Just watched on TV a UK bike cop pull up a 19yo male on a GSXR 1000 for doing well over 100mph (biker said 90 though) and instead of fines and loss of licence he was referred to a bike school and made to do course. Cost him 200 pounds to do though. The guy had to be accepted and approved for the course by the bike cops sergeant before any decssion was made to do it. He was accepted done it and passed. Only avaialable in any 3 year period for same person and been proven to work well. Also the attitude of the offender was quite good so may have helped him out in the end as well. The bike cop was doin up to 130mph to catch him and quite some time. So would this be a good idea here for car and bike offences!
dent,
Jun 24, 12:04am
Sounds like a god idea. You still have to pay a fine (cost of the course) so it still hits you in the pocket. And you hopfully learn some better driving skills.
tonyrockyhorror,
Jun 24, 12:19am
Clearly there wasn't a lot wrong with his driving skills in the first place though otherwise he wouldn't have been able to go so quickly without crashing into some slower traffic.
gammelvind,
Jun 24, 12:34am
Good idea, the other idea as practiced in some scandinavian countries is loss of licence means just that, you loose it. Not just put on hold for 3 - 6 months, no you start all over again. Practiced mainly for drink driving offences.
smac,
Jun 24, 2:07am
Depends what you class as driving skills I guess. On car club runs the drivers who bitch and moan about the Police and about getting tickets are the same ones who don't listen to route instructions or basic convoy etiquette. I'd say they're missing some of the most basic driving skills, even if they can handle a car at speed.
craigsmith,
Jun 24, 8:49am
New Zealand doesn't understand driver education. The idea would appear bizarre to the powers-that-be. The only possible solution in their minds is to ratchet speed limits down and down, and make enforcement tougher and tougher against all those wannabe killers daring to drive a few km/hr over the magic number in the red circle.
curlcrown,
Jun 24, 3:52pm
Would it also be a good idea to let our cops go 130mph in a chace!
nightboss,
Jun 24, 4:01pm
Good idea, if you loose licence back to square one. Easy to enact as the system is in place already. Imagine that, needing to have a licenced driver beside you and wearing "L" plates again. LOL
redhead96,
Jun 24, 6:17pm
Fines : it is up to us to keep up with our licence conditions
kazbanz,
Jun 24, 6:54pm
Gunhand-I think driver/rider training is a fantastic idea and ANYtraining that might save a riders life seems a great idea in my book. I guess if it is compulsary attendance with a backup of fines/pd if they fail to attend then its also a punishment.
Sorry for the cynical comment here -But a certain mindset Ive found do some training and it reinforces their feeling of being bulletproof. They don't slow down -if anything they feel they can drive/ride harder. -I used to run track days and it was a phenominon I noticed
bitsy_boffin,
Jun 24, 7:41pm
Are you ONLY basing it on track days!
Because I don't think track days are really a very good training environment for road riding.Track days are all about going faster at the endof the day, sure you get some benefit from it, but really, it's all about going faster.
Safe road riding is really nothing about going faster.
As to the first post, this has in fact happened informally in NZ,particularly for bikers.If you search for rastuscat's posts on Kiwibiker you'll turn up a thread or two.
kazbanz,
Jun 25, 12:05am
BB- Not trying to sound egotistical but I started NZ trackdays as we know them today.(basicly one step down from a full on race meeting) They were ALWAYS structured so Yea you could go in the fast group and cane the heck out of ya bike. BUT mostlythey were for people to improve their riding skills in a safe enviroment. For Group 1 I emphasised that the track was a 4km stretch of road with 14 corners. -It was a place to practice stuff its unsafe to practice on the road-ie panic braking,"extreme" lean angles and their effects on the bike etc.It was aimed at less confident riders and there was always one on one assistance if needed on track The idea was to improve rider skill across the board,to provide a safe enviroment to have a good blast and also to provide a gentle introduction to racing for those with that interest. The commercial track day companies nowbasicly charge you only do lapsbutAMCC have really stepped up and have their ART (auckland/advanced rider training)days which is what I was doing (MUCH better than I did it)
gunhand,
Jun 25, 12:33am
I tend to agree somewhat. And have you ever noticed the behaviour of people (the watchers) who attend motor sport events when they leave at the end of the day, its all wheel spin and go hard.for 5 seconds. So obviously watching also revs people up. But yes id imagine once some people have had some training they would think there better than they are.
ladatrouble,
Jun 25, 12:50am
Back in 1973 when I lost my license for dangerous driving, part of the penalty was to go on a Defensive Driving Course - but it was a far better DD course than the PC course done today with tutors who have English as a 3rd language.
gunhand,
Jun 25, 12:52am
I done one 25 odd years back, some things I still use to this day.
socram,
Jun 25, 3:37am
There is a huge difference in knowing how to drive, doing it when supervised and not adhereing to the law because you choose not to.
I did a DD course here in 1983 (company policy) and can honestly say that I didn't learn anything new.I'd learned to drive 20 years earlier and was a keen follower of the British Police handbook "Roadcraft".
We all know that the speed limit is 50kph in a built up area.It doesn't really matter how many driving courses you have taken, whether Dad taught you or a decent driving school, ten hours instruction or 100 hours, if you choose to drive at anything over 60kph, or worse still, 100kph, then you are doing it because you have a blatant disregard for the law and the reasons the limits are in place.
My most recent learning was all about ABS on a Mike Eady course - that was an eye opener.But, sticking to the speed limit (with the 4 - 10kph tolerance) is normal and standard practice for most people.Speeding at 100kph in a 50kph limit is not.
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