Motorcycle Test Reported To Be In Crisis

Now don’t get me wrong, I know there are fewer people taking their bike test since the new one was bought out but I do have issues with the way this is being reported.  Here is the article as it’s being reported online on the Motorcycle News website.

A crisis hitting the number of people taking the motorcycle test is even deeper than previously feared, latest figures show.

Eighteen months after a new Europe-wide test was introduced, the number of people taking it was still barely half the former level.

When bookings dropped drastically following the changeover last year, the Driving Standards Agency said it was temporary and demand would “settle at usual levels again in 2010/11”.

But new DSA figures point to a long-term decline.

In the 16 months leading up to the introduction of the new exam in April 2009, 130,498 people took the old test, a rate of 8156 a month.

But in the 18 months following the changeover, only 73,508 people completed the new test, 4083 a month and almost half the earlier rate.

The Government is conducting a review of the test, which was originally intended to reach conclusions by autumn.

Roads minister Mike Penning said: “The review of the motorcycle test is a top priority for me because I want to make sure that we have a test which prepares bikers properly for the road.

“We have been working with the motorcycle training industry and others to make sure that we are taking all views into account and we will report on findings as soon as possible.”

My problem is in the way these figures are being presented (sorry MCN).

As a lot of you know, the new test was originally scheduled to start in September 2008 but, because of bungling incompetance, so few of the new test centres were ready for use, the implementation of the test was put back about 6 months.  In the lead up to September 2008 thousands upon thousands of people decided to get their bike licence under the old test regime and so booked lessons and their test.  I should know,  I was one of them!!!  I took one look at the new test and thought “S*d that!!!”

During 2008, riding schools all over the country were inundated with trainees learning to ride, which definately skews the figures somewhat, as in a normal riding year fewer people would be taking their test.  Then the test was put back 6 months so that more of the new test centres could be made ready, and those who thought they had missed the original deadline were given a life line and once again the riding schools were booked solid, even though it was winter

According to the DSA  some 130,498 people took their test in the 18 months leading up to the change of test.  I’m pretty damn certain a sizeable number of those were riders who wanted to take the old style test and not the new one.

Now, since the new test started 18 months ago the DSA say that just 73,508 people have taken it, a drop of almost 50% on the previous figures.

BUT…… Seeing as the figures from September 2007 until April 2009 are hardly indicative of the number of people taking their bike test during a ‘normal’ 16 month period, I don’t see how they can be reliably compared with those from May 2009 up until late 2010.

Unless of course you’re attempting to make things look worse than they are 😉

New Motorcycle Test Under Fire After Series Of Accidents

The government and the DSA is under increasing pressure to rethink the new motorcycle test after a series of accidents in it’s first few weeks.

On the very first day one young man, in South Yorkshire, suffered a broken arm after crashing while trying to slow in the wet immediately following the new ‘swerve’ manoeuvre, and since then 14 more accidents have been reported.  There was one additional, as yet unreported, accident yesterday when a young lady training at my old bike school also fell off doing the same manoeuvre.  Luckily she was not hurt but was shaken up and bruised.

Instructors, and bikers who have emailed the BBC, have said that trying to perform such a manoeuvre at 31.2 mph (50 kph), while possibly suffering from test nerves, is dangerous, especially when performed on a wet surface.

While the test would probably be fine when done in the dry, new riders who may be tempted to brake and swerve at the same time are likely to come a cropper when trying to do this in the wet.  Bikers are taught very early on in their training that braking when not going in a straight line is a BAD thing to do, and even though the trainees taking their tests are undoubtedly taught the same thing, test nerves may be getting the better of them.

Dexterity Motorcycle Training in Kent tried the test out two years before it was implemented and had this to say about the swerve manoeuvre

The swerve/avoidance test – just simply getting up to the required speed (as on my first run) will catch some out, others will swerve and brake too soon and too hard simultaneously with the front brake and bin it.

Somewhat prophetic words I think, considering what is happening on the tests now.

Jeff Stone of the British Motorcycle Federation had this to say

“There is no real argument with the actual test, but the DSA really do have to take note of ‘real world’ conditions.

“A brake and swerve manoeuvre on a wet road is fraught with danger for even an experienced motorcyclist, so there needs to be a safer option for inclement weather conditions.”

and Paul Turner of the Motorcycle Action Group added

“We don’t mind improvements in the test which will make for better riders, but putting people at risk during the test is ludicrous.”

Expecting novice riders to perform the manoeuvre at the same speed whether it is sunny or chucking it down is going against the instruction we are given as learner riders.  All riders are taught to ride according to the prevailing conditions, something which helps us to stay as safe as we can out on the roads.  We are taught to slow down in the wet, and increase stopping distances, but the DSA is overturning the training and asking new riders to hammer it coming out of a bend towards the swerve part of the test!

Phil Woolley, 28, of Liverpool, tells how he failed the test after completing the swerve slightly below the required speed.  He reckons the size of the test centre makes it difficult to get up to 50 kph without accelerating unsafely.  He says

“Do it at a controlled speed and you will almost certainly fail,” he said. “Or you just floor it as hard as you can and there is a good chance you will pass, but also a risk you will come off.”

Boy, am I glad I passed my test in February 2008, before the new test came into force.  I wouldn’t want to be tackling the new test.

Original Story

Great Start To The New Motorcycle Test

The new ‘Super Test Centre’ at Rotherham, South Yorkshire, has come under fire this morning after the first candidate crashed his bike and broke his arm!

The DSA’s new centre opened for motorcycle tests on Monday for the new part one of the motorcycle test which must be taken off road due to that fact that some of the manoeuvres have to be done at 31mph.

Concerns are being voiced up and down the country by riding instructors after finding out that the test moves HAVE to be carried out at the same speed and over the same distances, whether it’s a nice sunny day or chucking it down with rain!  Instructors have been told that the surface is fitted with a super sticky compound which makes it safe in all weathers.

John Atkin, spokesman for the DSA, has said of the test centres:

“The areas used for the motorcycle manoeuvres have been tested thoroughly in both wet and dry conditions and provide a safe environment for the candidate. Tests have continued successfully at Rotherham since this happened.

I personally would like to know who is actually testing these centres.  Is it experienced riders who may very well be able to cope with doing these kinds of exercises, or is it novice riders who have recently learned to ride a bike? It would be interesting to find out.

The instructor who trained the man who was injured said the following

“Adam did his swerve manoeuvres and put his brakes on so he could stop in the required distance.
“But the back end of the bike swerved round and threw him off, leaving him with a very nasty break to his arm which needs surgery.
“All the instructors around here agree this is a joke. It’s common sense that you wouldn’t ride the same in the wet. They’ve just thrown common sense out of the window.

On the same day at the same centre, another young man fell from his bike, and was uninjured, and a girl failed the test, in the pouring rain, for being 1kph too slow.

I don’t know about the rest of you,  but if it’s raining I slow down on my bike and yet the DSA is expecting new riders to carry out manoeuvres at the same speed as you would in the dry!  It just doesn’t seem right.  Plus, if you think about this, new riders will be suffering from ‘test nerves’, I know I was when I took my test and this may well be a contributing factor.

I really feel for anyone looking at taking their test now, it can be done but it not an experience I would want to go through.  I’m just glad I passed my test before this was bought into effect!

Full Story

Motorcycle Groups Warning Of Test Chaos

The new motorcycle test comes into effect at the end of this month, and motorcycle groups are warning that the system is not sufficiently geared up to avoid chaos.

The DSA’s decision to make the test available at just 66 centres nationwide, instead of the previous 260+, will make it more difficult to get a test booked, and that’s before any of these new riders actually faces the ride to get to one of the new ‘test super centres’.

As things stand at the moment most tests are booked as part of a package offered by training schools, courses such as the DAS (Direct Access) course and availability has always been pretty good.  But after the introduction of the new test a greater number of training establishments will be sharing the new test centres, which will result in many fewer bookings for each riding school.

Many riding schools must now be doubting how secure their futures are when taking the the current status of the new test centres into account.  Some are reporting that the numbers of learners they may be able to book in for tests may be reduced by half.  How long are riding schools going to be able to continue with that kind of a drop in the revenue?

Plus, if take into consideration the increases in fees imposed by the DSA in recent months you will begin to wonder how many people will actually look at taking their bike test now.  Additionally fees for taking riding courses will no doubt go up as schools have to cover the costs of getting learner riders to the test centres.  Some new riders, already nervous at the prospect of thaking their test ,may face a journey of 45 minutes or more just to get to their test centre.

The implementation of the new test was delayed by 6 months last September as only 38 of the 66 new test centres was ready for business.  Since last September just 6 new ones have been added and the remaining 22 areas have only temporary or weekend only test centres.  All of my local riding schools now face sharing a test centre which is only open on Tuesdays!!! It’s a joke!

Considering the new test was implemented to increase rider safety, there are fears that a growing number of riders will be put off going the new test route and will just take to the road without a licence.

Well done DSA.. A gold medal is coming your way.. for making a right ba**s up of this!

Full story

HOT NEWS – New Motorcycle Test Implementation Date Changes

I was at one of my local bike shops, who also does training,  this morning and was reliably informed that the FINAL date for taking the old motorcycle test has been put back now until FRIDAY 24th APRIL.

Apparently this is to allow for the implementation of the new test to come in more smoothly!

So if you are looking at trying to take your motorcycle test before the new one comes into effect it now looks like you have a few extra weeks in which to take the old style test.

Ring your local training school now if you want to be in with a chance of getting your test booked before Friday April 24th, they are getting booked solid.

2009 Motorcycle Test – Test Can Now Be Split

It has been announced by Jim Fitzpatrick, our Roads Minister, that from 27th April 2009 learner motorcyclists will be able to take the two parts of the new 2009 motorcycle tests on different days if they want to. 

This means that they will be able to take the new manoeuvres part of the test at one of the specially built test centres, and then take the on road section of the test at an existing test centre, probably closer to home, is they choose.

The Driving Standards Agency (DSA) seriously messed up last year with the building of these new test centres, as not enough of them were completed in time for the original launch in October 2008. 

Personally I reckon they know there won’t be enough of the new test centre’s open by March 30th 2009 (Why am I not surprised?)and this is the way it is being dealt with this time.

Instead of clogging up the test centres, and having the examiners do both parts of the test on each appointment, I’m wondering if they will ‘advise’ people to do the second part of the test at the centre they would have had it at before the new test came in. 

At the end of the day I still don’t believe the new test launch is going to be smooth, if anything I feel sorry for anyone looking at taking their test after the cut off date.  I reckon it’s going to be a nightmare!  I can’t see how they can postpone the new test launch yet again, without looking like inept idiots!

There are still huge area’s of the country not covered by one of these new test centres, remember new riders were not ‘supposed’ to have to ride more than 20 miles to their motorbike test.  Some are still going to have to ride a lot further and personally I really feel for them.  Imagine those poor riders who have only just learned to ride and are having to go 40 miles through rush hour traffic to take their test early in the day! Its madness!!

Talk about a baptism by fire!

While rider groups have welcomed the news announced yesterday, they, like me, are still concerned about the distances some people will have to travel.

It’s not going to be fun for some of the new riders out there!

 

Please check out my other entries about the 2009 Motorcycle Test

Countdown To The New Motorcycle test.. Again!

New Motorcycle Test Centres – Updated List

Motorcycle Tests To Be Cancelled On Cold Days

2009 Motorcycle Test – Price Hike, Again!

I really can’t believe this bit of news.  Apparently the price of the 2009 motorcycle test is to go up AGAIN!

Not content with a £20 increase in September 2008 to cover the increased costs of the new test, it is to go yet up again by another £10.50!

If you are booking your motorbike test and intend taking it after March 30th 2009 it will now cost you a staggering £90.50!

That’s a 50% increase in fees in less than a year!

Considering the last increase in fees was supposed to pay for the increased costs for the new test, I’m absolutely appalled that they are yet again increasing the fees while many of the new test centres still need to be built!

How the heck can they justify yet another increase when some learner riders will still have to travel too many miles to get to one of the new centres? 

Talk about being ripped off!!

It’s enough to make my blood boil!

 

Please check out the other entries in the 2009 Motorcycle Test Updates Category

Motorcycle Tests To Be Cancelled On Cold Days

Now, this news is going to make it interesting next winter if you are going to be taking your motorcycle test.  Apparently the DSA has decided that tests will not take place on days when there is cold enough to put down a preventative layer of road salt at the new test centres.

At the moment it is at the examiners discretion as to whether tests take place or not, depending on the weather.  But examiners will lose the right to choose whether tests will go ahead or not.  Apparently there is to be no gritting what so ever at the new test centres and candidates will be turned away and told to rebook their tests for another day.  And it has started already, one instructor in Leicester had the training sessions he had booked at one of the new test sites cancelled due to pockets of ice on the site.  He was told by the examiner that it was unsafe to use and that they were not allowed to put any grit on the surface to make it safe to ride on. 

Now considering the British weather this could cause enormous problems for anyone wanting to take their motorcycle test in the winter.  According to grit manufacturers roads can need gritting between 40 and 120 times a year, depending on where in the country you are, and frost can occur between 35 and 80 times during a normal winter.

Considering that riding lessons are supposed to prepare us for a safe riding career and the motorcycle test is supposed to show the examiner that as future motorcyclists we can ride in a safe manner, no matter what may occur during the test, I cannot see that closing the test centres when conditions require road salt will make us better riders.  Now don’t get me wrong, I do not have a problem with tests being cancelled if the weather conditions are bad, but if a layer of salt means the roads are safe enough to ride on then what is the problem?  After all car tests still take place if the road has been gritted and the examiner considers it safe to drive.

My motorcycle test took place in the pouring rain, it absolutely hammered it down but by passing in conditions like that I was able to show the examiner that I could cope perfectly well when the conditions were definitely less than ideal. Typically it stopped raining about ten minutes after my test had finished!

I’m sitting here wondering if will it mean that riding schools will cut back on classes during the winter as they run the risk of having test after test postponed.  If they are talking of cancelling tests through out the winter will it mean that people will be less likely to take their motorcycle test?  If that is the case and they have no experience of riding a smaller bike in dodgy weather, how on earth will they cope the following winter on a bigger, faster bike once they have passed their tests? 

Unfortunately, the simple answer is that they won’t!

Either that or you will only see the new riders out on their motorbikes in the summer!

As I have said in previous posts on here, I only learned to ride in 2007 and I rode all through the winter to 2008 on my 125cc motorbike until I passed my test in February 2008.  The winters riding did me no end of good.  I learned how to control a controllable sized bike in sub-zero temperatures on the country roads I used to get to work.  It has given me something which will definitely benefit me in years to come.. Experience! How to ride safely in very cold conditions.

Its possible that while this will be a complete pain for the learner riders, the riding schools may benefit from this though.  Imagine you have your riding lessons, you are trained to the required standard and on the morning of your test it is cancelled.  Now chances are that it will be a few weeks by the time that a slot is available for a re-test and by then you will ‘have gone off the boil’ as it were, and you may need a refresher to make sure you are still at test standard! And that will cost more money! Who is going to be the loser then, certainly not the DSA and I really don’t think the riding schools will lose out either.  After all we pay for their time, and refresher sessions take time. 

The loser will be the learner rider, in more ways than one.

New Motorcycle Test Centres – Updated List

I have found the updated list of the DSA’s new motorcycle test centres and if you click on the sites near you, you will be able to see what the state of play is at your nearest test centre. 

DSA Test Centre List

As you can see from browsing through the list there are going to be huge area’s of the country where learner riders will have to travel quite some distance to their nearest test centre. 

Stuff  doing that!  People are going to be nervous enough about taking their test without having to ride for an hour and a half to get to their nearest test centre, like I would have to if I was taking my test after March!

In some places the location still shows as ‘site identified!!’  So much for the facilities being in place before March!!

If you can get the cash together to do it before March 30th, then I would suggest you go for it and book as soon as possible before the training schools are booked solid again.

Countdown To The New Motorcycle Test.. AGAIN!!

After the fiasco of last years new motorcycle test launch, and the subsequent delay in the implementation of the test due to a lack of facilities at which the new test could be done, we are once again on a countdown to the new test launch.

The new test comes into effect as of the 30^th March 2009.

The new motorcycle test, designed to, and I quote the DSA, “improve the standard of road safety for motorcycle and moped riders” will now contain the following elements.

The new motorcycle test will be composed of two elements. The higher speed exercises and other exercises will be tested on safe off-road sites and take about 10 minutes to complete. The accompanied on road element of the test will follow, consisting of a road ride covering a variety of road and traffic conditions and will also include normal stops, hill and angle starts, just like the current motorcycle test.

The new elements of the off-road part of the motorcycle test will include the following:

• At least two exercises carried out at slow speed, including a slalom
• At least two exercises carried out at higher speed, of which one exercise should be in second or third gear, at a speed of at least 30 km/h (approx. 19 mph) and one exercise avoiding an obstacle at a minimum speed of 50 km/h (approx. 31 mph)
• At least two braking exercises, including an emergency brake at a minimum speed of 50 km/h (approx. 31 mph)
  On the day of the test, candidates will be asked by the examiner to demonstrate their riding ability on either the left-hand or right-hand circuit. This will allow the examiner to be sure that the candidate has a very high level of machine control before being allowed on the on-road element.

If you fluff up the off-road part of the test, you will not be allowed to go out on the road for the next part and will have to rebook the off-road test again.

This new part of the test is designed to be difficult and you will need to be able to demonstrate that you can ride the bike with a great deal of confidence. Some riding schools are predicting that it will take longer to teach the new elements for the test and as a result the cost of training for the test will in all probability go up.

Here are diagrams of the left hand and right hand circuits which the off road part of the test will be done on. I personally didn’t like the look of this at all and made sure I passed my test before the new one came in!!

Now if you are thinking about doing your bike test this year, maybe you should consider doing it, if at all possible, before the new test comes in. I for one didn’t like the look of the new test being introduced and made sure I passed my bike test before the new one was launched. In fact if I had failed my test in February 2008 I was prepared to try every month until I passed it, I was so adamant I didn’t want to do the new test!

So don’t delay if you want to do your bike test soon, ring your local motorcycle school and get yourself booked in before its too late. No doubt they will be booked solid soon with people trying to get their test done before the cut off date for the new test.

Good Luck..