Car drivers to take bike awarness test/course....

[r6paul]

Not sure if this was posted on here but there was a petition set up a few months back about car drivers having to take a bike awareness test/course thers just been a reply from the government......


7th August 2007

We received a petition asking:

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Ensure all new car drivers undergo a motorcycle awareness course/test/assessment."

Details of Petition:

"With the increase in the concern of motorcyclist safety, and the introduction of a harder bike test in 2008.

I petition the Prime Minister to also introduce steps to further educate car drivers on being more aware of motorcyclists, as it as all too common for them to say "sorry, never saw you", after an accident.

The further education can be done via an extended or revised driving test, theory test or hazard perception test."



Read the Government's response

The Driving Standards Agency (DSA) recognises that testing and training offers scope for establishing and improving the skills of all road users. The driving test has been improved in recent years. The practical test now provides greater opportunities for driving examiners to assess how candidates react when they encounter vulnerable road users during the test. The theory test is benefiting from the addition of the hazard perception element and the question bank is regularly reviewed to ensure the questions relating to attitudes towards and awareness of vulnerable road users continue to reflect conditions of the road. DSA has been asked to do a root and branch review both of how people are taught to drive and how they are tested, with the aim of reforming fundamentally the way people learn to drive. The new system must ensure that learners can drive safely, not just master how to control a car. DSA is still very much in the planning phase of this important piece of work and intends to consult publicly on a package of proposals later this year.

The latest published accident figures show that over 28% of fatal motorcycle accidents are single vehicle accidents where the motorcycle ran off the road and hit something. Excess speed and the inability to turn properly are often cited as the problems, particularly on left hand bends. Of the remaining accidents involving cars, in 61% of these cases the car driver was held to blame and in 39% of the cases the motorcyclist was to blame. In nearly half of accidents excessive speed by the motorcyclist was involved.

The Government has placed an increasing priority on motorcycle safety publicity aimed at car drivers and urban and leisure riders as part of a wider THINK! road safety publicity campaign. Since 2001 the publicity has been completely refreshed and now includes a TV advertisement for the urban environment that shows how drivers and motorcyclists need to look out for one another, entitled Mirror, Mirror. There is also radio advertising, posters, leaflets and public relation initiatives.

DSA endeavours to ensure, in every category of vehicle, only the drivers and riders who demonstrate their ability to drive or ride with competence and with the ability to foresee and avoid the mistakes of other road users, are given a licence.


Discuss......

[MickyGixer]

Sadly..................I read the above document last week......and the Government are apparently making 'serious consideration to such an incorporation'...however,

Like anything if this is introduced I dont doubt that many people will take due notice and Id like to think continue to be observant and THINK bike...:grin2

But the rest will do what is required to get through the test/awareness training then not bother to use their mirrors again unless it is to put on their mascara (and Im into equal opps so this applies as much to the men as the women)..... or hang so many f****** cuddly toys, air freshners (because they think a Magic tree or Halfords Homer Simpson can hide the smell of the crack pipe they have just finished smoking), that they forget its there.:shooter

As for over the shoulder checks.....ppffftttt....oh damn Im feel a rant coming on so best I stop.:jumping2

I think in essence its a great idea, and I would like to believe the majority (and this will be normal sensible people and fellow bike owners) would benefit from such training....:grin2

However, like anything we shall have to wait and see.:reading

[Webby]

For the first time ever I almost agree with a Labour Govt statement.

Explanation:

I have ridden for more years than I care to think about. Equally have driven a car for similar amount of time. Trained to a reasonable level over and above the DoT tests. Still had my fair share of ooops, nearlies.

I have been undertaken on roundabouts/overtaken by many bikes going way too fast and switching lanes midway through roundabouts when I'm on a bike. Yes I might have been going slowly.

In the car I look for bikes. How many times over the years have i been corretly positioned to turn right, indicator on, stationary and just about to turn when a bike has whizzed past on the right.

Outside lane of motorway and some turkey tries to pass between me and the barrier. Many times.

Car incidents (car vs car) are probably equal over the years.

I have probably caused heart failure myself with some of my poorly thought out driving. Not caused any smashes/offs yet. (touch wood).

I have watched the TV ads featuring mr motorcycle getting taken out by the car turning right and screamed at the set at the biker. (well in my head anyway). In this particular ad the driver is correctly positioned and indicating. He checks mirror and ooh, a bike goes into his side as he turns. Well excuse me but why is the caption "think bike"? Serves the pillock right and if I were the car driver I'd be out the car making sure he needed the ambulance.

Point:

The govt announcement/response makes it clear that they want to raise awareness for all road users. That is how it should be. I can criticise bikers. I can criticise drivers. Nooone is blameless or a better road user than the other. Cars do need to look out for bikes. Equally, bikes need to be aware that car drivers can't see them/don't see them. Every car equals a potential hit. Every biker to a car equals unpredictable.

If we all adopt a watch the other approach, whatever we drive/ride we might get along a whole lot safer.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Webby awaits large flames

[Gramps]

I have watched the TV ads featuring mr motorcycle getting taken out by the car turning right and screamed at the set at the biker. (well in my head anyway). In this particular ad the driver is correctly positioned and indicating. He checks mirror and ooh, a bike goes into his side as he turns.

If we're talking about different ads here, then I apologise for ranting about the wrong one...

Well excuse me but why is the caption "think bike"? Serves the pillock right and if I were the car driver I'd be out the car making sure he needed the ambulance.

Er, because the bike is on the main road and the car driver pulls out of a side road in front of him! Car driver needs slapping for not looking right again BEFORE moving out.

On a recent bikesafe course, the Met police showed us how they made that film. It was demonstrated that the motorcyclist is "invisible" to the car driver for at least three seconds in the blind spot created by the windscreen pillar. The car driver looks right as he's approaching the junction, at which point the motorcycle is in the blind spot. The car driver looks left, then starts to pull out, looking right again at the same time. The highway code says "look right, left and then right again BEFORE pulling out". At 30mph, the motorcycle will travel 132 feet in those 3 seconds, so as the car driver pulls out, looking right again at the same time, the bike is right there on top of him. It was pointed out on the course that a biker should attempt to make eye contact with a driver waiting to pull out of a junction, so that both are aware of each other, but also be positioned correctly to take evasive action if necessary.

[Webby]

Tis different ad. I've seen the one you are on about and that's ok.

The one I mean is the car turning right into a junction from a main road. Bias seems to be toward the biker who to me is completely wrong.

The one that you are talking about serves to show drivers that they need to look again and agin. No prob there. What it should also try to do, or maybe a second ad is to show the biker that the car may not have seen them. How I deal with every car. Makes for slow progress sometimes but if you assume the worst... Your BikeSafe course was well right I reckon. More support for anyone doing these methinks.

[Gramps]

I can't recollect having seen the one you describe then.
Another one that they showed on the course, that I haven't seen on the box yet, involves a rider in a London street, overtaking a long line of traffic and as he passes an HGV, is hit by a car that comes out from a road on the left. The message here was to watch for gaps in the traffic which would indicate that in a line of slow moving traffic, a vehicle (the HGV in this case) had stopped short of a junction (hidden to the biker) to let a vehicle out of the side road.

[SDM]

I can't recollect having seen the one you describe then.
Another one that they showed on the course, that I haven't seen on the box yet, involves a rider in a London street, overtaking a long line of traffic and as he passes an HGV, is hit by a car that comes out from a road on the left. The message here was to watch for gaps in the traffic which would indicate that in a line of slow moving traffic, a vehicle (the HGV in this case) had stopped short of a junction (hidden to the biker) to let a vehicle out of the side road.

That happened to me a few years ago (well more than a few :grin2) I ended up underneath the front of the car, loads of damage to the bike and just a cracked numberplate to the front of the car....................:o