The DSA (Driving Standards Agency) are running trails around the country on how to do the swerve on the road, They have asked motorcycle instructors if they can take students to one of the trails days.
And the rumour is that the DSA are going to allow trainning schools to carry out the slow control part of the test (push round, Fig.8, u-turn etc) and the test done by the DSA will go back to one road test with the swerve and emergency stop added.
Have you got any info how they propose the swerve will be integrated into the test on public roads Ragnar?? ...wizz round a handy litter bin, bus stop and lamp post??
Also any idea of the time scale?
......and how much it will cost?
Cheers
Not sure if this is changes to the test ... or the way the test is taught
Most schools have to rent the DSA centre as they are not allowed to train riders how to do all the above manoeuvres on a public road.
They have been talking about going back to one test for a long time ... I have my doubts that that will be better for someone to be honest as its just going to be MOD 1 & MOD 2 in one test ... they are not taking any of it out
I'll try to find more out today, my boss is going to one of the trails with one of the girls for the office being the student.
Not a lot of school use the test centres because of the DSA rules on insurance, so most instructors train for it on the road, the swerve is actually done it 25mph (with engine braking) so it's legal to do on the road.
I use a deadend road with no parked car and they can get the bike upto 30mph.
All the ones round here have weekends where they use the local test centre ... Some use rented car park space (swerve at 15mph then expect you to hit 30 on test day lol)
I still say I was lucky with Focus rider training, they had a full size pad with the MOD 1 course marked on it .and a speed gun... I did HUNDREDS of swerves and emergency stops before my test.
At the trails the candidates (170 will be used around the country) are doing both, the Mod 1 test the way it is now and the way they plan to do it on the road and the candidate then asked how they think it will work on the road.
Flat cones were used, so if a car comes down the road, the car can pass over them and neon signs lighting up the warn other road users of the test on the road.
If I found out anymore I'll post it up.
we to have a large pad where we set up the full sized swerve and avoidence manouvre .. i had a visit 2 months ago from one of the top guys in the dsa. he was telling me he wil be suprised if mod 1 wil be scrapped , cuz the dsa are to far into it to scrap now?? . i personnally feel the mod 1 has been good for students because these training schools that dont bother to do cbt correctly are starting to be found out . it would be great if they could combine both mod 1 and mod 2 back together for 1 test again . it will save the student having to take time of work ect ect .
Loves I agree with you, I did my training on a full size MOD1 course with Focus training in Bolton, was a case of start off and do it slowly and then build up to it at your pace, by the time I took my MOD1 test I had done hundreds of swerves without an off and when I did my test did it on a wet pad at 56kph and 59kph without issue.