The CHAT Thread

[rogbow]

I was lucky with my last accident per say. I laid mine down and slid into the rear corner of the car that failed to yield. Funny thing was if it was not for a guy coming the opposite way the old lady would have drug my bike all the way home. The guy jumped out and stopped her. She was like a motorcycle where ?? She said she never saw me and thought she felt something I was going 35 MPH when it happened my bike surely made a loud thud inside the car as I heard it and not only that I saw the car jump up in the air as the bike wedged under the car.

Your knees are like mine when it was winter here they rarely bothered me but, as it gets warmer they hurt more and bother me often. Most people are the opposite they hurt more when colder and feel better when its warmer.

I would go test ride a quad if I was you and see how you like it then decide. The quad doesn't affect the knees or at least it does not for me anyway.
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[akeo]

People like that are known as 'smidsy' over here (sorry mate I didn't see you) and there's a huge amount of them.
The government here have been trying to force everyone to ride with their lights on for years but, unless I'm very much mistaken, over in the States you have forward facing running lights all the time don't you. If that's right then there is nothing you can do to make yourself more visible. It really is a case of some people will just never take the time to look around them because they're in too much of a hurry.
And, yeah, it is a bit strange to find someone else who finds the same issues with their knees preferring to be cooler, or with me cold. Anything around the 40f (5c) or below is fine with me.

[rogbow]

Heck even with the daytime driving lights these fools are too blind to see you. Beginning to think people get their drivers license from a cereal box anymore. Just open a box of Lucky Charms and Congratulations you are now a licensed driver !!! It sure seems that way to me anyway.

As for the cold it sure does make the knees feel better. But, I prefer it be around 70F just my knees don't like it As long as the temps are 45F and below knees feel great above that they ache all the time.
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[akeo]

[rogbow]

Actually I am curious about that Netherlands law too. I think that's a good thing but, then again too the Netherlands is like the bicycle capital of the world.

They say it's harder to get a license here now too. But, I don't believe it.

20 Years ago...
It was you had to be 16 years old before you could get a permit.
You were required to take 18 weeks of drivers education in school.
You had to have 20 hours behind the wheel with a qualified instructor.
You had to pass a written test with 90% score.
You had to pass a road driving test with a police officer riding with you and get a score 90 % or better. If fail you had to wait 30 days before trying again.

Today...
You can get permit at 15 1/2 years old.
You must pass written test with 80% score.
Must take drivers education through a qualified drivers school 5 classes 2 hours each. Then have 10 hours driving with an instructor.
Have a license driver log and have a license driver sign it and log 60 hours hours of driving. ( Here lies the biggest problem people are not actually doing this. They are just getting people to sign off on hours without doing then. )
Take a driving test with a drivers license agent on a pre - made road course and get 80% or better. ( Another problem they give you a diagram of the course and you can make a course and practice ahead of time. )
If fail you only have to wait 1 week before taking retest.

It seems like more but really is isn't less class hours, less driving time with qualified instructor, test scores lower to pass and you can practice for road test ahead of time. Instead of it being random
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[msidoh]

[akeo]

The driving test in the uk has got harder to pass but the standards are still falling.
20 years ago for a car
You had to be 17 and you had to take a practical driving test with an examiner on public roads that lasted about 40 minutes, if you reached the required standard, you were fully qualified. There was no minimum amount of driving tuition needed as long as you could do what they wanted you to do in a safe and correct manner.
28 years ago (when I passed my bike test) for a bike
You got a moped (50cc engine) licence at 16 and as long it was taxed, insured, mot'ed and displayed 'L' plates you could get on the road with no tuition whatsoever. you would never need to take a test if you didn't want to ride a bike with a bigger engine. At 17 you were then entitled to ride bikes up to 125cc but only for 2 years or until you passed your test whichever came first. To pass the test you had to complete a part one test which was basic low speed control and handling skills riding around cones for a couple of hours and then you had to apply to take the part two of the test which was about 30 minutes on road, but the examiner stood beside the road and watched you from a distance and as long as you reached the required standard you could then ride whatever bike you wanted.

Now for a car you have to pass a theory test and score 86% and then watch videos and look for hazards and you must spot 44 out of 75. Once you've passed that part you can take the practical test which is basically the same as it was 20 years ago and still with no minimum amount of training, as long as you can do what they want, you've passed. But with the increase in the amount of traffic, depending on the time of day you take your test, that 40 minute test can equate to just 15 minutes of actual driving.

The motorcycle test is now so complicated that during the 2013/2014 year period just 43,000 people took a motorcycle test compared to 1.3 million who took a car test. The bike test is now dependent on your age, your bike's power to weight ratio, it's total power output and a million and one other things. If you want to have a look at the nightmare that is the uk motorcycle test, I've put a link to the government website and have a read for yourself. https://www.gov.uk/ride-motorcycle-moped/overview

So it seems to me that the requirements to pass your test over in the US are much higher and are much more sensible than they are here.

As for msidoh saying about dashcams. Gotta agree with that. it would make a lot of sense but you'd have to get all the motor manufacturers on board to fit them as standard and then you've got the issue of forcing all motorists to fit them to their cars. If it could be implemented, I would like to add that I think it would be a good idea if it could film the driver as well to prove that they themselves weren't being negligent by being on their phone or some other stupid antic that a lot of people seem to get up to these days. It'd also prove who was driving the vehicle at the time of any particular incident.

[rogbow]

wow... That is just overly complicated in my opinion. Too many stipulations for size, speed, KM/H, KW and speed to weight ratio at least here it is not complicated no wonder the number of people taking the test or trying for license dropped over 1.2

Here is what it takes to get a motorcycle license here... http://www.dmv.org/oh-ohio/motorcycle-license.php but, now remember every state is different so each state's requirements vary. Not sure if it's the same in the U.K. or not I only saw that the Isle's have different requirements there.


@msidoh ... Isn't it standard to have a minimum of 5 people on a moped at one time ? LMAO ( Dad driving, mom sitting on the back, smallest child sitting on gas tank in front of dad and the other 2 squeezed in where ever they can.) Each holding a bag of groceries


Actually the dash cam is a good idea I could go for that.
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[akeo]

Makes interesting reading. From what I can see your motorcycle test is very much the same as our old part one or the compulsory basic training that we have now.
And yes, if you pass your test in one part of the UK your licence is valid everywhere which is a bit strange really considering some of the Scottish isles are no bigger than the Honda factory in Ohio so the level of traffic is non existent compared to anywhere on the UK mainland, so they're learning a completely different skill set to what you'd expect to need for driving in a city.
I do like the idea though of being restricted to daytime riding though, because as you and I both know, riding at night does throw up some completely different things that you can only learn through being experienced enough in daylight.

[msidoh]

[akeo]

I know a lot of people would disagree but you really have to think that it's time it was compulsory for anyone on a motorcycle of any size in any country to have to wear a helmet. Admittedly, a helmet isn't going to protect from some crashes, take the TT races, another death this year (246 deaths in 104 years of racing including a couple of very good friends of mine) but the majority of crashes are at relatively low speed where a helmet would've almost certainly been a saving factor.
It's been law here since 1973 so, I personally don't know any different. (I was 3 when the law came in) but having seen head injuries of people who weren't wearing a helmet makes you realize that they are actually a good thing. I personally don't like them from a comfort point of view, overheating in the summer and too much wind noise irritating your ears, there's a lot of reasons to not like them but spending the next 20,30,40+ years in a vegetative state because you didn't wear one is more than enough reason to wear one.

The Philippines, India and China have a massive amount of small bikes on the road and while I'm not being inflammatory to anyone or having a go at where people choose to live, you have to blame the lawmakers and the police for not enforcing some form of safety measure, whether it be just for their own safety but it should be done for the safety of everyone on the roads and in the street.

[rogbow]

@ akeo
I agree the daytime restricted driving is one of the best and smartest rules they have here. As for once you have the drivers license it is valid everywhere too. But, what gets me is each state can have different standards and I think that is just dumb. Each country's standards should be the same across the board in my opinion it just makes more sense.

@ msidoh

My first time seeing it. I was like what the heck I had to do a double take as I thought I was seeing things. Yes I think it's crazy the parents wear helmets were as most of the kids don't you would think the parents would ensure the kids had helmets at the very least though.

Now of course here in the U.S. this would not fly having that many people on the moped or a bike and the cops would pull them over and make all get off of the bike at the least and even write a ticket to the driver or they could even impound the bike or arrest the driver as well for unsafe operation of a motorized vehicle. They even could go as far as arresting the driver and go as far as charging them with child endangerment. Which could also cause the driver to lose his license for a certain amount of time and some hefty fines too as well to pay.
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[rogbow]

It sure would be nice if people read their messages as it would save allot of headaches for everyone
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[rogbow]

I think this thread doesn't get used as much as it should so I giving it a bump


Just glanced at the previous posts and realized msidoh has been gone for some time and have not seen bomber either. Kind of sad seeing all the regulars disappearing.
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[Lonny]