Abolish 70kph learners rule

[firefighter]

yeah, I think it's easy for those preaching to forget what it's like being stuck at 70km......I never ever obyed that rule, it's unneccessary. It just puts you in harms way and into situations where cagers (and understandably) will make a stupid passing decision or bully said motorcyclist out of the way.
And to say stay off the open road on your learners is foolish too.....you've got to do it sometime- by no means should you have to wait 6 months to ride on the motorway and open road! How fucken boring is that?!

[mister.koz]

yeah, I think it's easy for those preaching to forget what it's like being stuck at 70km......I never ever obyed that rule, it's unneccessary. It just puts you in harms way and into situations where cagers (and understandably) will make a stupid passing decision or bully said motorcyclist out of the way.
And to say stay off the open road on your learners is foolish too.....you've got to do it sometime- by no means should you have to wait 6 months to ride on the motorway and open road! How fucken boring is that?!

I said keeping out of 100km areas makes more sense than not being able to ride at the speed limit.

People should ride or the conditions within their ability regardless of what the signs say.

If you are not comfortable doing 100km/h then stay outa 100km/h area's or practice on empty roads.

[firefighter]

I said keeping out of 100km areas makes more sense than not being able to ride at the speed limit.

People should ride or the conditions within their ability regardless of what the signs say.

If you are not comfortable doing 100km/h then stay outa 100km/h area's or practice on empty roads.

who said I was quoting you?

yes obviously you should'nt go out onto a state highway/whatever unless your ready, i'm just saying I don't think that just because your a learner does'nt mean you should'nt go there.......as long as your ready of course.....and part of that is needing to ride at speeds above 70km so your not a danger.......

People should ride or the conditions within their ability regardless of what the signs say.

.............well duuuhh!

[mister.koz]

who said I was quoting you?

yes obviously you should'nt go out onto a state highway/whatever unless your ready, i'm just saying I don't that I don't think that just because your a learner does'nt mean you should'nt go there.......as long as your ready of course.....and part of that is needing to ride at speeds above 70km so your not a danger.......



.............well duuuhh!

Ha! sorry i probably sounded like a grumpy bugger

It is surprising the amount of people that don't ride within their ability tho.

[Ixion]

..
And to say stay off the open road on your learners is foolish too.....you've got to do it sometime- by no means should you have to wait 6 months to ride on the motorway and open road! How fucken boring is that?!

Perhaps those who wrote the rule did so with other priorities in mind than preventing boredom. Personally , I'm all in favour of boredom on the roads.

[EatOrBeEaten]

It's not about boredom though, is it? It's about being a safe road user, and it is not safe riding at 70kph on the motorway!. In the UK you'd fail your test riding at 70 in a 100 zone (and that can be part of the test), it's drummed into you that you need to be in the flow of traffic to ride safely.

I'm not some moronic girl-racer type, I'm someone who needs a bike to get to work and back and get about Auckland, preferably without smearing herself over an off-ramp.

[mister.koz]

Perhaps those who wrote the rule did so with other priorities in mind than preventing boredom. Personally , I'm all in favour of boredom on the roads.

Nah man, bordom is boring.

[firefighter]

Perhaps those who wrote the rule did so with other priorities in mind than preventing boredom.

Yes well obviously Ixion!.......that does'nt mean it was the right decision- EVERY person I know rode faster than that on their learners, and guess what.....they're still here.....(touch wood......very expensive classy wood lol) no major incidents came from riding faster than 70.

Really if your smart and work up to it (should'nt take you too long really FFS) I don't see the necessity to wait until you have your resticted, it's a piece of plastic, not experience, no-one seems to have a problem with L-plater cagers going 100km/h......

Personally , I'm all in favour of boredom on the roads.

good for you.

I think you'll find i'm referring to them riding on the open road with that statement though....not the speed limit.

[Ixion]

It's not about boredom though, is it? It's about being a safe road user, and it is not safe riding at 70kph on the motorway!. In the UK you'd fail your test riding at 70 in a 100 zone (and that can be part of the test), it's drummed into you that you need to be in the flow of traffic to ride safely.

I'm not some moronic girl-racer type, I'm someone who needs a bike to get to work and back and get about Auckland, preferably without smearing herself over an off-ramp.

Just being a devil's advocate here, maybe the solution would be to a route that does not include motorways. I can't think of anywhere in Auckland city which can only be reached by motorway .

An interesting comment recently from a Transit gentleman (the conversation was actually about mopeds on motorways, but learners came up). When motorways were first introduced , years ago, the list of prohibited traffic (which is now only pedestrians and cycles) was much longer. It included both mopeds and learner drivers (and horse drawn traffic !) . .Both prohibitions seem quite sensible to me, but have been dropped over the years. Mr Transit suggested that might be reviewed. A motorway is not a good place to learn to drive (or ride)

So the solution that emerges may be that learners are no longer restricted to 70kph , but are forbidden on motorways. This seems quite sensible, it covers the needs of rural dwellers , who needs must use open roads if they are to leave their driveways, whilst keeping learner drivers off the unforgiving arena of the motorway.

After all, if we are to accept (personally, I do not ) that learner drivers know all there is to know after their 6 months (or a fraction of that as some would argue) then what is the point of the restricted licence ? There must be some learning experience still in store once the 6R test is passed.

[Ixion]

..!. In the UK you'd fail your test riding at 70 in a 100 zone (and that can be part of the test), it's drummed into you that you need to be in the flow of traffic to ride safely.

...

Uh huh. As indeed in NZ. What you do not mention however is that in the UK a motorcycle learner may not use motorways AT ALL. Problem solved. I think the Transit dude I referred to in my previous post is onto it. Abolish the 70kph rules, and prohibit learners on motorways.

Amazing isn't it how many people tell us how wonderful things are 'back home', but forget to mention the little limitations that accompany the nirvana so fondly remembered.

[firefighter]

After all, if we are to accept (personally, I do not ) that learner drivers know all there is to know after their 6 months (or a fraction of that as some would argue) then what is the point of the restricted licence ? There must be some learning experience still in store once the 6R test is passed.

So, because I have my full licence....I know all? My mother, was entitled to sit her full, and did, a long time before I was, because she was older than me, and all due respect to her (of course), she is an absolutely dangerous rider.....(she will tell you herself that her skill level is abysmal) sounds harsh but true......so she was more competent than I?

I'll mention at the time I was already qualified to drive big red fire trucks at speed through traffic (yes...even on the motorway lol) cars, and trucks up to class 4, yet as I was on my learners I needed more experience to be considered ok to ride on the motorway? That's just obtuse, I knew where the accelerator and brakes were, rode around for a couple of weeks getting a feel for it, and rode up the motorway (the big scary straight line that it is) without an issue.....I fail to see what was such a big issue with that.....had my mother tried this (ON HER FULL I MUST MENTION) she probably would have had an accident.........so to be honest, I believe your heart is in the right place......but I don't think personally that it is necessarily a good idea to ban the L-platers from the big bad sacry wary motorway, if you feel confident and are ready, I can't see an issue with it, it's part of progressing and learning - hence the L-plate.

Besides on your restricted you have no L-plate, so if you can only go on the m-way on your restricted, well the cagers now have no idicator as to the fact your inexperienced.

[Hoon]

It's not about boredom though, is it? It's about being a safe road user, and it is not safe riding at 70kph on the motorway!.

As I've mentioned twice now without reply from the anti-70kph brigade, no one has ever died from obeying the 70kph rule on the open road so how dangerous is it really? Sure it may not be safe but it is safer than allowing ALL learners to ride at 100kph on opens roads.

The 70kph rule is the lesser of two evils. I'm not saying its perfect but some kind of constraint needs to be placed on learners for their own good. Until a better solution comes along I'm all for the 70kph rule.

[EatOrBeEaten]

Uh huh. As indeed in NZ. What you do not mention however is that in the UK a motorcycle learner may not use motorways AT ALL. Problem solved. I think the Transit dude I referred to in my previous post is onto it. Abolish the 70kph rules, and prohibit learners on motorways.

Amazing isn't it how many people tell us how wonderful things are 'back home', but forget to mention the little limitations that accompany the nirvana so fondly remembered.

Er, it was for comparison. I haven't moved 12000 miles just to whinge about how much better it was back home, thanks.

No, you can't use the motorways on an L plate in the UK. You also can't ride anything over 125cc, but you can travel at 100kph on A-roads on that 125. You could also have a licence that allowed you to ride a Hayabusa four days after you first sat on a 125. Different ways of doing things, no reason they can't be compared, is there? From what I heard the CBT was piloted here not too long ago. It's possible, just possible that other people's experiences elsewhere might have something to offer the discussion, no?

As for not using m-ways, I'll be looking very closely into alterative routes and so on as I'm in no hurry to get cut up, tailgated and made to feel under threat like that again.

I agree that it would make more sense to ban learners from the M-way altogether anyway, to restrict the speed we can travel at on fast roads just seems ludicrous.

[mister.koz]

As I've mentioned twice now without reply from the anti-70kph brigade, no one has ever died from obeying the 70kph rule on the open road so how dangerous is it really? Sure it may not be safe but it is safer than allowing ALL learners to ride at 100kph on opens roads.

The 70kph rule is the lesser of two evils. I'm not saying its perfect but some kind of constraint needs to be placed on learners for their own good. Until a better solution comes along I'm all for the 70kph rule.

Its not possible to retort that statement because there are no statistics for or against.

I would like to see the figures for learner riders who obey the 70km/h limit vs people who don't and the amounts of accidents per rider, of course a truer test would be comparing how long they were riding for.

Its a simple fact that travelling 30km/h slower than the other traffic is a safety hazard, i tried it on my first 2 250cc bikes and gave up quite quickly after a few of really close calls with people passing like wankers.

[sparky.scott]

I think it should be abolished ASAP! It makes learner riders a target almost and as has been said here many times, you get the faster traffic passing like a bunch of knob jockeys and there are way too many close calls.

As for me I only ever used mine once, and that was to sit my restricted test and it broke in half about half way through the test (testing officer didnt even care).