Not everyone is enamoured of the motorcyling equivalent of the driving test, writes Fergus Finn
For years motorcyclists never bothered with their equivalent of the driving test. There was no reason to. You could get your provisional licence renewed automatically. Moreover, if you passed your test you received no reduction in your insurance. So why pay the test fee for nothing?
Since the opening up of the motorcycle insurance market in Ireland that much has changed. You could get a reduction in some parts if you had a full licence. All of a sudden there was a perceived financial benefit to get tested and, naturally, there were many failures simply because people were not prepared for the test.
There were also funny stories circulating of allegedly odd decisions in the testing world; "I was failed because I was looking in my mirrors and the tester said I could not see out of them because they were too small"; "I failed because the tester could not keep up with me in the traffic. He was in a car"; "The tester refused to take me for the test because my bike had no indicators." And so on.
Most of these stories, if not them all, are to some degree apocryphal. But they do indicate a degree of scepticism in the motorcycle fraternity about the quality of the test for riders seeking a full licence.
I put this and other points to Mr Michael Comer, the chief driver tester in the Department of the Environment driver testing headquarters in Ballina, Co Mayo.
He explained that the motorcycle test comprises a route of three to four miles, depending on the road system in the area you take your test. It includes various junctions and corners and in instances it comprises around the block several times one way and several times the other way.
Although there might be no roundabouts, traffic lights or zebra crossings to contend with, it's certain that the rider will have to take right-hand and left-hand turns, T-junctions and cross roads and so on, no matter where the test is done.
But there's a good chance of far less traffic to contend with in Carrick-on-Shannon than in Dublin - and, therefore, a lower level of skill is required to negotiate it.
On the question of the tester following in the car with no communication with the person taking the test, Mr Comer explained that the tester is in the car because they have to have the marking sheet with them to record your progress as you go along. They do not do this on the move, but pull in to write it down.
The persons taking the test receive verbal instructions prior to the start and are asked if they fully understand the test route. Mr Comer acknowledged that people have taken a wrong turn on tests and that, in this instance, they will be stopped and redirected back to the route. This would not be a fail on the test.
Mr Comer also pointed out that there have been a couple of instances where the test candidate has got totally lost and arrived back at the test centre one and a half hours later. In that case they are given a new test at a later date free of charge.
This is clearly a good reason for tester-to-rider communication, and the DOE will be introducing radio communication in 2003 on a phased basis. However, the tester will still be driving a car.
The department will be sending the testers to be trained on this radio system and at the same time the DOE may take the opportunity to retrain them, but whether this could include riding skills is not clear. At present, once a tester has done a two-week, in-house training course, there is nothing more.
Mr Comer said the department has one tester who has done a course in England; he reads all the books and passes these skills on to the other testers. However, it was pointed out that the testers' supervisor could stand the tester down until they have been retrained if there were any doubts about their performance.
Do testers ride bikes? Very few, apparently, actually own and ride motorcycles, although no figures are available from the department on this. This seems the height of folly. How can one understand the complexities and skills required to ride a motorcycle if one is not a rider? It does not inspire confidence in the testing process.
Other professional organisations also question the test procedures and their operation. Mr Jim Fisher, chairman and a director of the IRTA (Irish Rider Training Association) believes the test system is flawed and ill thought out.
The IRTA believes that it takes a rider with several years' expertise, three to four months of training to reach an acceptable level of skill to teach road craft - and longer if they are required to test prospective candidates. IRTA instructors must have at least 40 hours instruction before they can be considered for advanced training.
MR Fisher comments that it is totally unreal that a two-week, in-house training course would bring people with no riding skills up to a standard to test people. He also pointed out that all IRTA instructors have to undergo a mandatory retest once a year.
The DOE test itself he considers woefully inadequate. "How can one consider someone qualified to ride on our roads in this day and age by sending them around the block several times? In some instances the tester does not even follow in a car but stands at a corner watching." He believes that a test of at least 10 miles in a mixture of urban and rural driving conditions should be the norm. The test should also include dual carriageways and major roads.
He is also unhappy with the way the categories for the licence are based. The licensing system restricts a motorcyclist who has passed their test to 33 BHP for two years. But a 17-year-old can drive a car of any horsepower with no restrictions. "Why does the Government allow this if they are so concerned about safety?" he asks.
The MAG (Motorcyclists Action Group) is another motorcycle organisation worried about the consequences of the rather feeble test and the brake horsepower restrictions. It has been knocking on the Government's door for years trying to sort these matters out - without success, they say.
On the other hand, it's not all doom and gloom. When Bono and Larry Mullen of U2 presented Gay Byrne with a Harley Davidson motorcycle, Gay realised that quality training was required. He said later that he was lucky in having an instructor of the calibre of Tom Kelly, whose guidance and tuition brought him to a standard that enables him to ride safely on the road.
Gay also found that the theory part of the test was very thorough, as was the test on the road. He thought that perhaps they were being tough - they gave no favours but were extremely fair and he enjoyed the test very much. Oh, and he passed it too.
In fairness, therefore, not everybody is unhappy with the test, but I was not enamoured with what I found. The department must bite the bullet and bring modern, internationally recognised test procedures into place. This means having testers that are motorcyclists and having them trained to proper standards. It is no good bringing in piecemeal fixes.
Get the testers out there on a bike. This allows the tester to see in a proper manner the riding skills of the person taking the test. For safety reasons, have a communication system between the tester and the test candidate.
Have a proper test in place that reflects today's road conditions and not the system we have now. If a voluntary organisation like IRTA can train their instructors to such high standards, why not a well funded Government department?
Fergus Finn is public relations officer of the IRTA