The worst drivers are always near…

I had the pleasure of being asked to participate in the Discovery Channel’s series Canada’s Worst Driver for their first 3 seasons. The drivers were interesting people. Most were friendly and polite and just nice people. But I have to tell you, those people are bad drivers and worse drivers in person.

The common denominator with most drivers is they believe they are good drivers. This was true for most of the people on Canada’s Worst Driver. It was amazing to hear them say “I’m a good driver!” What part of “Canada’s Worst Driver” didn’t they understand? Friends, family or co-workers who felt they were bad drivers nominated these drivers to be on the series. The producers screened them before being asked to participate in the show. If they didn’t know they were one of the worst by then, what would it take?

Some of the drivers could drive, but their attitude stopped them from doing it safely. One participant in past seasons played games on the road. Dangerous games that could cost people their lives. Other drivers on the show could also drive, but they believed they were going to crash. If you believe it, it will happen. Fear of crashing is big for many people across our country. If you have this fear, what are you going to do to reduce it?

Most of the drivers on the series for each season had similar problems; they had no idea how to safely operate a vehicle and showed poor judgement during their challenges. Part of the process on that show is for the participants to do a driving challenge, based on their own ability. Now you may be asking; what ability? Some had very little skill to do these challenges, but after they completed the challenge, I offered some in-car training and they were then able to perform the skill associated with that challenge. They were extremely happy and grateful they were now able to become a better driver; at least when it came to driving low speed skills.

If they really wanted to become better drivers, why wouldn’t they take a professional training course instead of being on a television series? This shows another poor judgement on their part. Maybe it was their ploy to have their 15 minutes of fame. Who knows what their reasoning was.

Finally, there are the people who were named the worst drivers of the series; the “cream of the crap”, so to speak. Each winner, I mean loser, of the series has a lot to improve. I’ve said many times before they can only improve if they want to improve. I’ve tried to teach them over the years, but I can only teach them if they wanted to learn.