The safety of vehicles imported from right-hand-drive vehicle configuration countries when operated in a left-hand-drive vehicle environment.

Vehicles over 15 years of age imported into Canada are exempt from complying with Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (CMVSS) applicable to their years of production. This has led to a developing market for older imported vehicles in British Columbia (BC). But while mechanical inspections are carried out on such vehicles before they can be registered in BC, vehicles from countries that drive on the left side of the road (such as Japan) retain their right-hand-drive (RHD) control configuration. The concern with these vehicles is two-fold: first, does the RHD configuration lead to increased risk of crash involvement; and second, are these vehicles inferior in comparison to built-for-Canada vehicles of a similar age, with respect to occupant protection potential? In this study three separate methodologies were utilized in approaching these concerns: a relative crash culpability analysis where RHD and left-hand-drive (LHD) crash rates were compared for the same group of drivers; a survival analysis where time-to-first-crash was compared between RHD and LHD drivers: and a multiple regression model where RHD vehicle driver risk was compared to that of a similarly constituted comparison group of LHD vehicle drivers. The results of all three analyses were consistent. RHD vehicles had a significantly greater risk of at-fault crash involvement over that of similar LHD vehicles. However, crashes involving RHD vehicles were no more severe than those involving LHD vehicles only.