- Drivers with disabilities can drive,
and there's a lot of options available to them.
On a trip to Calgary we caught up with Nelson Chateauneuf.
He's the owner of Southtrail Driving School,
and he went over all of the options available
to drivers with disabilities.
Stick around.
We'll be right back with that information.
(upbeat music plays)
- So, I'll start with the...
It's called the RF360 Mini,
where you got all six buttons here
for the different functions around your car.
So in order for these to work, I got to start the car.
(car beeping)
Same as any other instruments in your car.
You got to start your car for them to get, to work.
So here we go.
We got our regular signal, right. (turn signal clicks)
Regular signal, left. (turn signal clicks)
Now I'm going to do it with the 360 Mini, RF 360.
Here we go. (turn signal clicks)
Signal left and I push it on again, to cancel.
And it cancels by itself after 15 seconds.
And at a light,
you're stopped at a light,
you got it on.
As long as you got your foot on the brake
or your hand on the brake, the signal light stays on.
Okay, so, I'm going to cancel signal light.
Here's my horn. (horn honks)
Here's the wipers.
Okay, and you've got to click on it four times
to turn it off.
Here's low beams, high beams.
Okay.
And again, here, the right hand signal, (turn signal clicks)
turn it off.
And my windshield washer is on this button here.
So this the newest of Sure Grip technology here
for hand controls.
And then you can have it on the right side
or you can set it on the left side.
It's, so this way here,
you don't let go of your steering wheel.
The other one like this,
if you don't like the buttons sticking out like that,
you, we've got the RF-360.
And again, it's made by Sure Grip.
It's a Canadian company.
Well-known from New Brunswick and they got the buttons flush
and it's a different kind of a handle.
We also got the Tri-Pin, (Tri-Pin clunks)
for,
So here we go.
So you keep, and it could tighten up.
So you got the Tri-Pin,
comes in pretty handy.
It's being used, but again
they have to let go to go honk their horn.
So now I'd like to introduce (car dings)
the hand control part of it.
So I turned the car off.
Now I'm going to start the car.
Okay the car's running.
And in order to activate the hand control,
I got to push a button here.
So that's again, safety
because you don't want your mechanic just
to be running your car with the system.
There's our gas. (engine revs)
There's our brake.
So it's push in, rock, angle.
It's called the push-in rock angle.
Left and right.
So there you are.
You can cruise all day.
Work your way to Vancouver or Halifax.
And you'll be just as safe as any other driver.
There's no reason why a person
with a physical disability can not drive.
So I encourage anybody, everybody,
that needs this kind of system to do it.
Okay, now I'm going to show you another system now. (car dings)
It's called your Light Feather gas pedal.
- So this would be for amputees who don't have the right leg
they would able, to be able to drive with their left leg?
- Correct.
- [Rick] Okay.
- So amputees or people that's had a stroke,
paralyzed on the right side,
now they can drive on, (device clunks)
everything on the left side.
So here we go.
So now we got the left gas pedal
and we got our spinner knob with the six functions on it.
So here we are going
with Rick testing, this new hand control.
I got my seatbelt on and I'm holding on.
(both laugh)
(engine hums)
- I just don't,
want to go out that way?
- Just drive around the lot here, Rick.
And then we'll go out on the streets
just slowing down on your corner.
I like to say to the students
at 15 to 18 kilometers an hour-
- [Rick] Yeah.
- you'll never go wrong.
The car's not going to pull.
- Yeah, so it's interesting
because it's just this, just twists
and then to brake, the whole assembly moves forward.
- [Nelson] Correct.
- [Rick] Yeah.
(engine hums)
You're right, it is.
The whole thing is like the brake and everything,
is sensitive.
- People get used to it, you know?
It's-
- [Rick] Yeah.
- [Nelson] It's like, you're getting a new cell phone.
How long does it take you to get used to it?
You know, some people will take three months
to get used to it.
This system here, they get used to it,
like within a couple hours.
- Well, and it's very intuitive too, right?
Like we're moving forward.
All your momentum is going forward when you're braking.
So you're already moving forward,
so it's helping you to brake, right?
- Sure.
And then when you pull back, it's, you know,
it's not something that you're going to mistake
when you're driving.
Now, the only thing, like you said pre-
before is the risk is to resist taking your hand
off the wheel.
- Yeah.
So that was what the old Spinner Knob System.
As this one here, you don't need
to take your hands off the steering wheel, so-
- [Rick] Yep.
And then the other thing-
(Nelson speaks indistinctly)
that I want to work on is, (turn signal clicks)
and then signal,
slow down,
and then around
and then I can cancel it,
or it will cancel on its own, as you said.
- Correct.
- [Rick] Cool! (turn signal stops clicking)
Very cool.
- As if you're using the regular Spinner Knob,
you're going to be taking your hands
off the steering wheel, or the Spinner Knob-
- Yeah.
- to go signal,
honk your horn,
use your wipers,
which is highly unsafe. (turn signal clicks)
I mean, it takes 3/4 seconds-
- [Rick] Yeah.
- to get into a collision, real quick,
and, it distracts also your,
you know, the old system,
your reaction time.
So it's going to take you longer to react
with the old system.
- [Rick] Yeah.
- [Nelson] As this one here, it's right away.
(turn signal continues clicking)
- I have to say I'm a huge advocate of backup-
- Backup, yeah - up cameras.
- So here, of course, you know, to put it in gear,
you got to put your hand on the brake.
- Yeah.
- So it's safe to change gears then. (gear shift clunks)
- Yeah.
- Now the only thing,
it's an automatic transmission, obviously.
I advocate putting on the parking brake.
The only thing is is that this vehicle
would be a foot control for the parking brake, right?
- So, no.
This one here has the automatic-
- [Rick] Electronic.
- Yeah.
If you've got the foot one,
then there's a call, what they call the brake extension.
- Okay.
- So it's a little piece of rod coming
out that hangs on to the-
- Okay.
brake and, they push it down.
- I'm still getting used to these newer cars
having these electronic parking brakes.
- Well, I still show the kids, you know,
before their road tests on, during their lessons
to put it on-
- [Rick] Yeah.
- [Nelson] Even though it comes on automatically,
because I want them to get used to it.
- Yeah. I'll try to stay out of the puddles
in your nice clean car. (Nelson chuckles)
- [Nelson] I wouldn't worry about it.
I wash it every day.
- All right, let's go for a drive.
- All right.
Rick is, feel pretty confident here with this new system.
(turn signal clicks)
When I was training in Toronto, Rick,
so I was on the 401 with my instructor over there
while I was training.
And now always tempted with my right foot,
to push the brake pedal.
- Actually, you know-
- Yeah? (Nelson chuckles briefly)
- Now that you say that, I have my foot-
- Your foot on-
over the brake pedal.
- And what my instructor says, he's watching me.
He says, "You do that one more time,
I'll tie your foot to the seat." (both laugh)
- And I'll give you lots of warning.
It's always straight unless we ask, Mr. Student.
So let's see how Rick does here with signaling.
- Oh, this first left. (turn signal clicks)
So he signals left,
shoulder check to his left.
Make sure no Pokemons are there.
Starting May 31st,
where there's no yellow lines-
- [Rick] Okay.
- [Nelson] Speed zones will be 40 kilometers.
- [Rick] Oh, interesting.
- [Nelson] Yeah.
- But we're in a park zone right now,
'cause that sign back there said it was a playground.
So, and playground here. -And a playground here.
- [Rick] Yeah, so right here. (turn signal clicks)
- I'm just not used to instruct a pro. (both laugh)
(engine revs)
So here we could take Deer Foot south,
so you'll have to change lanes.
So Rick- - [Rick] Oh yeah.
- [Nelson] is going to signal,
another mirror, mirror, shoulder check. (engine hums)
I watch a lot of his videos
so I got a (Rick laughs) pretty good idea
of how he does it. (engine hums)
All right, Rick. (tires rumble)
So you see on top of Barlowe Trail,
the sign that says exit 240?
- Yep, the mile marker? (tires rumble)
- You got me already.
All right, you got it. (both laugh)
Most people don't know this.
Kids, you know I'm,
I tell them we're 240 kilometers from the border.
- [Rick] Yep, okay.
So, is zero the border, then?
- [Nelson] Zero would be the border.
- [Rick] Okay. (tires softly rumble)
- So with 1% of the population being physically disabled,
apparently 75% of that 1% is on the Age Program
(turn signal clicks) where they receive some government aid.
How about if we pull over Rick
and use the left gas pedal now.
(tires rumble)
Yeah, I'm so glad I got
into this part of the business, of driver education.
- [Rick] Yeah.
- [Nelson] Working with, disabled,
physically disabled people.
- Yeah. (tires rumble)
- They seem like they really enjoy it.
They really appreciate it, and that-
Wrong pedal, Rick?
- Yeah. (Nelson laughs)
- Wrong pedal.
Okay, like I said, it would take me a couple of days to-
- Power off-