Right-hand drive vehicles are an uncommon sight in Canada.
The Canadian Automobile Dealers Association is asking Transport Canada to ban the importation, into Canada, of all right-hand drive cars.
CADA, which represents Canada’s new-car dealerships, calls right-hand drive cars “dirty and unsafe.”
Right-hand drive cars have steering wheels fitted on the right side of the dashboard rather than the left side. They’re found in countries such as Britain, Australia and Japan where traffic drives on the left side of the road.
The issue took on more urgency after a right-hand drive Nissan coupe was involved in a fatal collision on the corner of Albert and Bank streets Sept. 16 in which two people died. The crash is mentioned in CADA’s Oct. 20 news release as an example of why such vehicles are unsuitable for driving on Canadian roads.
“You don’t have the view of oncoming traffic that you should. Our roads are not designed for right-hand drive vehicles,” Michael Hatch, CADA’s chief economist says.
Current rules only allow right-hand drive vehicles 15 years or older to enter the country, but Hatch says this should be extended to 25 years.
“When the rule was written in the early 1970s, most cars didn’t last 15 years. But now, 90 per cent (or more) cars last beyond their fifteenth birthday.”
Hatch says the rules were designed to allow car enthusiasts to import antique cars without complying with Canada’s Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.
Britain and Japan allow the importation of brand new left-hand drive cars with ease. Between 2,000 and 3,000 right- hand drive cars enter Canada each year, most are Japanese.
Hatch adds that CADA’s concern with right-hand drive vehicles isn’t motivated by new-car dealer’s profits.
“Sometimes it’s hard to convince people that this is not a market issue for us . . . but the numbers are such that, they’re insignificant. Our members (sell) four million vehicles per year. We’re not trying to crush the little guy.”
Michael Kent works for one of the little guys. He’s the sales manager at Right Drive auto dealer in Vaughan, Ont. As an importer of right-hand drive vehicles, mostly from Japan, he’s worried about what an import ban could mean for business.
“We’d have to make significant changes. It would probably pinch us out,” Kent says.
As for the claim that 15-year-old right-hand drive vehicles are likely to be polluting, Kent says that every car he’s sold has passed an Ontario emissions test. He says that the type of customer who buys a used right hand drive car is unlikely to purchase a new car from one of CADA’s member dealerships if the import law was changed.
“This type of push makes very little sense,” Kent says.