SV650.org - SV650 & Gladius 650 Forum - I must be a terrible driver

Quote:

Originally Posted by timwilky (Post 2098884)

However, we have had to fill in a recent questionnaire on our driving attitudes and I have been assessed as high risk.

I am classed as high risk because of the following categories :-

Situational factors:-
High Mileage
Hours driving.

I would have thought both the above went hand in hand.

Behavioural factors :-
Aggression
Driving Excitement
Driving Focus
Self Evaluation

So, the truth. I answered their questions honestly, but about me on the road. Many of the things that scored to me being aggressive are because I answered them from a bikers perspective. yes I will overtake slower moving traffic, yes I cross into the opposite carriageway to improve my visibility, yes I enjoy twistie roads etc.

The truth of the matter I suppose is that what was taught years ago, what is taught now, and what people perceive are entirely different. I am one of those that used to ride bikes on the 6 monthly provisionals, and with the odd break in between this could have gone on forever; until the law was changed, and rightly so. My "Road Training" and test came with cars and what we were taught then and now is very different, and could in earlier times also be different depending on your location. (In London we were allowed to block the nearside carriageway to turn right as the roads were so busy it was the only way to get across. I must admit I was gob smacked at this even in them days.) So if peoples perceptions are based on earlier times or a completely different set of factors then the most appropriate answer may appear inappropriate.

I am currently back to square one and undertaking my DAS and finding a lot of the things we are taught completely different to what we were taught in earlier times, all be it one was in a car and the other is on a bike. We are taught as before to keep our speed up to the speed limit, conditions permitting, but to break much later for junctions, roundabouts, etc. Having said that my old driver instructor, a member of the IAM, would have considered a slow moving car as a hazard and he would have told me to "get your speed up and overtake" to the speed limit as long as conditions permitted you to do so. (Of course you would have overtaken the other vehicle, hopefully :-) ) So the answer to overtaking should be qualified by the circumstances, either by the person/questionnaire asking the question or the provision provided to qualify the response.

Bikes are different to cars; they are faster, narrower and more manoeuvrable, but if you were only a car driver and put a question to a biker would you expect to get the correct response or the car drivers response? Me thinks the latter would apply.