A report by Loz Williams of 2wheelskool.co.uk in Bradford - May 2009

Issue 14 of the Motorcycle update which can be found at
http://www.dsa.gov.uk/LatestNews.asp

The DSA have published a Newsletter which seems to have been written as a direct response to the terrible incidents on day 1 of the new modular test.

It is firstly a defence of 2DLD the legislation that brought this about. It claims that the avoidance exercise is paramount to rider safety. I disagree. I think basic road craft of planning, observation, approaching high risk hazard areas at the right speed and in the right position would be a much better test. The aim is so that you don’t need to swerve in the first place! Secondly they defend their interpretation of how and at what dimensions the avoidance exercise should be conducted and finally an appalling attempt to apportion blame onto the training industry and specifically motorcycle instructors.

I have no evidence to confront their claim that the students braked heavily whilst in the swerve, if that is true even at low speed they would probably have lost control. However I believe it was because this test is unsafe. The DSA make claims that their sites have some form of super grippy tarmac that performs the same wet or dry. Forgive me for questioning this but if moto gp circuit lap times drop so dramatically when it’s raining maybe they should be made of this stuff.

I believe they have got the dimensions wrong and the swerve is too severe when the sites are wet. These are road tyres, usually stone cold, you are not allowed any warm up runs and they cannot cope with the sudden load put upon them.

They claim to have done exhaustive research and consultation. I have never been consulted over the layout and dimensions of MPTCs. Where are the findings of this exhaustive research, where are the written reports, the dates and times, records of bikes used, rider experience, weather reports etc… I have been invited to 1 Instructor only MPTC open day last summer, if these events are included as part of their research then they should have their authority to act as the Governments road safety agency immediately removed. This is a test for novice riders, using many different types of bikes and in a huge range of weather conditions.

I am in the process of experiencing the DSA’s preparation and research. The only casual test site for part 1 testing currently operating in West Yorkshire is at Cleckheaton. The first and only time the examiners visited this site prior to testing was on Saturday 25 Apr 09. On Monday 27 Apr 09 they were supposed to commence testing. The whole programme was cancelled due to puddles forming and oil spillage. I have had 10 tests cancelled there in the 5 days it has been operational - that is more than the entire amount of tests I had cancelled all through 2008.

The same is about to happen at Patrick Green in Leeds. The examiner will see it for the first time on Sat afternoon 09 May and on Sun 10 May he is supposed to start testing. This is more like the DSA’s idea of research and development, trials and preparation.

The final paragraph focuses the reason for the incidents at the training industry. It suggests the incidents occurred because the students had not received adequate training. This could well be the case, without interviewing the four students involved I cannot say, however neither can the DSA, so how can they publish such a smear against those training schools and the industry as a whole. What exactly does it mean by the Agency supports a modular structured approach to training over time? Are they going to build an MPTC for each training school so we can replicate this manoeuvre? Are they going to fund our huge expense in replacing damaged bikes, are they going to offer us a training course, so instructors can learn how to teach positive counter steering? I am afraid this agency and this government's support for the training industry amounts to a big fat zero. It always has and always will. We have to find a way of teaching students to pass an unsafe test in our own way, within our own budgets and with our own very limited resources.

A very interesting point raised in this letter is that even the DSA recognise that the reason motorcycles crash is because other road users pull out on them. Their words not mine. So why is the emphasis not placed on their training and testing!