New Test - First biker crashes!

[mikesouthby]

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/News/newsresults/mcn/2009/April/27-30/apr2809-first-new-test-candidate-crashes/

[ONFIRE]

Muppet's :D :D

[crewy]

Oh dear, well done the EU!!!

[drinky]

just another little piece of our country sold down the river to Eurocrats by our spineless politicians.

[FJ_Biker]

I think the British government are using this law to curtail the number of new motorcyclist on the road. Other EU countries have not gone to all this bother

[Uber Dave]

I think the British government are using this law to curtail the number of new motorcyclist on the road. Other EU countries have not gone to all this bother

Only reason we need to have these test centres is because the EU rules say the swerve has to be done at 60kmph and that means 31mph, as that is 1mph over the legal limit for the rural roads you would normal do these types of maneuver on they had to build the test centres for that 1mph. So basically our Govt has no spine and didnt tell the EU to sod off......

Shame people are already getting hurt on their tests, wonder if the guy who broke his arm is going to try again or not.

[igbell]

All I can say is Bloddy Goverments....
Take them all to an island somewhere and blow it up.....

[PSSSSD]

I liked what a guy called trainerphil says, sort of sums it up for me:

"we all apreciate making biking safer but shouldnt we be teaching hazard perception, forward planning and forward observation instead of swerving"

And this bit as a comparible assenine directive I'd love to see :) :) :)

"what are they going to do with the cars ?

have an examiner in another car waiting at a junction to pull out on a candidate on test to see if they can swerve the car out of the way?"

[igbell]

Ah but you see Psssd they dont want to stop cars coming onto the roads as they make more money out of cars than Bikes, we are cheaper to run insure build and tax, cars are expensive and the goverment get more out of us, why should they make it harder for a car test???

[PSSSSD]

Ah with you now! Of course.

So where is this land where I'm allowed to make my own choices and learn or die by my mistakes? Or is that just a game on the web? >:(

[igbell]

Yep in this day and age unless you own your own island and have your own laws, it is a case of becoming couch potato and playing life online.

[Iceman]

+1 then! ::)

[steveo]

just read this, i think it is really stupid that you have to do such a dangerous manuver on a test, it takes the piss, as a biker i would dread having to do that if the time ever comes that i need to, i would rather just ditch the bike than try and swerve, because i think if you did, it would or could make things a lot worse, i.e if i was in a situation where i could not get out of a head on with a car i would rather ditch the bike than suddenly change direction and maybe hit another car or a pedestrian making things alot worse. i would rather scratch my leathers than die or kill others. :(

[kez_kitten]

i want to do my bike test soon but that rather puts me off, the idea of trying to swerve doesnt particularly appeal to me, :o

[igbell]

The one thing you have to take into considuration here is they were doing this in the rain, which makes things worse, also we dont know about the ground they were doing it on, do trucks or buses drive across it at night when the bikes arent there??
I know the Swindon is a newly built test lad I dont know about others, are they new or reused car parks or such??
Also have these people had sufficent training on this and in these conditions??
I must say I do think the car test in Finland is very good, 3 years to take a test and also you have to do all weathers and skid pan days the lot, hence why they have better rally drivers than anybody else as they are taught to drive like a rally driver from the age of 16.

[Iceman]

I've got the new test centre built next to my house so will have to watch out for this new test!

[igbell]

So that means you live round the corner from me then Iceman, we will have to meet up then.

[xl1000va6]

All the DSA test centres are purpose built and use all weather surface, so the wet weather shouldn't make any difference. The test pads are for the exclusive use of bike tests and cannot be accessed by any other vehicles day or night. The problem is that novice riders are being asked to carry out a hazardous manoeuvre that has only really been tested by experienced riders. I started training for the new test on Wednesday and the first rider to attempt the manoeuvre crashed. They looked down at the speedo to make sure they were up to speed and then grabbed a handful of front brake when they saw the cones. Both things they were expressly told not to do. Novices panic, when people panic they grab stuff, when people grab stuff they feckin' crash......

Keep an eye on the news early next week, tomorrow sees that first tests being conducted at 'casual hire' sites and VOSA testing stations. These do not have high quality surfaces and are used by HGV's during the week.