Govt to review bike test fiasco

Added on Thursday, February 25th, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments

The introduction of a new bike test has led to a huge drop in candidates.

It is important that we have a strong motorcycling industry in this country

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said that there will be a review of the reformed motorcycle test after a huge drop in candidate numbers and pass rates.

There has been a staggering 62% decrease in the number of trainee riders taking tests since the new testing system was introduced in 2009 whilst the overall pass rate has fallen by 58% in the same period.

In Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday, Anne Main, Conservative MP for St Albans, asked the Gordon Brown what course of action the government was intending to take to address the sharp increase in test failures and falling candidate numbers.

In response, the Prime Minister said: “I will ask the Transport Minister to look into this matter. It is important that we have a strong motorcycling industry in this country and it is important that the questions she (Mrs Main) has about the specifics of these tests be answered.”

Critics of the new test highlight that the use of new “super” test centres, of which there are just 66 in the UK compared to the previous number of 260 locations. In September 2006, the implementation of the test was postponed due to only 39 centres being ready but, when the new system eventually came into force in April 2009, only 44 were ready.

Today for example, a candidate living in Boston, Lincolnshire, would be required to travel for more than one hour to attend a module one exam at their nearest test centre in either Peterborough or Lincoln whilst a candidate in Aberystwyth, West Wales, would face a journey of close to two hours to visit their nearest test centre in Swansea.

Critics have also hit out at aspects of the test itself, with particular criticism on a “swerve” manoeuvre, which requires riders to perform an evasive manoeuvre at a speed of 50kph (31mph). Whilst the test’s supporters claim that the element is required to prepare new motorcycles for the road, opponents claim that the test does not properly reflect real road conditions and that no concession is made for weather conditions.

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