California DMV Motorcycle Driving Test (bribery or idiocy)?

This was the late '60s, before they fixed the road to make it more
uniform and 'safer'. Traffic was slower then. Even today 17 scares
me a little, going 50 or so on those curves with cars 1 ft in front
and behind.

At least go back to a -range- of sizes. Remember when the Honda
Nighthawk first came out, it was a whole family of bikes, like 250,
400, 550, 650 and 750.

 

I would tend to agree with you. But the whole thrust of highway
design in the last 30 years or so is to protect people from
themselves. It's almost impossible to run head-on into a bridge
abutment anymore, but years ago it was a very popular way to get
killed.

Proponents of the 55mph speed limit pointed out that there were fewer
and fewer highway deaths as the years went by with the lower speed
limit. When it was raised back to 65, to almost nobody's surprise,
the death rate didn't rise. Because in the intervening time all our
highways were almost completely re-engineered! (Not to mention cars
were safer than before too.)

 

....

 

That's what we have financial responsibility laws for, imperfect though
they are.

If you want to charge humans for all the inconvenience they inflict on
others, then you must also credit humans for all of the good they do one
another. The fact that humans choose to live in urbanized environments
suggests that the net balance is favorable.

 

Oops. Yah - I didn't to get rid of liter-class bikes ... I meant to
offer usable half-liter (pint-sized ?
bikes.

JGB

 

BTW: aside from the 'protect the idiots from themselves' angle, there is
another angle "Reduce
the inconvenience/damage caused by idiots" - not only are highways made
more idiot proof now,
they have added features to reduce the traffic jams caused by idiots
(e.g. on LA freeways there are
'accident investigation sites' where two idiots can pull into in case of
a minor scrape so they can
exchange information and blows, if need be. These places are screened
from view of the freeway
so rubber-neckers can't see if someone pulls out a tire iron and beats
the other one senseless... I mean
so they don't hold up traffic with their voyeurism.

 

Insurance payments are not nearly as nice as avoiding the mishap in the
first place. Especially, if they just
pay you off for your cherry `64 1/2 Mustang (which you Dad bought new
and gave you).

First, this is being taken out of context - my point is that there is a
benefit to the rest of us, if beginner riders
get into fewer crashes (this is on top of the benefit to the beginners,
their families, and other parties in the
potential crash). I want to reduce the amount of inconvenience they
inflict on others - not charge them
for it (anyone who winds up in a wheel chair has paid enough for
shutting down a freeway).

Basically, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of insurance
settlements

BTW: I'll recap my point:

It would be a good thing if M/C manufacturers offered a
selection of bikes in the 25-50 HP range
which were servicable for beginners of various sizes and weights.
These bikes would have enough power
ride safely on virtually all roads, but could be controlled by a
novice. I am not sure that having the State
mandate it is the best course - but I am not opposed to 'provisional
motorcycle licenses' which restrict the
type of bike being operated (and even whether you can have a passenger,
etc) for a period of time.

 

Never heard of such a thing! Great idea though. Here in the SF Bay
Area when there's an accident on the freeway traffic slows down in
both directions, and I would suspect there are rear-enders caused by
rubbernecking.

 

I don't disagree with that. Certainly cages come in all sizes and
shapes, but people keep buying those damned SUVs anyway. ;-}

 

I always get a kick out of this topic. In June, 2003 I took the DMV Test on
my GL1800 and passed. The test isn't really about knowing how to ride, its
about knowing how to control your bike. I doubt if I could pass the test on
a 250 if I haven't been practicing on it for a few days first. The same
goes for any bike.

To prepare for the test I went to the DMV on a Sunday and practiced with my
GL for about 4 hours. I shocked a few guys that were watching when I
passed on the following Tuesday, none of them did. Yes, the test is tough.
Knowing your bike is critical. Not having the skills to pass the test on
your bike is cause for concern.

I live in the SF Bay area. Anyone that wants to spend a Saturday or Sunday
afternoon learning the proper skills with me, just give me a shout. You can
derive my emal address from above. My wife and I do parking lot practice
every other weekend for a couple of hours, she on her ST1300 and me on my
GL1800. We'd be happy to ride to the Santa Clara DMV to help.

Ss far as the test goes, I really think the skills necessary to pass it are
the skills every motorcyclist should have. It doesn't do much to illustrate
how you can handle high speed emergency sictuations, but it defintaly proves
how well you would do on citiy streets and parking lots when the cages are
not watching out for you.

Dorian