Potential Changes to Motorcycle Licensing

[aesmith]

Hi,

Just noticed this proposal, at the consultation stage at the moment. At first glance the proposed changes seem sensible, and actually may smooth the way for some people, unlike all previous changes which have simply made it more difficult. Have a look, and it is still open for responses if anyone wants to comment.

https://www.gov.uk/government/consul...cycle-training

[Bibio]

this pizzes me off no end. they always target bike riders but what about car drivers test getting a tier system... at the moment the only thing that keeps a car driver that has just passed their test getting a powerful car is the cost of insurance. the practical car test has not changed in ermm well sort of never.

also statistics of motorcycle deaths.. how many of these deaths were caused by other road users and not the actual bike rider.

i say get car driver learners to pass a skid pan test as well a slalom course.

i also say basic resits every 10 years till 70 then every 2 years after including bikes.

[Blapper]

This will be inflammatory: I think the one thing that would save most lives would be to either focus on filtering more during training and testing of motorcyclists and motorists, or to ban filtering altogether.

[SV650rules]

Car drivers are protected from their stupidity and carelessness by the safety cage and plethora of other safety devices in cars, on a motorbike you are on your own - but motorbike riders only normally hurt themselves, not people outside their vehicle, if only the same could be said of all the other vehicles on the road who normally involve innocent people in their crashes - has anyone seen any stats that show how many people other than the driver get hurt / killed by other vehicles besides bikes ?

[aesmith]

Without seeing stats I would guess that nearly 100% of pedestrian and most cyclist casualties would be better classed as "car casualties".

[aesmith]

Originally Posted by Blapper

This will be inflammatory: I think the one thing that would save most lives would be to either focus on filtering more during training and testing of motorcyclists and motorists, or to ban filtering altogether.

As you see their proposing covering filtering in the CBT. As for banning it, what exactly would you ban? Overtaking? Overtaking on the inside? I can see difficulty creating a legal definition. A clampdown would be easier using the existing careless or without consideration offences. It would just take one court finding that filtering was inherently inconsiderate to other users.

[Red ones]

Ban filtering

I'd be one less in this community. Working in London the commute becomes acceptable because I can filter. If filtering became illegal there would be no incentive to get cold, wet, dirty and have to get changed at each end of the journey. I'd be another cager getting in your way.

[daktulos]

This may be controversial, and I'm probably biased having taken a direct access course, but I think a lot of problems are down to allowing the learn-as-you-ride method of passing your test. I realise not everyone can afford courses, but there's so much you learn from decent instruction which would otherwise be missed.

When I used to commute by bike (15 years ago now), I was horrified by some of the learner riders out there. I've also never been happy with paid work on learner plates. At the time, the worst offenders seemed to be "Deliverance" riders - I don't actually know what they delivered, but I'm certain they were paid by the number of jobs they fit in, so you had the least qualified riders being financially pressured into pushing their limits.

Anything that the government does to improve the CBT and encourage safer driving while learning is a good thing as far as I'm concerned.

[Blapper]

When I am driving my car, I am shocked by the speed differential that bikes filter at - there is no margin for error and any accident is automatically a bad one. Also, at what speed does filtering become overtaking on the inside? I've been passed when I'm in three lanes of traffic all doing about doing 70mph! So, do the cars have to be stationary, doing 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, or 70mph? What is your view?

In my opinion, riding a motorcycle is dangerous enough even when you are riding to a high standard (IAM) let alone when the mindset is that 'it won't happen to me'.

[daktulos]

Originally Posted by Blapper

When I am driving my car, I am shocked by the speed differential that bikes filter at - there is no margin for error and any accident is automatically a bad one. Also, at what speed does filtering become overtaking on the inside? I've been passed when I'm in three lanes of traffic all doing about doing 70mph! So, do the cars have to be stationary, doing 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, or 70mph? What is your view?

In my opinion, riding a motorcycle is dangerous enough even when you are riding to a high standard (IAM) let alone when the mindset is that 'it won't happen to me'.

You're allowed to overtake on the left in "slow moving traffic" (if my memory serves me correctly). I assume this covers filtering as well - I would personally consider 70% of the speed limit as "slow moving", but I wouldn't actually filter unless it's crawling as I'm not usually in a rush.

On my Direct Access course, filtering was covered and it the importance of relative speed drilled into us. I can't actually remember what was said now (so it failed in that respect) but I think something like "never more than 10 mph faster than the speed of traffic". They also covered things like awareness of gaps and what car drivers may do suddenly (change lane into them).

It's this sort of thing which I think gets missed out if you just do a CBT and pass your test a couple of years later without any sort of training.