have been in the final episode. She did surprise quite a few people during the mega challenge, but did well on the first challenge of the slalom. The city drive was what I truly expected; a solid run with complete control. When Diane stays calm and controls her emotions, she makes good driving decisions. She’s not Canada’s Worst Driver.

Azim is also his own worst enemy when behind the wheel. He’s a typical stressed out driver. He was stressed while driving to the rehab centre because of other drivers going too slow or if he made a mistake. The more mistakes he made, the bigger his stress was. He doesn’t look behind the vehicle while backing and, get this, he used one hand on the steering wheel to do a 50 km/h slalom! As you could imagine, he lost control of his vehicle immediately. Will he calm down and become a safer driver? You decide.

Episode 2 started off ok for Azim. He can’t see over the trunk too well because of his height, so he sat on a booster seat. Perhaps his first smart move. However, he didn’t look over his should and crashed. If you don’t make the changes after failure the same results will occur. His second challenge of the trough started off well until he made a mistake. That mistake caused a snowball of mistakes because his stress level increased. If he stayed calm his driving was better. The good news is that he’s aware of this and hopefully can make the changes to stay calm.

Azim started episode 3 with an example of distracted driving. He couldn’t keep the vehicle in line while searching for music and that added to his stress level. No surprise there. Although it appeared that Azim was looking ahead on the eye of the needle, he hit the pasenger side of the vehicle on many arches. I watched his hands and the steering was back and forth and not smooth. Was his hands in the wrong place and each movement counter-balanced the other move? He did take the backing up a bus challenge seriously and did well. He used his mirrors and seemed to stay calm. This was a very good start considering all the other nominees were inside the bus with him.

For episode 4… When Azim stays calm, he’s improving. Once he gets stressed, it’s over and he basically gives up. He forgot his training about backing up a trailer and quits. He also got off track with the water tank challenge and lost 70 litres of water. However, he stayed calm, remembered his training and did the avoidance swerve safely. Is he finally getting it?

Azim has been using his therapy sessions to help him relax behind the wheel and episode 5 was no exception. He took his time, stayed calm and passed the parallel parking challenge. He stayed calm and was the third person to get gas. However, he lost it during the reverse flick and hit objects, even while traveling too slow. Are his improvements enough to graduate?

Staying calm during episode 6 was the real challenge for Azim. He stayed calm during the standard challenge and was able to balance the car. He stayed calm during the golf challenge and holed 4 out of 9 tries and did his 180 hand brake turn on the first try. Was there anyone better than Azim during this episode?

Margherita is a piece of work. With her lack of commitment to becoming a safe driver and her continuous distracted driving, I’m sure she would injure herself or others soon enough. She takes both hands off the wheel regularly. She had 17 moving violations just on the way to the rehab centre! As others, she has no idea how to maneuver the vehicle in small spaces and scratched the new Ford Mustang GT immediately! Oh, and she can’t back up straight and can’t steer into open space during the slalom. Can she be saved…from herself?

I wonder how many episodes it will take Margherita to think like a driver. It took her a few moments to actually realize she was sitting in a right hand drive vehicle for her first challenge. She failed to use the information she was taught in any challenge. She took too long looking into blind spots and crashed straight ahead into objects. Too fast? Yes. unaware of what she was doing? Yes. Will she improve enough to leave? Who knows.

Margherita is pretty but alo pretty clueless about most things associated to driving. She knows the meaning of few signs, and is compeltely unaware of her risks regarding distracted driving. She lost completed control at low speed and crashed the vehicle into the embankment and seem to shake up her nominator, Cheryl, so much that it might actually stop her from distracted driving. Maybe. During the eye of the needle she got up to 100 km/h instead of 70 km/h and lost control. She said she was imagining herself going through the archways instead of actually aiming the vehicle to get through. Is the rest of her driving imaginary as well? And backing up a bus using mirrors? Not a hope to come close to driving anywhere safely yet. No clue. Will she ever learn to think like a driver?

Margherita entered episode 4 a total wreck. She lost her patience with the trailer and took 37 minutes to complete; even though she doesn’t look behind her while backing up. She still hits things while backing, swerving and…well….driving. She actually did survive the avoidance swerve challenge (on her second attempt) but needed help from Cheryl her nominator to watch her speed. Is she safe enough to be let out on the roads again?

Episode 5 started off for Margherita the same way it finished for episode 4; a total wreck. She failed the parallel park with each attempt and not because she hit the curb; she hit the car behind her each time. Using the skills that were taught to her may help her improve, but that’s up to her. She was the second person to get gas, which surprised many people I’m sure. Now here’s something interesting; she concentrated on the 5th attempt of the reverse flick and passed. Imagine that, she concentrated and she did well. Maybe that’s her secret…concentrate while driving?

I wonder if Margherita will ever go home. I also wonder if she’s learning anything while on her stay at the rehab centre. The big story was the fact she has very little control while wear high heals. I originally spoke to Andrew about this during the first episode from season one when Madelena wore them. The balance and pivoting control is clumsy at best. She refused to listen and Cheryl was fueling her with reasons why she had to keep wearing 4 inch heals. Should Cheryl go home? It’s not just the high heals that’s the cause of her bad driving. during the 180 degree hand brake turn, she forgot to, umm, pull the hand brake. Can you say focus?

Episode 7 started like all the other episodes; poorly. Margherita is the only person not to see the therapist. What is she hiding. She couldn’t back up in a straight line and had a full melt down during that challenge. Is she really fir to be on the roads? She finally agreed to see the therapist and was able to do the final challenge successfully. Is that enough to graduate?

Klyne is also a piece of work. With lack of respect for anyone, including his mom, he sped most of the way to the rehab centre and never used his signals. He constantly had his phone out to look for directions and had very poor observation skills. Being so young, reckless and disrespectful is going to make it a big job to make him a safe driver. He purposely hit objects right away in the first challenge, so they pulled the plug on him. Will he grow up during this show? Will his family stop bailing him out and make him accountable for his own actions?

Klyne showed some improvement during episode 2. He actually listened to his mom. I don’t think this is about his ability to drive in some cases. I think it’s more about responsibility and respect. Will he change enough to go home? Will he take driving seriously enough to become a safe driver? When he exceeded the requested speed limit during the blind spot challenge he crashed. When he did the requested speed he passed. Will he realize that other people actually do know more than he does? Time will tell.

I stated in my introductory article that Klyne’s mom was part of the problem and in episode 3, it reared it’s ugly head once again. He texted and crashed to start off the show and that was surprising considering he lost a friend in a vehicle crash because another driver texted and hit him on his motorcycle. During the eye of the needle he got over 100 km/h instead of 70 km/h and crashed. Both he and his mom were laughing after it happened. I thought his mom was the adult in that relationship? If driving’s a game, maybe he should stay with bumper cars. While backing up the bus Klyne constantly hit things and was off course regularly. Even though that was happening, his mom gave him a score of 10 out of 10. She was laughing and making fun of it. Luckily, Andrew told her off and said she was part of the problem. I agree with Andrew and thank him for being so honest to her. Who will grow up first; Klyne of his mom?

Klyne showed on episode 4 that if he takes his time he can drive reasonably well. He was also shown that by doing 20 km/h over the speed limit can make a big difference in response time. The main problem wasn’t with his driving skill; it was with his attitude and his mom’s attitude. At the end of the avoidance swerve challenge, Maureen (his mom) shed a few tears and said she also speeds. Monkey see, monkey do? Who did the learning this episode? Was it enough to graduate?

Episode 2 saw the first person leave the show. Robert was able to overcome his fear of speed. With this improvement, he was the only one who showed enough of an improvement to leave. Who will be next?

Episode 3 saw a tougher call for someone to graduate. Since it always goes to the person who improves the most, it was close between Diane’s attitude and ability and Dallas’ anxiety. Even though 3 of the judges said Diane, they were convinced Dallas should leave. I agree with that decision because performance and reduced anxiety allowed clean runs for Dallas. Well done Dallas!

Episode 4 saw Klyne graduate. he’s still impressionable, so beware to those who live and drive near him. I hope he, and his mom, have learned enough to become safer drivers!

Episode 5 showed a few people who may have improved the most, but the judges decided no one improved enough to go home. Why not? It’s not about being a good driver. It’s about improving the most of everyone there. How will episode 6 turn out?

As I’m sure many people were able to predict, Azim was the lone sole to graduate during episode 6. A well deserved graduate. He learned to realize his short stature means he needs to sit on a booster seat. Are there any other shorter drivers learning from his success?

The premise of the show is that the person who improves the most is allowed to go home. I think the judges other than Cam and Andrew forgot about that during episode 7. After one success, the icy challenge by Margherita she was allowed to graduate. Scary! As I would say to any driver; just because you can make one safe left turn at a traffic light doesn’t prove that you can do it safely on a regular basis. Did the judges make a mistake? Only those in Edmonton will know for sure.

The end result was exactly what I was hoping for; a tie between Flora and Kevin. Neither of them deserve a license yet. They need to go back to the basics to learn rules of the road and basic driving maneuvers before they can consider themselves rehabilitated. Attitude is important, but skill and knowledge goes hand in hand with that. i hope Flora and Kevin seek professional help and not ignore their results. If Kevin and Flora are reading this, please contact me. I’d like to help and offer some advice that you may not have received yet. Good luck…to everyone near them.

Check back each week for updates on each of the participants!