Adventure Motorcycle Magazine Subscribe Now

Results 1 to 10 of 12

Hybrid View

Previous Post Previous Post   Next Post Next Post
  1. #1 driving test coming up! 
    grumpy old sod jape's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    central victoria, australia
    Posts
    1,291
    Well heck I am 59 years old and the bloody registration people decided that having an (expired) full international and UK bike license wasn't good enough, so they made me take a learners' test, now a year later all of a sudden it is time for the grown-ups test on Thursday! And I am really nervous! Once upon a time I could ride a road bike along the top of a stone wall, into the house, up the stairs and skid turn on the landing into my bedroom, not that the girlfriend and neighbours appreciated it. And I could do that with or without a brain full of naughty substances. But bugger it, you DON"T remember it all and age does affect some things, now I am all nervous but a few stiff whiskies isn't the way to overcome these things anymore dammit. I wonder if they take bribes?
    Reply With Quote  
     

  2. #2 Re: driving test coming up! 
    Senior C-Moto Guru ZMC888's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Zibo, Shandong - Sometimes SW England
    Posts
    2,239
    This is one thing about Awwstralia I don't understand. If your license home license is good enough for three months, or a year (varying from state to state), then why do you need to do the test? Surely by the time that you are doing the test you have completely adapted to the Australian driving environment!

    Revenue raising or a PC way of making sure most Asian immigrants learn to drive properly?
    Without consciousness, space and time are nothing; in reality you can take any time -- whether past or future -− as your new frame of reference. Death is a reboot that leads to all potentialities.
    Reply With Quote  
     

  3. #3 Re: driving test coming up! 
    grumpy old sod jape's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    central victoria, australia
    Posts
    1,291
    Quote Originally Posted by ZMC888 View Post
    Revenue raising or a PC way of making sure most Asian immigrants learn to drive properly?
    Like so many things in Australia, it is pure bureaucratic corruption of a good intent. Originally the rules were tightened and changed to stop so many kids on motorbikes splattering themselves onto cars and trees - of course once it becomes regulated here it becomes nonsense and loses most credibility, practicality and certainly common-sense. And makes the layers of governments much money. It works because everything here is 'out-sourced', usually to a politician's nephew or brother-in-law and so people all earn from it down the chain to the poor old end-user. A merry-go-round of ever increasing costs in all areas supported by the credit card, the past and a mortgaged future sold cheap to needy Asians and Arabs.

    Australians hate being criticised but they are blind in many introspective areas, they are one of the most regulated countries in the world under the veneer of democratic freedom. They all think they are individuals and follow principles of 'mateship' and so on but in fact are blinkered, bigoted and quite weak. They show many characteristics of the sheep rather than the wolf and run in mobs. BUT thank goodness, it is a biiiig country and there is a fair bit of real strength out in the bush, usually conservative and often judgmental but it is still where you can live free. For another decade or so anyhow. By then Australia will be just another ghettoised part of the USA if Asia hasn't invaded.
    Reply With Quote  
     

  4. #4 Re: driving test coming up! 
    Senior C-Moto Guru ZMC888's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Zibo, Shandong - Sometimes SW England
    Posts
    2,239
    It's similar to what I thought when I visited over ten years ago, although it sounds worse now though. I found the banking system, driver licensing systems and bicycle enforced helmet laws annoying. There are many positives about the country though.
    Without consciousness, space and time are nothing; in reality you can take any time -- whether past or future -− as your new frame of reference. Death is a reboot that leads to all potentialities.
    Reply With Quote  
     

  5. #5 Re: driving test coming up! 
    C-Moto Not-so-Noob
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    24
    Quote Originally Posted by jape View Post
    Like so many things in Australia, it is pure bureaucratic corruption of a good intent. Originally the rules were tightened and changed to stop so many kids on motorbikes splattering themselves onto cars and trees - of course once it becomes regulated here it becomes nonsense and loses most credibility, practicality and certainly common-sense. And makes the layers of governments much money. It works because everything here is 'out-sourced', usually to a politician's nephew or brother-in-law and so people all earn from it down the chain to the poor old end-user. A merry-go-round of ever increasing costs in all areas supported by the credit card, the past and a mortgaged future sold cheap to needy Asians and Arabs.

    Australians hate being criticised but they are blind in many introspective areas, they are one of the most regulated countries in the world under the veneer of democratic freedom. They all think they are individuals and follow principles of 'mateship' and so on but in fact are blinkered, bigoted and quite weak. They show many characteristics of the sheep rather than the wolf and run in mobs. BUT thank goodness, it is a biiiig country and there is a fair bit of real strength out in the bush, usually conservative and often judgmental but it is still where you can live free. For another decade or so anyhow. By then Australia will be just another ghettoised part of the USA if Asia hasn't invaded.
    Sounds like sour grapes to me......................there are many worse places in world to call home. If you are confident about your riding abilities then the test shouldn´t be an issue. Confidence plays a big part in driving/riding. I drive heavy vehicles for a living, and have been a motorcyclist for over thirty years. Hope you do well in your test.
    Cheers Will.
    2007 Kinlon SM200
    2007 Yamaha TDM900
    Reply With Quote  
     

  6. #6 Re: driving test coming up! 
    grumpy old sod jape's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    central victoria, australia
    Posts
    1,291
    Didn't mean it to come over as sour grapes, rather than an honest dig! I could tell some tales to back my case, including having to face down a cop with his gun out who didn't like anyone arguing with him on my very first day here on the way from the airport on a Goldwing ... trouble with forum posts is they are only part of the story. This is indeed still one of the best places in the world to live in when taken good with bad which you have to do of course - but it is disappointing and true that the so-called bonzer fair-dinkum ozzie was a myth and that there are so many spineless creeps in so many layers of government. The 'fair go' doesn't really exist. I have travelled and lived and worked in a few places and moved around a fair bit and chose to land up here and have kids and I am happy they are schooled and thriving here and think they are Australian! But heck I don't wish to annoy anyone with such a debate, I just answered the question as I see it.

    I did nearly fail the learners' test I must admit; in the 'stop quickly in a straight line' test I deliberately skid stopped in just a couple of meters and they said it was a fail, however I pointed out that I had done it deliberately, in control and still within the lines so they accepted I do it again to their interpretation which I successfully did. Seems they would rather you kept an upright and straight-line position if you T-boned a semi at a roundabout, rather than stopped a few meters away at an angle.

    The final test now apparently includes responding to some box with flashing lights as I ride around and interpret the cues to mean do this or that. I suppose confidence might help but previously it worked against me!

    My father was a trials' competitor of some acclaim and an army demonstration rider all around the world and taught me how to ride many years ago. Maybe too many years eh?
    Reply With Quote  
     

  7. #7 Re: driving test coming up! 
    grumpy old sod jape's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    central victoria, australia
    Posts
    1,291
    Failed, well I couldn't take it. Did two hours practice on the course then got a spasm in my back and couldn't ride. Dammit that's $540 wasted and another $400 minimum to find. Might just have to be illegal from now on.

    Reply With Quote  
     

  8. #8 Re: driving test coming up! 
    C-Moto Senior davidqc's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Snowdonia NP, North Wales, UK
    Posts
    110
    Bad luck on the test there Jape. But at least ya don't have to do the dreaded EU Module 2 'killer' serve test: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8067212.stm

    It has been reported that in the first 3 and a half weeks since the swerve test was introduced earlier this year there were 15 accidents whilst performing the manoeuvre and the injured candidates taken away from the DSA test centre by ambulance. Nice. You couldn't make it up.
    '09 Huoniao (Firebird) HN125-8 motorcycle [eBay bike-in-a-box]
    Aprilia SR50 LC Racing scoot
    Reply With Quote  
     

  9. #9 Re: driving test coming up! 
    grumpy old sod jape's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    central victoria, australia
    Posts
    1,291
    That is crazy! The test here includes at least two swerves at random following orange light prompts, left or right, or emergency braking if it shows red ... but at least it is meant to be at just 20 odd kph. And it is done whatever the weather or light, that is a stated condition of test application.

    My difficulty is actually the slow speed, in practice it works better when you are at normal road speeds, the brain takes over and you just do it right if you are experienced enough - but at slow speeds you tend to try and think or anticipate and personally I swerve better with some momentum, I usually lean rather than steer, steering feels wrong but you cannot lean easily at that slow speed especially on knobbies.

    At the braking distance you are allowed it is almost impossible to brake, using both brakes and clutch properly, without the back wheel lifting off the ground. That was enough to make a few people I watched lose balance or panic and over rev, hand clamped in panic to the screaming throttle and unable to move because of the intense grip on the brake lever, clutch and bars.

    Takes them a while to work out what to do next ... like relax, release brake but not clutch - a couple dropped the clutch with both feet planted on the ground, rear wheel in the air and hopped a metre then stalled. One fell off. Goodness knows who devises these tests. They are thinking apparently of making them harder, wonder what they have in mind?
    Reply With Quote  
     

Similar Threads

  1. www.Dualsportnews.com test rode our enduro
    By SAGACanada in forum Dealers and Distributors
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 11-09-2009, 11:09 PM
  2. Test messages
    By CrazyCarl in forum Test Track
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 06-15-2009, 07:44 AM
  3. Temporary driving license...really only for cars?
    By ZMC888 in forum Ride Prep and Making Tracks
    Replies: 13
    Last Post: 05-24-2009, 02:27 AM
  4. Chinese driving licence
    By wuming in forum Ride Prep and Making Tracks
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 02-03-2009, 05:52 PM
Bookmarks
Bookmarks
Posting Permissions
  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •