The Transport
Select Committee report in to the DSA fiasco will be published tomorrow - they
have essentially backed us on almost everything.
Below is th...e
Campaigns item for the next edition of TheROAD I sent to Mutch just now, I've
asked if he can cobble together a PR on it as I have to go home and his
working day is just starting :-)
MAG gave written evidence
and was called to Parliament for a hearing on this.
Although TSC
ultimately agree that the new off-road test is needed, they are highly critical
of how it was done and insist DSA need to work with us urgently to fix
things.
Our call for DSA to be broken-up is highlighted in the
main body of the report, which means they think it is an idea worth
considering - in fact they qoute us more than just about anyone else
throughout the report.
I have just had this news ... Here's my piece for The ROAD...
Parliamentary
Committee backs MAG concerns over DSA
‘It will take a long time
and much resource to mend what has been broken, but the Government
and DSA now need to take urgent action…’
That is one of the less
damning conclusions reached by a watchdog committee of MPs
investigating the catastrophic implementation of the new test.
In
its 145 page report on the ‘bungled’ implementation of the new bike test,
The House of Commons Transport Select Committee quotes evidence submitted
by MAG no less than seven times. MAG was by no means a lone voice,
riding instructors, motorcycle businesses, test candidates and experienced
riders alike responded in large numbers. The MPs’ said that the
evidence they received was ‘predominantly critical’ of the new test and
the way DSA implemented it and, for the most part, they agreed with those
criticisms.
The official report reveals that the British
Government did not vote in favour of the new rules when they were
debated in Brussels, because it did not believe any benefits would
justify the cost. But it was the UK Government itself that then
‘failed to apply common sense and work flexibly’, instead
setting-off a series of events that increased the cost and
complexity of the new test beyond anything Europe required. The Committee
finds the resulting test arrangements to be ‘both inconvenient and
confusing for candidates’.
First, the Government failed to
request that UK riders be tested at the UK urban speed limit,
instead of the higher European norm. The Committee labels this
‘bizarre’, saying it is ‘unacceptable’ that the Minister could not
offer a satisfactory explanation for limiting the options available
to future Governments in this way.
Second, the Government allowed
DSA to embark on a multi-million pound building spree which other
countries have managed to avoid. Replacing hundreds of existing test
centres with just a few dozen super centres ‘caused significant
cost and inconvenience to test candidates and trainers, with little
apparent gain’ say the MPs.
Agreeing with MAG’s long held
position, the Committee describes the justification for these Multi
Purpose Test Centres as ‘weak’ and the implementation ‘inept’. DSA’s
failure to provide more than 44 of the 66 MPTCs they promised meant
they had to modify the test so it could be taken on smaller sites.
The Committee says this ‘undermined the case for MPTCs in the first
place’ and that it had ‘severely damaged the trust of the
motorcycling community in the DSA’, as did the DSA’s failure to rectify
other problems…‘Such experiences damage trust and mutual respect,
and the DSA cannot afford to let the current situation run for long.’
The
MPs say the DSA should amend the test ‘as soon as possible’ because it
prevents riders from adapting to weather, road and other conditions that
affect stopping distances. MAG told the DSA this was needed during the
first week of the new test, but DSA has done little more than sit it on
its corporate hands and hope for the best.
MAG also raised
concerns that the injury caused by reducing the number of test
centres was compounded by the insult of hiking the test price by 50%
compared to the old test. The Transport Committee agrees that there must
now be an emphasis on customer convenience and value for money
MAG
has made strong representations over many months on these issues, not
only to the Committee but directly to Ministers and DSA senior management.
While DSA refused to accept the validity of our concerns (their
approach is described in the report as ‘dogmatic’), MAG’s continued
efforts are vindicated by the Committee refusing to accept their
blandishments as easily as Ministers have.
Other issues raised by
MAG are also supported by the MPs:
Given that the majority of
motorcycle crashes involve the actions of another road user, MAG has
been pushing for Government policy on motorcycle safety to focus
more in this area. Again, the Committee has followed that lead,
saying ‘The development of better awareness of motorcyclists among
other road users is crucial to the improvement of motorcycle
safety.’
The Department for Transport must start to collect
adequate data about rider training and testing, so that future
training and testing decisions are based on solid evidence they say.
Ultimately,
the Committee supports the Government in its decision to do more
than the Directive requires for testing new riders’ ability. But their
condemnation of the DSA’s continued mishandling of the new test arrangements
lends weight to MAG’s proposal, laid-out in the Committee’s report,
to break-up the DSA monopoly over all aspects of training and testing.
One
thing everyone is agreed on; lessons must be learned before the government
legislates implementation of the Third European Driving Licence
Directive, soon after the General Election. MAG’s partners in the
Riders Are Voters campaign are combining their efforts to reverse another
potentially catastrophic situation.
and here is what the
TSC themselves have to say...
22 March 2010: embargoed
SCA 26/2009-10
STRICTLY
EMBARGOED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN ANY FORM PRIOR
TO 00:01
TUESDAY 23 MARCH 2010
Publication of Report
The
new European motorcycle test
(HC 442)
Millions
wasted on new motorcycle 'super test centres'
The Government's
decision to introduce large Multi Purpose Test Centres (MPTCs) and
close down many small, convenient motorcycle test sites was unjustified.
In
a report launched today, the Transport Committee concludes that the implementation
of the new MPTCs was bungled
Almost eleven months after the
introduction of the new test, it is unacceptable that the Driving
Standards Agency has failed to get all 66 planned centres
operational, inconveniencing motorcyclists and trainers and driving
up the cost of doing a test.
Launching the report, Committee
Chair, Louise Ellman MP said, "many candidates and trainers now have
to travel too far for their motorcycle test. This adds to the cost ,
and in some cases, exposes candidates to fast and dangerous roads
on the way to a test site-before they have even taken their test.
The Driving Standards Agency needs to give much greater priority to
customer service and convenience for test candidates and trainers."
In
its report, The new European motorcycle test, MPs conclude that the Driving
Standards Agency was slow and dogmatic in its approach to test centres,
failing to listen adequately to the motorcycle industry. Smaller
test sites could have been retained, saving millions of pounds. No
other country in Europe has found it necessary to build 'super test sites'.
Mrs
Ellman adds: "A more pragmatic approach would have cost far less for all
concerned. Problems with the new test booking systems and opening hours,
have been bad for business. If the new test brings financial ruin to
the motorcycle training industry then we will have gone backwards."
The
new motorcycle test was implemented following European legislation. The
Committee accepts the industry's argument that Government has 'gilded
the lily' by adding more manoeuvres to the test than is strictly required
by the Brussels Directive, but believes the Government was right to
do so. The test employs two practical elements: one consists of technical
exercises off-road and the other is a road-based test of traffic
handling skills on the public highway. The Committee believes the
new test needs to be very comprehensive, if it is to help reduce deaths
and serious injuries among motorcyclists.
Committee Chair, Mrs
Ellman said, " The new combination of tests is likely to help
improve road safety, provided that the Government and the industry
work together, and that training for other road users to improve
their awareness of motorcyclists on the road is improved too."
The
Committee condemns Ministers' failure to negotiate an exemption from the
EU requirement that parts of the test should be performed at 50 km/h*31.07
mph. MPs argue that it is both bizarre and confusing that tests
should be performed at speeds not permitted on the public highway in
built-up areas, and that it should be measured in units not commonly used
in the UK.
The Committee believes the Driving Standards Agency
and the motorcycle industry now need to work together to raise the
standard and consistency of motorcycle training. MPs also reiterate
their 2007 recommendation that the current voluntary registration of
motorcycle instructors be made mandatory.
To ensure that the
new test is working, the Government must collect robust and
reliable data on the number of deaths and serious injuries among
motorcyclists, the number of unlicensed motorcyclists, and the length
of time between riders training to ride a bike and taking the test.
It must also monitor carefully the number of accidents which occur during
the test. The DSA must react quickly to modify the test if incident
rates do not decline. ______________________________
The DSA should be abolished, pure and simple.
They've proven themselves wholly incompetent in every respect, from planning to execution.
Repairing the damage they've done will not be easy, but the sooner they (DSA) are out of the picture, folk who actually know what they're doing (MCIA, BMF, MAG) can begin.
The DSA should be abolished, pure and simple
I think they do an ok job with regards to cars Rob so perhaps abolishing them may be a tad extreem.... but they do seem to have made a bit of a pigs ear on the bike side of things.... what I would like to know is, will anyone be held accountable for the mess thats been created, or will it be just swept under the carpet.. Somewhere, someone is being paid to implement all this... and we are the ones footing the bill...
Sticking to my guns here. The DSA's handling has been nothing short of catastrophic. I wouldn't trust folk as wholly inept as that to organise anything. After this, even their opinion is nothing more than useless.
Does that begin to show my feelings on the matter ?
Oh, and I've written to MCN's letters page on this very subject. Be interesting to see what/if they print
The DSA are too busy trying to comply with European laws & as usual when Europe says it wants something ... our own laws & rules go out the window,
Its the same with the new laws proposed for 2011 release for bike riders, there is no way that they should be implemented in the UK however we are gonna do it !
I've ridden in excess of 33 yrs. My eldest son rides too. Unfortunately, my 17 yr old younger lad can't afford to do his test because of this fiasco. We'd have to travel to Blackburn or Carlisle, a minimum of 150 miles round trip on roads that are utterly unsuitable for an inexperienced rider on a 125. Worse, his cbt runs out in August and our local instructor has jacked it in because it wasn't viable for him to carry on. Unless this is sorted, and soon, there'll be no instructors, no bike shops due to lack of new customers and we'll be the last generation of riders. The cynic in me thinks this may all be entirely intentional!
I know of a few schools struggling because of this fiasco in addition to the recession. The government must be held responsible for allowing a load of bozo's to come up with such ideas and then they accept them despite all of the painstaking protests between the BMF and MAG.
Not only has the DSA proved to be so incapable in so many ways, it has interfered both financially and and blown confidence in the motorcycle world. Riders have so much trouble to get through the test, thats if they can afford it! and the whole motorcycle industry from the small retail shops to the manufacturers have been affected.
I say the government is responsible it doesn't matter which party is in power they all took no notice of the campaigning apart from one small party UKIP So I understand who needed voters.
I could go on and on about the government and many other places apart from motorcycling that they have cocked up and blaintently (spelling) ruined like Education, Health and Local Government services... We need something done urgently whoops maybe the latter part should be on the raving rant thread.
I agree my finx there's a conspiracy too towards motorcyclists and PTW
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