Challenges

With the exception of the first and last episodes, challenges are specifically tailored to each contestant and designed by Andrew and the driving school sponsoring the series (whose head instructor is one of the experts; for the first three seasons, it was Young Drivers of Canada Director of Training Scott Marshall; in season four, it was Dan Bagyan of the Signature Driving School; in seasons five-seven, it was Peter Mellor of the Advanced Motoring Bureau and from the eighth season onward, it was Tim Danter of DriveWise). Challenges typically range from traditional driving school lessons such as parallel parking, reversing and driving with a trailer to those not normally found in a beginner's driving course, such as driving a standard transmission vehicle and extreme driving manoeuvres (such as the Scandinavian flick). However, there are some challenges that are reused from year-to-year, like The Eye of the Needle and The Water Tank Challenge, which were both first introduced in the first season and are the only challenges to be featured in every season.

• The Shoulder Check Challenge is a challenge where contestants must drive in a straight line until they pass a sign on each side. The signs determine which of the two exits the contestants must take when the road forks ahead; however, the signs are posted in the reverse direction, so the contestants must briefly look behind them to read the signs. If neither exit is permitted (both signs are red), they are simply instructed to stop in front of the fork in the road. The lesson of this challenge is to only turn the head when performing a shoulder check, not the entire human body, as that will turn the car's wheels.
• Distracted Driving is a challenge introduced in the second season that was so unusually effective on one contestant (Matt Elkind) that it has been used in every subsequent season. In this challenge, drivers must drive around in a circle while having to do a series of tasks such as eating a sandwich, inserting a CD, texting and so on. Often, these tasks are tailored to each contestant's vices. The lesson is meant to teach individuals to not do these things while at the wheel, as it can cause potential accidents.
• Swerve and Avoid is a challenge where contestants must drive towards a wall at high speeds, only to turn away – that is, swerve – at the last moment to avoid hitting the wall. Typically, there are two exits to each side of the wall, which will either initially be blocked before one or both open at the last moment or initially be open before one or neither are blocked in the last moment. The lesson is to avoid touching the brake pedal, as putting the foot down on the brake will severely limit the car's steering ability and lead to crashing.
• The Cornering Challenge (called Driving into a Wall in the first two seasons) is a challenge where contestants must drive towards a wall of foam blocks at high speed before braking hard, releasing the brake and then turning away from the wall. The lesson in this challenge is to release the brake so as to not lose steering input to the car when it is needed. In some seasons, a large wet tarp may also be laid out on the ground in front of the wall, to simulate icy or slippery conditions.
• The Three-Point Turn Challenge (called The Dirty Circle in the second season) is a challenge where contestants must enter a small space and make a three-point turn, returning in the direction that they entered. The entrance may either be off to one side of the area (earlier seasons) or to the centre of the area (later seasons). A key lesson in this challenge is to make use of the space available to the car in order to do the turn efficiently; in some seasons, obstacles may ring the outer perimeter of the area to give the contestants a better visual cue.
• The Eye of the Needle is a perennial challenge where contestants must navigate through a series of archways at a minimum speed. The intended lesson is to have the driver look where they want to go, in the middle of the archways rather than at the feet on one side of the archway.
• The Figure-Eight Challenge (called Broken Hearts in the third season) is a perennial challenge introduced where drivers must reverse their car around a course in the shape of an 8. There are two versions of this challenge, the first of which originally featured in the second season, with a pair of contestants performing the challenge simultaneously: both cars begin in one end of the course and contestants must reverse their cars to where the other contestant began, with the only passing spaces available at the centre and opposite end of the course, while the second version, introduced in the fourth season, had each contestant do one lap in reverse with the remaining contestants as passengers.
• Canada's Worst Parking Lot is a version of musical chairs where drivers must find spaces to park. The parking lot is filled with cars and may have blocker cars that attempt to frustrate the contestants and cars that may open up new parking spaces. Any driving violation—such as parking in a no parking zone or hitting a stationary object—will typically send the contestant out of the parking lot in a lap penalty. The challenge ends when one contestant fails to park.
  • Canada's Worst Gas Station is a variation on the Canada's Worst Parking Lot Challenge featured in the second season and the eighth season with many of the same rules, but instead of just trying to find spaces to park, contestants also try to get fuel at a simulated self-service gasoline station, avoiding the diesel pump, which their car can't use. Hitting anything or performing a moving violation requires the contestant to leave the station and come back to try again. Most of the pumps start with blocker cars in front of them, which will leave as the challenge goes on. The challenge ends when one contestant fails to get fuel.
• The Water Tank Challenge is a perennial favorite in which the contestants must navigate around a tight obstacle course in a car with a roof-mounted water tank; should the contestants stop too abruptly, the contents of the tank will spill over into the cab of the vehicle, soaking its occupants. In earlier seasons, this was done with a pipe system, though in later seasons, open-top cars or cars with a sunroof are used. Portions of the obstacle course include a slow forward section, sudden stops due to last-minute reactions, such as a hidden stop sign or a pop-out car, a hump – infamous for repeatedly soaking Andrew in his demonstration runs – and optionally an acceleration portion. The intended lesson is on smooth threshold braking: should the contestants brake poorly or navigate too quickly, the water in the tank will spill, soaking both the contestant and nominator inside.
• The Handbrake Turn Challenge is a challenge introduced in the third season that has contestants perform a handbrake turn around a foam figure while in a confined space. The intent of this challenge is for contestants to learn the distribution of weight in a car, as well as a lesson on how to properly control a car in a skid.
• The Reverse Flick is a challenge that has contestants perform the namesake technique in a confined space; it is in essence the handbrake turn in reverse, and without the use of the handbrake. The intent of this challenge is similar to the handbrake turn challenge, but also introduces elements of driving in reverse at speed.
• Drifting Doughnuts (called Burning Out in the third season) is a challenge where contestants must drive in a wide doughnut around a figure; the key to this challenge is counter-steering partway through in order to allow the car to continue drifting, eventually towards a designated exit point. The lesson behind this challenge is on extreme manoeuvres as well as avoiding target fixation.
• The Trough is a challenge introduced in the fifth season where contestants must get their car to move across the namesake trough, a series of concrete Jersey barriers placed on their side, without the car leaving the rails and hitting the ground. The lesson behind this challenge is that the rear wheels will turn more sharply than the front wheels; the key to this challenge is to take wide turns and allow the car to hug the edges of the concrete rails.
• The Parallel Parking Challenge is a perennial challenge that requires drivers to parallel park. Often, there is a moving obstacle, such as an emergency vehicle in the third season, that the contestant must give way to.
• The Teeter-Totter (called The Balance-Beam for Unbalanced Drivers in the third season) is a challenge that has contestants balance a car atop a teeter-totter, such that both ends for the apparatus are off of the ground. The lesson of this challenge is on managing cars on slopes. The Gimbal is a variation of the teeter-totter challenge, where lateral motion is also introduced.
• The Slalom Challenge is a challenge where drivers "swerve" around blue and pink foam mannequins. In the seventh season, they were changed into red and blue hockey players, in keeping with that season's "Driving in Canada" theme. In the eighth season, they were changed into blue and pink shopping people, in keeping with that season's "Big city driving" theme.
• The Lane Change Challenge is a challenge where the drivers are on a two-lane course. The goal is to pass Andrew twice as he drives around. Key to this challenge is learning the proper technique for lane changes (check mirrors, signal, shoulder check, change lanes). Each infraction committed or improperly-executed lane change requires the guilty driver to pass Andrew one extra time. The challenge concludes when only one contestant is left on the course.

Season 1 (2005)

Season 1's theme was "winter driving". This was the only season filmed in the winter; all subsequent seasons have been filmed during the summer.

This season's worst driver was Chris Ferguson. Chris was the first person named Canada's Worst Driver due to his inexperience and lack of awareness on the road.

Season 2 (2006)

Season 2's theme was "summer driving" as the previous season had been filmed in the winter.

This season's worst driver was Henrietta Gallant due to her vision issues and her insistence on not wearing glasses, along with being unable to complete the final road test.

This season saw the first-ever expulsion in any Worst Driver series when Colin Sheppard was expelled due to his unwillingness to learn. This season also saw the first instance of two contestants graduating in the same episode, as Sean McConnell and Jodi Slobodesky did so in the penultimate episode.

Season 3 (2007)

Season 3's theme was "extreme driving manoeuvres".

This season's worst driver was Jason Zhang. Jason was named Canada's Worst Driver for his dangerous final road test performance – stopping in the middle of merging onto Ontario Highway 400. As a result, Jason immediately surrendered his license and gave up driving permanently, the first contestant ever to do so, which made runner-up Shelby D'Souza technically the worst by default.

This season saw the first instance of a contestant graduating in the fifth episode.

Season 4 (2008)

Season 4's theme was "legal consequences of bad driving".

This season's worst driver was Ashley van Ham. Despite passing most of the challenges and being shortlisted four times, including three episodes in a row, Ashley was named Canada's Worst Driver for her emotional instability at the wheel and having never addressed her frustrations with her husband and nominator, Bryan. This made her the youngest at the time until Brandon Wilkins received the title in season 14.

This season saw the first-ever medical expulsion in any Worst Driver series due to the experts' belief that Donna Hicks should no longer be driving; Donna was eliminated in this manner in part due to angina. This season also saw the only instance of an all-female finale in the series' history.

Season 5 (2009)

Season 5's theme was "driver's boot camp".

This season's worst driver was Angelina Marcantognini. Angelina was named Canada's Worst Driver due to her severe anxiety and lack of focus. Andrew further stated during the Canada's Worst Driver: U Asked! special his belief that Angelina is the worst of the "worst drivers" to date, though he subsequently retracted this statement in Canada's Worst Driver Ever and said that her severe emotional problems were more to blame for her driving than a lack of technical ability.

This season saw the first time a contestant left due to a personal (and ironically, driving-related) tragedy, as Crystal Hubley Farao's brother-in-law, Tom Stagno, was killed in a motorcycle accident when 46-year-old Tom Marion of Tecumseh, Ontario failed to yield the right-of-way and was ticketed $128 and criminally charged under the Highway Traffic Act. This season was also the first to feature the three finalists driving a convertible on each of their final road tests during the final episode of every subsequent season.

Season 6 (2010)

Season 6's theme was "high-performance driving".

This season's worst driver was Lance Morin. Lance was named Canada's Worst Driver for being inexperienced and denying that his anxiety had anything to do with his driving.

This season featured the first-ever instance of a driver effectively being removed not by the experts, but by their nominator after Scott Schurink's poor attitude caused his nominator, Danny Bridgman, to cancel their shared insurance policy, resulting in Scott's immediate expulsion, as he was unable to insure himself due to his insurance being too expensive.

Season 7 (2011)

Season 7's theme was "the peculiarities of driving in Canada".

This season's worst driver was Shirley Sampson. Despite performing well in most of the challenges this season, Shirley was named Canada's Worst Driver after a disastrous final road test that included stopping while merging onto, and attempting to exit, the Chedoke Expressway.

This season was the first to be broadcast in HD, owing to the launch of the high-definition simulcast of Discovery Channel.

Season 8 (2012)

Season 8's theme was "big city driving".

This season's worst drivers were Flora Wang and Kevin Simmons. Both Flora and Kevin were named Canada's Worst Driver for being equally bad in different ways, with Flora's poor progress and Kevin's non-functioning right eye, respectively, being their main issues.

This was the only time that there was ever a tie for Canada's Worst Driver, although Andrew didn't want the season to end on a tie.

Season 9 (2013)

Season 9 was an "all-star" season, which saw nine previous winners and runners-up return to the show for a chance to either redeem themselves or be named the worst-ever.

This season's worst driver was Kevin Simmons. Kevin was named Canada's Worst Driver Ever after turning in an even worse final road test than the previous season. Afterwards, he burned his license under the promise he'd made to the panel and his boyfriend and nominator, Lenny Stone, that he'd stop driving if he either didn't graduate or was named the worst ever.

This season saw the first time a contestant graduated in the first episode (as Chris Ferguson was the only returning driver to pass the assessment challenge), another contestant was disqualified and removed from the show due to the experts judging Henrietta Gallant ineligible to take part (Henrietta admitted she largely gave up driving after previously being named the worst) and another contestant's nominator was replaced (Yolanda Kozak served as Michael Telford's nominator after his original nominator, Eric, was unable to return for health reasons; he had since recovered to replace her in the fifth episode after she was proven to be too negative and detrimental).

Season 10 (2014)

Season 10's theme was "10th Anniversary".

This season's worst driver was Chanie Richard. Self-described "Selfie Queen" Chanie was named Canada's Worst Driver for her lack of focus at the wheel and for admitting to driving without her legally-required medication.

Season 11 (2015)

Season 11's theme was "high-speed driving".

This season's worst driver was Jillian Matthews. Despite passing some challenges and numerous practice driving sessions in public off-camera, Jillian was named Canada's Worst Driver due to her inability to completely overcome her anxiety when alone behind the wheel, deemed by the judges to be a real danger to other drivers on the road.

This season featured nine contestants instead of the usual eight, as for the first time ever, a pair of contestants also acted as nominators for each other, as Sholom and Shmuel Hoffman both nominated one another and were considered equally bad drivers. This season also saw the second instance of two contestants graduating in an episode, as Alexander Morrison and Tina Cook did so in the second episode.

Season 12 (2016)

Season 12's theme was "dangers of speeding".

This season's worst driver was Krystal McCann. Krystal was named Canada's Worst Driver due to her addiction to her cell phone, aggressive driving, mood swings, failing to improve her hostile attitude (especially toward Andrew) and not taking any of the lessons to heart (Krystal later attributed her behaviour to borderline personality disorder which she was diagnosed with after the show).^[2]

This season featured the show's 100th episode, being the seventh episode of the season (specials included). This season also saw the only time in which the traditional trophy was not awarded to Canada's Worst Driver (it was instead repurposed as the Final Graduate trophy and awarded to Tyler Dupont as the experts believed Krystal was not even worthy of it due to her hostile behavior in rehab.

Season 13 (2017)

Season 13's theme was "driving fears" and "the number 13".

This season's worst driver was Mélanie Lautard. Mélanie was named Canada's Worst Driver and the last woman to be named as such due to her inability to focus on, apply and sometimes remember the lessons she was taught in rehab and her negative attitude towards herself and the Rehabilitation Centre's instructors while driving on- and off-camera.

This season saw the only instance of a former contestant returning as the nominator of a new contestant, as Canada's Worst Driver 11 "winner" Jillian Kieley (née Matthews) served as Ashley Dunne's nominator. This season also made more extensive use of helicopter drone aerial video than previous seasons.

Season 14 (2018)

Season 14's theme was "evolution of driving".

This season's worst driver was Brandon Wilkins. Brandon was the final person ever given the title of Canada's Worst Driver (replacing season 4 "winner" Ashley van Ham as the youngest) due to his reckless driving, emotional instability and lack of basic understanding of road signs and rules. As a result, Brandon immediately cut up his license after promising he would quit driving if named the worst.

This was the only season to feature seven contestants instead of the usual eight. This season also marked the only instance of a new contestant graduating in the first episode, as Ryan Whittier drove perfectly in the Assessment Challenge, while Brandon had to get a doctor's note after arriving at rehab to get permission to be able to drive since he broke his arm in a skateboarding accident a week before filming.

Nomination

Like its sister series, the contestants are chosen by nominations submitted to Proper Television. Until June 2011, when Canada's Worst Handyman was cancelled and later replaced in April 2015 with Blood, Sweat & Tools (which was itself cancelled after nine episodes), Canada's Worst Driver and Canada's Worst Handyman were filmed alternately, with each season of Canada's Worst Driver followed by a season of Canada's Worst Handyman (except for the first season, in which Canada's Worst Handyman was filmed during the summer and Canada's Worst Driver was filmed during the winter, Canada's Worst Driver has been filmed during the summer and Canada's Worst Handyman was filmed during the winter). Nominations for the next season of one are accepted shortly after the airing of another on Discovery Channel. Also, like its sister series, candidates may be nominated by multiple nominators, though only one nominator accompanies the contestant to the Driver Rehabilitation Centre.

Locations

The location of the Driver Rehabilitation Centre and of the final road test have changed throughout the show's run.

In the first season, the Centre was located on the grounds of CFB Picton (currently operating as Picton Airport), a decommissioned military base near Picton, Ontario that closed in 1969. The road test took place in Old Montreal, Quebec. All road tests in future seasons were conducted within Ontario.

In season 2, the Centre moved to the grounds of CFB Borden while the road test took place in Toronto.

In season 3, the Driver Rehabilitation Centre moved to the demolished Edgar Adult Occupation Centre, an institution for developmentally disabled or handicapped adults in Oro-Medonte that closed in 1999. The site formarly housed a radar station that was sold in 1964. The road test took place in Barrie.

Season 4 was filmed at the site of the Ontario Reformatory Prison, an abandoned correctional facility in Guelph that closed down in 2002 due to being too harsh. The road test took place in Toronto.

In season 5, the series returned to CFB Borden (referred to on-air as "an undisclosed military location") while the road test continued to be in Toronto.

Starting in season 6, the Driver Rehabilitation Centre was at Dunnville Airport, a registered aerodrome near Dunnville that ceased airport operations in 2013. The road test took place in Niagara Falls in season 6, then moved to Hamilton for every subsequent season.