SASKATOON -- After a double-fatal crash this year, Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) started to look at regulations involving right-hand-drive vehicles and inexperienced drivers.
“The government made this change in response to a collision that occurred this past spring, it’s a change that was conceived this year,” said Tyler McMurchy, manager of media relations with SGI.
As of last week there is a new provincial regulation where learner and novice drivers will be prohibited from driving right-hand-drive vehicles.
McMurchy said the crash that killed two people occurred when the young driver of a right-hand-drive vehicle attempted to pass a vehicle in front.
“The primary safety concern with right-hand-drive vehicles is the limited visibility that a driver has when passing another vehicle,” McMurchy told CTV.
“That’s a concern, especially when we're talking about newer drivers who have less experience.”
McMurchy said there are approximately 400 registered right-hand-drive vehicles in the province, and as of now none of those are registered to any learner or novice drivers.
In addition to a lack of young drivers in right-hand-drive vehicles, McMurchy said a good portion of those vehicles registered are collector items and are not regularly driven, so he isn’t expecting the new rule to impact very many people.
“For the people who drive them everyday we want to make sure that they are experienced drivers who are able to handle the additional challenges of operating a right-hand-drive vehicle.” McMurchy said.
McMurchy added that due to the small number of registered right-hand-drive vehicles in the province there wasn’t much data to go off of, but he said SGI examined other province's rules and regulations around right-hand-drive vehicles when making its decision.
