Crash record dents right-hand-drive cars
Import rules reviewed after study shows 40% higher accident rate
Alexandra Zabjek, The Edmonton Journal
Published: 2:05 am
EDMONTON -
When Dave Clark started driving a right-hand-drive car in Edmonton almost three years ago, people gave him curious looks, the occasional thumbs up and sometimes asked if he bought his car in Britain.
These days, the cars are so commonly found on Alberta’s roads that drivers barely glance at Clark’s 1992 Toyota Soarer, which has the steering wheel installed on what most of us would call the passenger side of the car.
That’s not necessarily a good thing, says Transport Canada. Prompted by safety concerns about right-hand-drive cars, the department is reviewing regulations that have allowed thousands of the vehicles into the country.
A 36-year-old law allows vehicles 15 years or older to be imported without meeting the Canadian Motor Vehicles Safety Act, which is how most RHD cars come here. At the time of the legislation, most such cars were collector’s items that didn’t have a large impact on road safety.
Now, spurred by the spike in RHD cars and a report by the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia showing the cars are 40 per cent more likely to be involved in a crash, Transport Canada is considering raising its threshold to cars that are at least 25 years old, said spokeswoman Jessie Chauhan.
Consultation sessions are planned for this fall.
Car enthusiasts, on the other hand, say the imports are safe as long as drivers take a little extra care.
“I don’t think they’re significantly more dangerous,” said Clark, 23. “It definitely takes a bit more attention, but I wouldn’t say it’s a real issue.”
Like many drivers, Clark wasn’t initially attracted to a vehicle with a steering wheel on the “wrong side.” What he really wanted was the extra horsepower and high-performance parts found on many used Japanese-built cars that can be imported relatively cheaply.
“I actually don’t really like the right-hand-drive. It’s more about the power engine,” said Clark, who does amateur auto racing on weekends. “If this car came with those options in left-hand-drive, I’d get one.”
Drivers don’t require special licences to operate RHD cars. Clark said it took him a few hours to get used to little things, such as remembering the turn signal is on the right side of the steering wheel while the windshield wiper control is on the left.
Then came the bigger issues, such as lane positioning, shoulder checks and left-hand turns.
Clark avoids driving on two-lane highways, where it is difficult, if not impossible, to pass other cars safely. He also takes his time in left-turn lanes when he can’t properly see oncoming traffic.
“If I get hit, I’m the one who is going to take the impact, so I’ve got to be pretty careful,” he said.
Officials such as Brad Hemstreet, from Vehicle and Safety Carrier Services at Alberta’s Ministry of Infrastructure and Transportation, don’t think extra precautions can always make a difference for RHD drivers.
“Common sense” dictates that it’s more difficult to manoeuvre through North American traffic in an RHD car, said Hemstreet, noting the importance of issues such as shoulder checks.
While there’s no way of knowing exactly how many RHD cars are in Alberta, Hemstreet acknowledged the numbers are rising steadily. In B.C., about 200 are imported every month, says the ICBC.
Once the cars arrive in Alberta, they must pass an out-of-province inspection. Due to the rising numbers, Hemstreet’s department last year notified inspection agencies to look for problematic features on RHD cars, such as headlights.
“If you’ve got a car that’s built for Japan, the lights will be aimed for the centre of the road, not slightly to the right, like ours do,” Hemstreet said.
Clark wasn’t surprised to hear that vehicles such as his are involved in more crashes.
“People are importing them because they’re high performance cars and the people driving them are young males,” he said. “Yeah, the accident rate is going to be a bit higher.”
However, Clark also wonders if concerns about RHD cars are partly being spurred by a desire to protect the automobile industry from a flood of imports from another market.
the real concern is those crazy 240sx w/sr20det drivers!!