New Test Blues

Hi, I read with interest your story regarding a rider crash on the new test. Although I may not have broken my arm (best wishes to Adam for a speedy recovery), I definitely consider myself a victim of the new test too.

I took one of the last old-style tests last after a week of DAS on a 500 and unfortunately failed on the classic silly error of not cancelling an indicator, something which I never do!

I have been riding a 125 commuting for a number of years and am confident and proficient – the training on the DAS was great but nerves got the better on the day but I still only had a few points over all. After this failure and subsequent swearing I booked to have one of the new tests the following Tuesday (both modules). Quite confident I had another practice ride in the morning before the test and practiced the cone swerve and figure of 8, with no problems.

Then came Mod 1….slightly lost balance and put a foot down on the fig 8! The rest was fine but because I had made this 1 error the Mod 2 was out of the window too…..£70. Now, rules are rules and according to the rules I have failed both test attempts, but why can you not do the second module and go back and do the first again if required? The £70 penalty for failing the first bit is completely unfair, and before some bright spark tells me that the information is there when you book the tests, I know that. The alternative is booking nearly a week apart “just in case”.

Just to add insult to injury my instructor (a 1-man operation) is now going on holiday for weeks and I am having to pay big bucks to take the test with another schools equipment. All this and I have recently lost my job! All going well…..

Back to the main point, I agree totally with Kevin Ash, people are going to be put off by this system, it just doesn’t work! My main frustration is that if I hadn’t made a silly error I would have sailed through instead of this financial and logistical nightmare. By the way, when will you ever perform a figure of 8 on the road?! Unbelievable!