New Riders and Big Bikes?

Whilst i agree that a faster car can potentially be more dangerous, you only have to look at the number of clapped out 1 and 1.2 litre cars that kids have crashed, to know that they are fast enough to have accidents/kill people.

Its the same with a motorbike...even a 50cc can get to 40+ MPH, so there comes a point when you just have to accept that crashes happen, or significantly raise test standards.

However that won't work as drivers from countries with less stringent test standards will still be on the roads, as well all the unlicensed/untaxed drivers who make up a decent proportion of road users.

Personally i have given up caring....the average motorist is a pretty incompetent driver and that isn't going to change any time soon.

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

When the nights are light longest in the summer, a road around my village is closed practically every weekend due to a fatality. Always a 17 year old who has put his modified GTI hatchback through a wall or a tree. The fatality is usually the 14,15 or 16 year old who was sitting in the back without a seatbelt. I can think of 4 places within a 5 mile radius of my village where there is a roadside shrine to a young person who died in the last year. If they were all restricted to a 1.2 or less for two years that would drop significantly.

This is the same round my way - in fact a friend of mine crashed several of his cars until he decided purposefully to buy a 1.2 Mazda specifically because he knew it didnt have enough power.

I was almost taken off my last bike when a guy zoomed past me doing at least 80 in a 30 on a country lane where a lot of accidents happen. Thankfully he didnt get me otherwise I would have been a goner - altho, chances are the DVLA would have put my bike on one of their stands to demotivate people from riding bikes!

EDIT:

Originally Posted by ASM-Forever

Whilst i agree that a faster car can potentially be more dangerous, you only have to look at the number of clapped out 1 and 1.2 litre cars that kids have crashed, to know that they are fast enough to have accidents/kill people.

Read this after my post above. I guess this is very true - but potentially speed isnt the killer, and bad driving is - something that can't be restricted without a more stringent test.

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

If they were all restricted to a 1.2 or less for two years that would drop significantly.

I'm 19, and I couldn't afford to insure anything bigger than that anyway, but I guarantee I'd still be capable of being a tit in it if I was so inclined.

Originally Posted by Dualcyclone

Read this after my post above. I guess this is very true - but potentially speed isnt the killer, and bad driving is - something that can't be restricted without a more stringent test.

Can't be restricted by power restrictions either, you can be stupid in anything, at least you're likely to respect something faster, rather than rag the nuts off something slow.

Not hard to put bigger engines in cars either, so who say's these "restrictions" to car drivers would deter anybody anyway.

That's the thing with laws, they only deter people who wouldn't be inclined to misbehave in the first place!

[the_lone_wolf]

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

Only 2 test centers in all of yorkshire when the latest batch of bull$hit arrives in a few months.

poor buggers, only two

the IOW won't have any test centre once they force the new rules on us...

see www.mag.org.uk

It really is a desperate situation. Unfortunately for those who voted Labour in the last election have got what they deserved. Choice is not a word that this government understands.

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by robchester

Choice is not a word that this government understands.

They know best of course.

[dizzyblonde]

Quote:
Originally Posted by dizzyblonde
i jumped on an Sv straight after a DAS. me too, never ridden before did cbt first weekend, 500 next weekend and test on monday. failed. passed 10 days later and went and bought sv because it looked nice - no test ride nothing. did 400 miles first day and couldnt move for 3 days as i was soooooo sore.
Take the Raptor1000, he claims its a pussycat, it really is. lovely and low seat with high bars - i love it.
I've never ridden any of his bikes, you should try the raptor its just like a big sv.
So I got a girls bike....which incidently half of you ride

oooo kitkat you naughty girlie...XXX yes indeedy I would have a go on the raptor only thing is the damn thing is sooooo big n heavy my girlie muscles can't move it round the garden, so I can't pinch it when he;s on nights...lol

and Yorkiechris is right about the new rules to give only 2 test centres in Yorkshire.he got the info when he accompanied myself on the quest to go and instruct. I am still in two minds at the mo, personally I don't fancy travelling to Rotherham to take someone to a test, when at the moment the school has the choice of half a dozen, Halifax, hudds, bradford, barnsley amongst them.

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

They know best of course.

I think I'd rather live with some mormons

Originally Posted by Dualcyclone

I think I'd rather live with some mormons

I believe that we would get increasingly more restricted whatever shade of govt we had.

When youngsters pass their (car) driving test in Australia they have to display a special provisional driver plate for a couple of years. Any infringement of the traffic laws and they are stamped upon.

The lack of traffic cops in my area means that the boy Clio chavs can virtually do what they want. And they do. Seems to me like the police or the govt or both have abdicated their responsibility to protect the public from lunatic driver/riders. Cameras won't do it.

I bought my SV in sept 2006 after a long absence from biking. It wasn't until about 6 months had passed and 6000 miles that I felt safe riding it. That was a buzz now I think about it. Logic tells me that I should have had to resit a test before getting back into the saddle

oooo kitkat you naughty girlie...XXX yes indeedy I would have a go on the raptor only thing is the damn thing is sooooo big n heavy my girlie muscles can't move it round the garden, so I can't pinch it when he;s on nights...lol

.[/quote]

Get away! Raptors are tiny, light things! It was probably one of the easiest bikes I have ever had to manouver about and I'm a shorty.

Have a go on it - you'll love it