Kiwi driver challenge

[Angry Puppy]

Anyone watch the Kiwi Driver Challenge last night? Only caught the first half (clashed with ER). Don't know about the second half, but in the fist half, bikes were not mentioned once. Wouldv'e been nice to at least have been achknowledged as road users.

What scores did you guys get? I only got 1 wrong in the fist half (honest!)
check out the questions at http://www.kiwidriverschallenge.co.nz/

FB

[Jackrat]

Lou allready did this one in the off topic section.
Bikes got a mention in the second half.They had an R1 on stage,nice looking bike to.

[Angry Puppy]

Yeah, just did the full test on-line.Two questions on bikes!

[Slingshot]

They had two questions about bikes, the first was "What is the biggest contributor to fatal motorcycle accidents in NZ?" & the second was "Where is the best place on the road to position your bike while riding?"

They even had a nice shiny R1 on display. I'm pretty sure it was the 04 model as well, it had the exhaust under the seat.

I didn't record my answers so I don't know what my score was.

One thing I though was quite funny was every question that was aimed at speed made out like speed was the devil. I guess with the current push on enforcing the speed limits "they" will use any medium to try and tell us that speeding is the root of all evil.

[merv]

Got 85% for the whole thing. I was amazed that the second half had questions like the number of breath tests that were carried out. I guessed 1.3M and damn the answer they said was 2.3M for a year. Because I got that wrong am I therefore a more unsafe driver or what? Seems to me those statistical and number type questions that aren't related to the road code were a bit pointless and you'd only know the answers for sure if you had the stats in front of you.

Wkid you'd be disputing the fact that the new R1 is only 150hp too wouldn't you, though that wasn't a question it was a statement they made.

[Slim]

I just did the on-line test.

What are the chances that all those statistic-type questions are actually part of the driver test?!?!? Hmmm???? Not bloody likely. I only fluffed three of the "real" questions and one of those because I didn't stop to think it out properly, but guessed a reasonable proportion of the statistic-type questions to get a total of 80%.

[piperj]

I'm guessng that the point of the stat questions was for us to see where our perceptions of what goes on with regard to breath testing, the effectiveness of seat belts and so forth, measured up with reality. After all our perceptions are what govern our actions. If we percieve certain driving habits etc. are unnecessary then we are less likely to employ them or follow the rule.
Hence they gave us the oppurtunity to see if our perceptions are correct (and fix them if need be).

[Slim]

It could also be to see how effective the LTSA/Government Road Safety advertising campaigns have been.

The TV3 site has a "Feedback" link if anyone else feels like telling them how effective their stats are going to be. http://www.tv3.co.nz/corporate/faq.cfm and the Feedback link is on the left.

[speedpro]

I only got 70%. The only answers I got wrong were the statistical ones. Interesting I thought that the studio audiance only got about 42% of the first questions correct which were the questions to do with the actual rules and what you are supposed to do. Pretty predictable given most drivers demonstrated ability. It would be interesting to divide the questions into relevant and statistical bullshit questions and then do the percentages for each group. Going by the early part of the programme I'd say that the results would be fairly sad for the questions that matter.

[Slingshot]

I'm guessng that the point of the stat questions was for us to see where our perceptions of what goes on with regard to breath testing, the effectiveness of seat belts and so forth, measured up with reality. After all our perceptions are what govern our actions. If we percieve certain driving habits etc. are unnecessary then we are less likely to employ them or follow the rule.
Hence they gave us the oppurtunity to see if our perceptions are correct (and fix them if need be).

It was propaganda, nothing more...nothing less. The LTSA would have been involved in setting this up and they would of seen it as a good natural platform to con us all into thinking their way.

There's a conspiracy at hand.

[riffer]

There's a conspiracy at hand.

Hmmm. You could be right. I'd dispute whether the major cause of road safety problems in this country is people speeding. LTSA's own statistics don't bear this out.

I got 70% on the test. Major stuffup on the question about the two cars turning into a three-lane road. Based on reality I assumed the blue car turning right could cut the red car off by going right across three lanes - and imagined the red car should wait a while to see what the idiot in the blue car would do. I guess LTSA don't consider reality in the test.

The rest of my stuffups were mainly the stats...

I didn't watch the program. Wife wanted to see results of NZ Idol and I was head down at the laptop in the lounge taking refuge in KB.

[wari]

Hmmm. You could be right. ...

I didn't watch the program. Wife wanted to see results of NZ Idol and I was head down at the laptop in the lounge taking refuge in KB.

Thats what I like to hear ... :spudguita :spudbooge

[Hitcher]

We are about to enter, I suspect, the darklands of bodgy statistics at which the LTSA is a master force.

Don't forget that the stats get carved different ways: The same accident event (drunk driver, no seatbelt, failing to stop at an intersection, therefore going too quickly, in an unregistered vehicle with bald tyres, with an unrestrained child in the rear, etc) gets divided up into the myriad of categories that have been created for purposes best known to the propeller-heads at the LTSA.

Also the LTSA does not examine or report adequately on CAUSE of accidents at known blackspots, just that this is where people routinely get killed.

Speed doesn't kill. Failure to stop/take necessary evasive action is what kills. Certainly speed contributes to a driver's/rider's ability to stop or adequately control their vehicle but it is not the CAUSE.

Dismounts hobby horse, returns it to stable.

[Wenier]

yea i found overall the program was a let down when they brought out the stats questions that u would have to guess to get right. and comon 150bhp for an '04 R1 that cant b right

[Coldkiwi]

i just had a conversation with a mate of mine who did a BSc in Stats at Uni about that program. I didn't see it but debated that speed was the cause of fatal accidents and said that 'rider error' was the primary cause. I then mentioned i had doubts about LTSA's crash data havign seen their loaded questions and stats. His response was:

Trust me - you give me a table of figures showing the annual wheat production
in France, and I'll be able to use it to prove that the most common source of
fatal motorcycle accidents is actually accidentally pressing the ejector seat
while driving under a bridge. Statistics prove anything.

..and he's quite right!
for instance:

"50% of British 11 year olds know of someone who is currently having sex in
their year at school."

It might not have been 11 year olds.. might have been 10 or 12, but anyway....
look at the wording. It's stupid. 50% know of someone having sex. So, let's say
we have 2 schools, with 300 11 yr olds each. of these 600 kids, 1 is having sex.
Just one. Everyone at school is going to know about it, so all of a sudden, 50%
of the pool of 600 kids know about it. Chances are some of the kids from school
A are friends with kids from school B. All it takes is for 1 person from school
B to hear about it, and then they will all know about it, and now it's up to
100% of the kids know. Add in school C... and so on and so forth.,....

So really, saying that 50% of the kids know someone having sex only means that
there is at least 1 person in the whole of Britain who is having sex, and is 11,
and that the school networking system isn't perfect... there are some schools
who are totally isolated from others.


BEWARE THE STATISTICIANS!