New Delica Drivers... are you competent enough to own one?

[Delicaman]

OK, so all those people thinking about buying a RHD vehicle, go out and test drive one with a friend or competent driver and get information about blind spots and possible driver safety issues.
RHD accident statistics are going up and possibly ruining it for every other RHD owner.
So, if you are thinking of buying one... GO GET Educated! DO NOT buy a RHD if you are a marginal operator. Use common sense and standard driving rules. Get familiar with the equipment and don't operate it unless you know what you are doing!

Here is the common sense guideline that you all must adhere to.........

IF YOU CAN"T SEE... DON"T GO!!!!!! WAIT and go on the next green light!
K.I.S.S., you all know what that means I'm sure. One of the S's is "Safe".

I'm sure it must be the Skyline that is causing a good percentage of the statistics.

Please be safe and try extra hard to drive defensively. If you have had an accident in your Delica, please let me know if it was "Driver Position" that was the problem or just a BAD decision.

I have a driveway full of Delicas that are not sold yet so lets keep the RHDs on the road.. Stop making Stupid decisions and drive correctly !!! If you are a good driver, carry on...

Peace all... Delicaman!

PS, please check out the letter i submitted to the Vancouver Sun and ICBC.

[konadog]

RHD, LHD, it makes no difference in the inherent safety of an automobile. I understand and appreciate your motivation, but your thread kinda suggests that RHD is inherently more dangerous...

[Fanny Bay Delica]

Jesus it's not that hard to drive a RHD vehicle, it takes about five minutes to get comfortable the first time. Let's not validate foolish ICBC stats by giving credence to the fact that a RHD is somehow more complex. I'm sure most of us go back and forth between RHD and LHD every day.

[after oil]

im with you guys...
i appreciate delicaman's motivation and rise to action, but it sounds like a rant to me. anybody can competently drive a RHD with out any special training as long as he or she is otherwise competent .

[Delicaman]

Jesus it's not that hard to drive a RHD vehicle, it takes about five minutes to get comfortable the first time. Let's not validate foolish ICBC stats by giving credence to the fact that a RHD is somehow more complex. I'm sure most of us go back and forth between RHD and LHD every day.

Yes Andy, Its not that hard to drive RHD. Us RHD owners know that. We chat on the forum and try not to give creedance as you say but ICBC has the stats in hand, correct or not, and they can decide to ban the RHD as they see fit. I am hoping, since they are a legitimate organization, that they will do thorough research instaed of making a snap decision. I'm seeing more occurrences of RHD vehicles in the news and sense that something is going to happen soon. I just read the CADA report "Wrong Hand Drive" and see how far reaching the negativity towards the RHD has gone. The link is on the IVOC site.

So, the logic behind the "Are you competent enough to own one" post is that low accident stats for RHD = less problems from ICBC. Something thats easy for you and I , may not be so easy for other drivers... Education, might be a good idea..

Only the best intentions all..

[Delicaman]

Jesus it's not that hard to drive a RHD vehicle, it takes about five minutes to get comfortable the first time. Let's not validate foolish ICBC stats by giving credence to the fact that a RHD is somehow more complex. I'm sure most of us go back and forth between RHD and LHD every day.

Yes Andy, Its not that hard to drive RHD. Us RHD owners know that. We chat on the forum and try not to give credence as you say but ICBC has the stats in hand, correct or not, and they can decide to ban the RHD as they see fit. I am hoping, since they are a legitimate organization, that they will do thorough research instated of making a snap decision. I'm seeing more occurrences of RHD vehicles in the news and sense that something is going to happen soon. I just read the CADA report "Wrong Hand Drive" and see how far reaching the negativity towards the RHD has gone. The link is on the IVOC site.

So, the logic behind the "Are you competent enough to own one" post is that low accident stats for RHD = less problems from ICBC. Something thats easy for you and I , may not be so easy for other drivers... Education, might be a good idea..

Only the best intentions all..

Sorry, this is the Spell checked version...

[Fanny Bay Delica]

Ben,

In all honesty if ICBC was directed in the correct way there could be some reasonable rule changes. I don't see this as a RHD issue as I'm sure Delicas, Canters and Pajeros are not the problem, but rather it should be framed as a horse power issue. 18-20 year olds buying $10K Skylines and Turbo Z's makes no sense to me, the same can be said for Mustangs and Chargers but they can't afford them.

Even though I drive a 300 kph R1, I don't think a 16 year old should never be able to by a 160 hp sport bike but they can in Canada. What should be in place is what they have in the UK which is a graduated hp license (I think a first bike can only be a max 28-29 hp). The same should be the case for JDM's, ICBC should be coached to clearly delineate types of RHD vehicles. This tends to be controversial on the IVOC as they don't want to alienate a large numbers of JDM tuner car owners. I don't want to see ICBC throw the Delica-baby out with the tuner car-bath water!!

[Adam]

I can barely drive my wife's LHD sedan anymore. Poor visibility, too low to the ground, too fast on acceleration, hard to pass cyclists in. I'm sure my probablity of collision is 40% greater in her Pontiac 6000LE, that's why I make her drive it.

[DEL BiG RiG]

I personally don't get it either. Here in Japan, especially Tokyo I would estimate that 25% of the leisure cars are left hand drive. It's a status symblo here to drive a left hand drive, even though they usually offer the same model in a RHD. They even have a left hand side ticket machine for the toll roads. I haven't ever heard of the gov't wanting to restrict this. It will be a sad day if it ever comes to this.

[jessef]

LHD RHD no difference for the driver.

ICBC can't ban RHD vehicles. They are an insurance company. Not the government.

If it's the recent Quebec issue that is giving you the jitters, their laws differ from the rest of Canada.

ICBC's RHD research and publications have been flawed and that fact has been proven.

I agree with all the other posters.

RHD driving here in Canada is just as safe as LHD.

[ShaneA]

So, if you are thinking of buying one... GO GET Educated! Get familiar with the equipment and don't operate it unless you know what you are doing!

This is good advice for driving any new vehicle. Any time I've sat down in a car I haven't driven before, I go through and find all the controls I need. Lights, turn signals, wipers, check the position of the mirrors, etc. If it's a manual transmission I shift through the gears several times before I even start the car up.

I don't think any vehicles are more dangerous or accident prone than any other, as long as said vehicles are well maintained and driven reasonably in a safe manner. It's the drivers that are at fault. Young guys driving way too fast, weaving in and out of traffic on the freeway. Older drivers with their eyes locked forward, unaware of what is going on around them, driving slowly and blocking traffic. Drivers that drift from one lane to the next without shoulder checking or using a turn signal. Some of my favorites are the people that can't parallel park because they don't really know the size of their vehicle and stop backing up with 4 feet of space still behind them. All of these drivers are dangerous in one way or another.

When I got my drivers license I had a 5.0L mustang and I got 3 speeding tickets in the first six months. I probably shouldn't have been driving a car with that much power. Since then I've only had 2 other speeding tickets and I have never had an at fault accident in over 22 years of driving (been hit twice from other drivers running stop signs).

Just my 2 cents,
Shane

[Delicaman]

Ben,

In all honesty if ICBC was directed in the correct way there could be some reasonable rule changes. I don't see this as a RHD issue as I'm sure Delicas, Canters and Pajeros are not the problem, but rather it should be framed as a horse power issue. 18-20 year olds buying $10K Skylines and Turbo Z's makes no sense to me, the same can be said for Mustangs and Chargers but they can't afford them.

Even though I drive a 300 kph R1, I don't think a 16 year old should never be able to by a 160 hp sport bike but they can in Canada. What should be in place is what they have in the UK which is a graduated hp license (I think a first bike can only be a max 28-29 hp). The same should be the case for JDM's, ICBC should be coached to clearly delineate types of RHD vehicles. This tends to be controversial on the IVOC as they don't want to alienate a large numbers of JDM tuner car owners. I don't want to see ICBC throw the Delica-baby out with the tuner car-bath water!!

Well said and great idea. Graduated Horsepower makes so much sense. Also, new drivers lack the situational experience that a seasoned driver has.
So, how do we coach ICBC?

Cheers and good vibes..

[Chewy]

The stats are incorrect, (Green1 or dah_hunter correct me if I'm off base here) the 40% statistic is a bold faced lie. They not only have a number of repeated vins in the vehicles used, but the major problem lies in a lack of accuracy beyond that in a number of different realms. For instance, they say collision situation, this just implies something hit your vehicle. Which is also why in that province column that they are careful to state that there are no stats on the actual severities or types of crashes....you'd think to deduce that RHD and it's so called "extra blind spots" caused a crash that you'd have to see a number of similar crashes and explain yourself. What the province article is doing is trying to bolster a public outcry in the name of safety, getting people who just plain don't know any better to do their dirty work, so if the action is passed, and people realize that it was dumb, they have nobody but themselves to blame.

It's been beaten to death, but we can't just say, blame the kids, it won't affect us. Then proceed to wash our hands of it, it's that sort of attitude that really hurts our action. These cars aren't being singled out for safety at the base of things, it's that the big3 are going tits up and they need something to blame it on. The lobby groups are leaning hard on ICBC and TC to drive a completely void "safety issue". All cars have bloody windows and steering wheels, I can certainly see better out of a skyline than I can out of any LHD work van with only a windshield and two front door windows, yet they aren't banned. Like others are saying, it's simply the driver. We don't need to ban anything, this counteractive nanny society bs drives me nuts, ICBC can simply use the resources it's already soaked up from it's laugh of a graduated driving program and make a real one where people actually learn about their cars and how things phyisically work so they can have a respect for oh, I don't knw, how heavy an automobile is; not just hand signals, parallel parking and where your hazards and wiper levers are.

Please sign up at ivoac.ca and educate yourself!