Another Bike Test Accident

Off-topic
1

A woman “almost died” after crashing while attempting the new motorcycle test, according to witnesses.

The 18-year-old stopped breathing and was rushed to hospital with a suspected broken neck after crashing at Chester Multi-Purpose Test Centre last Tuesday.

She survived because a driving instructor who happened to be present knew the procedure to get her breathing again, said her father, who arrived minutes after the accident.

He said she now appeared to be making a good recovery.

She had been attempting the “swerve and stop” exercise, in which learners must swerve around cones at over 30mph before coming to a halt in a confined area.

It was her second try after taking the swerve 1kmh too slowly. She crashed locking the front wheel while trying to stop in the space allowed.

Dozens of learners have crashed attempting the swerve and stop, which MCN is calling to be split into two exercises.

The teenager’s father, who did not want to be named, said: “When I got there I was told she had stopped breathing and that the guy who was holding her had got her breathing again.

They talked about her biting her tongue but that can’t stop you breathing so presumably it was a swallowed tongue.

“She was a mess, heavily concussed. There was a lot of thought about her having a broken neck because she’d shattered her helmet when she hit the ground.

“An ambulance came and put her in a neck brace and took her to the Countess of Chester Hospital.

"There was a lot of worry about her at first because she was vomiting a lot. They thought there was some brain injury. But she seems to have recovered well and was discharged from hospital that night.

“The DSA area manager later told me the guy who got her breathing again was only there by chance. There’s no question that he saved her life. They almost had a fatality. It was pure chance they didn’t.”

The DSA has maintained adequately prepared learners should have no problem, but the dad said: “She didn’t go into it without proper training.

"She had the test initially booked last November and her trainer advised her she wasn’t quite ready, so she’s had a lot of instruction.

The Driving Standards Agency refused to give any details, saying only there had been an “incident”.

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/News/newsresults/General-news/2010/March/mar1910-teen-almost-dies-in-bike-test-crash/

2

I still have mixed feelings on this test.

The roads in London are pretty bad, not only have you got cars/vans etc pulling out and in front of you, you’ve got drains/potholes/diesel/pedestrians/animals galore. All FAR worse than some cones laid out at a test centre. It’s the pressure of the test I guess which is the issue?

Swerving becomes a natural instinct the more you ride.

Still stand by my earlier views on it. It’s worse on the roads, so you need to be able to control the bike, before you should be let loose on them. For your own sake, but more for others’ sakes.

Hope that wasn’t too harsh?

:smiley:

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+1

If cones was all we had to avoid , then happy days !

Guess the pressure is the problem , having to be at an exact speed.

4

well i was interested in these new modules and found this video on utube

>

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And the ‘exact’ speed thing. What’s that all about?

You’re off the road on private ground. Let’s face it, most bikes are going to be speeding at some point or another, so why don’t they just say a MINIMUM of late 20’s to a maximum of mid 30’s (most likely speeds for local traffic?). Then there’s less pressure about the speed, and you’ll undertake what feels comfy to you, knowing that you’re in a controlled environment, and you’re not going to get a ticket.

And if anyone says that’s too fast, God forbid you’re doing 40 (legally or not), and have to do this for real! :ermm:

Glad I didn’t have to do this! lmao

6

I did the new test last week and it is by no means unsafe or difficult to do the swerve.I think nerves do get the better of you as you are more worried about getting up to speed rather than the swerve.

She must have looked down at the speedo as most people who have problems with the swerve is because they look at the speedo to see if they are up to speed and therefore not looking where they are going.

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Which proves the point you should have a certain tolerance, which CAN be over 30mph too, thus reducing the worry of getting your speed EXACTLY right. I mean, does it fuggin matter if it’s a couple of mph up or down, the whole point is the swerve and stop, surely? As long as they’re not taking the p*ss doing 15mph, and clearly making an ‘attacking’ effort!

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I would be very interested to know the temperature of the bikes tyres in cases like this. I’m sure they were legal and suitable in every respect, but if the tyres were cold, it’s debatable whether they would be up to the task of stopping the bike quickly at 30mph.

You fail your first attempt, then what? Do you do it again immediately? Do you ride around, keeping your tyres warm, or do you sit watching the others have their go, letting the tyres cool?

I remember a CSS day one October. Man it was cold. The bikes were left outside in the wind between track sessions and every session we had experienced riders falling at the first corner. I had a couple of slides from the front and the rear, and that was without braking; only cornering.

If experienced riders, riding their own bikes, slowly with no pressure and can lose it, imagine inexperienced people on unfamiliar bikes, trying to maintain a specific speed, then do an emergency stop at the end? It’s not a recipe for success.

9

The report sounds as if she had finished the swerve part of the exercise and locked the front up while braking, easily done.

10

the fact is this isn’t about the swerve test, it’s about her braking too hard.
she must’ve given her head a serious whack to shatter the helmet though.

we all know the swerve test is a good idea, badly implemented by bureaucrats

11

I think it sounds like a more common case of grabbing a fistful immediately, rather than progressive braking. No time to load the front tyre.

Bit like Ginger, grabbing a fistful outside the curry house… :hehe:

12

I did the test last July and I found it quite easy. Personally, I found it better than doing all the excises in the test centre than on the normal road. In the test centre you know you are the only moving thing and nothing gonna come out form nowhere, so to me it is safer. I guess i was lucky cos I did the test when it was dry and I can imagine it would be much harder and more dangerous if it was wet.

I agree that you just have to be confident and attack the cones rather than worry about the speed.

It is only my opinion.

13

I wonder if the accident rates for new riders on the road has fallen as a result of this test?

14

Look at you and your new bike :wink:

:hehe:

15

oi poser, i do think this will help them long term, esp with the way car drivers drive :smiley:

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i have mixed feelings about this, haven’t done it myself as i passed my test in france about 2 and a half years ago. The new test looks easier than the one I had to do in france which involves doing a slalom at speed, a u-turn, then a swerve and an emergency stop in third gear. all this has to be done in a given time frame.

The test also includes other manoeuvres such as pushing the bike, a slow speed course where you basically have to run the bike on tick-over in first gear so you can make the turns and a run with a pillion.The day i did it was in pretty bad rain and they were considering cancelling it

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If im compeltely honest, I’m really nervous about doing this ;[

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i think this is normal with any test

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Do we know if the centre is brand new?? I know the government is pumping alot of money into these super centres.

She may have been performing the task at an old centre on rough/unkept old tarmac etc? That may have ‘helped’ her crash.

I remember doing my figure of 8 cone task on loose gravel…an experience!

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New module 1 tests are carried out at the New test Centres