What say you - review of motorcycle licences

[Murray]

I for one think it should include a driving test for all classes, but how would you feel if it was applied to just Class 6 licences?

Just seeking opinions, which flow freely on here.

And it could be charged out at an over inflated rate

sounds like it will happen then

[TheDemonLord]

How would you feel if the gubbermint did this.

When you go to renew your licence, you have an eye test, and pays yer money. Your car licence is rolled over, no probs.

But if you want to renew your bike licence, you have to pass a practical assessment. Pass, and you're all good. Fail, you get some ACC subsidized training, and you're good to go.

See, there are 480 thousand people in NZ holding Class 6 full licences, but only 80 thousand bikes registered. What's apparent is that there are a shit load of people with bike licences who haven't ridden in years. Some will never.

These are over represented in crash stats, when they have their mid life crisis and get back onto a bike after not having ridden for decades.

I for one think it should include a driving test for all classes, but how would you feel if it was applied to just Class 6 licences?

Just seeking opinions, which flow freely on here.

I somewhat support the idea, however I strongly disagree with what the reality will be.

Let me Explain - the reality will be that the checkup rides (once ACC levies, govt taxes etc. are added) will be very expensive and this will result in 3 knock on effects:

1: People won't bother taking them
2: this same class of people, will now be riding unregistered bikes and unlicenced
3: Those of us who wish to remain law abiding motorcyclists will get screwed even harder for the privilege of riding legally

Now, if the checkups were free and you only had to pay for a re-test if you failed, I would be okay with this, but the next issue is, how do you stop someone from riding a bike without a licence? the only conceivable way would be to confiscate the licence AND motorcycle (however if it was unregistered, how would you know?)

As a thought - there is a licencing system in place in this country that does have internal methods for preventing the equivelant of the Born-Again-Biker - which is the Pilots licence.

To remain current, you have to do 3 take offs and landings for a specified aircraft type within 90 days and every 2 years you have to take a test flight. if you let it lapse, you then have to get re-tested (ie do you 50 hours training and your exams)

Now comparing Air travel to road travel may seem a little extreme given the extra responsibility of air travel, but would we have BAB smearing themselves if they had to go on 3 rides in 3 months to hold onto their Bike licence?

the only issue is that if this was to go forward, I would DEFINATELY need it to be applied to Car Drivers as well. IMHO on any given day, ANY licence holder should be able to pass a full licence test - given that the test represents the minimum standard of driving required to safely drive on NZ roads - I would also implement a system where anyone who had failed their licence test after more than 3 attempts would have to do a mandatory reset (at no charge) within 3 months (to make sure it wasn't a fluke that they passed). Anyone who fails more than 6 times in a year period would be barred from taking their licence test for a 1 year period (they clearly lack the necessary skills to drive a car safely, so can have a year off to learn)

[Madness]

Fail, you get some ACC subsidized training, and you're good to go.

All for the idea myself. That said, if you do fail and have a currently licenced motorcycle, the subsequent training should be completely free of charge. It's not like we've actually got anything for our money since the levies went through the roof, is it?

[Gremlin]

All classes of licence thanks. No discrimination, everyone gets tested. If you've taken alternate training recently, then you fly through. Mostly thinking of commercial trucking, but for motorcycles stuff like IAM could apply (and technically IAM is 3 arms, car, truck and motorcycle in NZ).

IAM is not officially recognized with a license endorsement. I think if it was more people would be interested in getting the additional training.

Correct re IAM, and quite honestly, we don't have the capacity required for it... yet. We're working on it, but it's not a quick thing...

[mossy1200]

Charge acc tax on a yearly licence renewal rather than registration.
Don't renew (pay acc tax) then don't ride. Have not renewed within 2 years of expiry then need sit a practical skills test.

Lower average cost. Riders who ride but don't own contribute. Multi bike owners are not penalised. Returning riders need prove skills. Easy to enforce (riding without licence).

[R650R]

NO!!! except for the eyesight part which is already part of it? (I did it for my truck renewal but don't know if needed for car/bike?)

And regarding eyesight test, police should make every speeder undergo a roadside eye test. There are heaps of people out there who are half blind and refuse to admit to it.

Back to your concept my reasons for no are based on:

Any test is going to be too easy to be worth any tangible benefit. It will have to be easy as most people would need serious training to iron out years of bad habits (not necessarily directly dangerous) and training to pass a rigid test structure.
When I went to the UK I had to sit and pass their practical tests as the EU does not recognise our HT licences. I had professional training from UK instructors and it was very hard to change my habits and conform to their schedule of how to drive. Now it did have benefits related to their local conditions but overall very little impact on my safety and conduct as a driver.
Part of the reason it was so hard and I talked about this with instructor at Coastgaurd is that once your older and outside that constant learning environment its very hard for your brain to handle the stress of a test situation, even though you have the real life skills to do it.

I was thinking about getting my bus licences but you have to resit your car license and I'm not sure I could stand all the associated BS...

All this will do is add another layer of beauracracy and cost to society and save very little or no lives.
Also the non conformists will end up riding unlicensed and therefore uninsured and guess who they are going to run into...

How about every six months you have to watch a random Russian dashcam vid with an embedded code somewhere in the vid that you txt to confirm watched and keep your licence?

[haydes55]

My golden opinion.

How many crashes are a result of, or made worse by unroadworthy vehicles? Sweet fuck all compared to the amount of crashes caused by driver error.

We have to get a WOF at least once a year, even though our driving never gets tested..... That's like telling electricians to use insulated pliers to prevent them from inhaling asbestos.

My ideal scenario: All drivers are required to undergo training every 3 years. If you have a car and motorbike license, you need to just do the motorbike training, if you have a truck license, that takes priority over car training. No matter how many licenses you have, you just need the single training session. But you will always need to take the most advanced training relevant to your license. Truck will be more advanced than motorbikes.

WoFs every year, regardless of the age of the vehicle.

[R650R]

But you will always need to take the most advanced training relevant to your license. Truck will be more advanced than motorbikes.

From the horses mouth... there's nothing special about truck driving, like anything else, do it long enough and you dial into it and it feels just like driving a car, second nature etc.
Now loading one safely, that's another story altogether and there's no test for that ever. Fatigue management, no test for that also!
Trucks crash due to a combination of errors adding up, and the edge from being inside a safe performance envelope to rollover conditions is very small.
Already there is an exodus of experienced drivers to higher paying jobs and a tsunami of fresh inexperienced drivers entering the industry, all your inconvenient scheme will do is accelerate the rate of departure.

[SNF]

I think its shit! Cagers are the ones that need it. Swerving, not looking, tailgating. More cars than bikes too, which means more $$$ and hopefully some better driving (Wishful thinking).

[mikeey01]

Proper testing for tourists who hire vehicles in NZ firstly or is that to sensible?

[speights_bud]

My ideal scenario: All drivers are required to undergo training every 3 years.

This is the case for forklift OSH Cert.

F endorsement (ability to operate a forklift on the road) is for life. Allowed to operate up to GLW of 18,000kg too!

But every 3 years you have to do a refresher course for OSH which is the part that lets you actually lift stuff with it. Interestingly enough after 10 years of occasional operating I've done 4 courses and I always forget something little and niggly that the course reminds me of.

[Mike.Gayner]

More licence conditions simply increases the number of people riding without a licence. If you're trying to change behavior on the margin this is the wrong way to go about it.

Then again since when are cops or legislators known to engage their brains and act on rationality and evidence?

[R650R]

This is the case for forklift OSH Cert.

F endorsement (ability to operate a forklift on the road) is for life. Allowed to operate up to GLW of 18,000kg too!

But every 3 years you have to do a refresher course for OSH which is the part that lets you actually lift stuff with it. Interestingly enough after 10 years of occasional operating I've done 4 courses and I always forget something little and niggly that the course reminds me of.

F expires every ten years when your licence does...

OSH forklift certification does NOT expire. That is just scam by the training providers to suck in the big companies cash. Its proven by the fact they call it (the three year retest) a 'refresher' course and charge less than the full forklift course even though in practice its the same thing.
I challenge you to show any evidence from a govt site of the right to operate a forklift expiring after three years from the OSH course date.

I've done plenty and remembered nothing except how tedious and boring it was the time before...

[speights_bud]

F expires every ten years when your licence does...

OSH forklift certification does NOT expire. That is just scam by the training providers to suck in the big companies cash. Its proven by the fact they call it (the three year retest) a 'refresher' course and charge less than the full forklift course even though in practice its the same thing.
I challenge you to show any evidence from a govt site of the right to operate a forklift expiring after three years from the OSH course date.

I've done plenty and remembered nothing except how tedious and boring it was the time before...

The F carries over when you renew your licence though?

If what you say about the OSH cert is true then thousands of businesses are getting ripped off... Glad I never pay for it personally.

And yes I agree, the courses are boring as shit...

[speights_bud]

OSH forklift certification does NOT expire. That is just scam by the training providers to suck in the big companies cash. Its proven by the fact they call it (the three year retest) a 'refresher' course and charge less than the full forklift course even though in practice its the same thing.
I challenge you to show any evidence from a govt site of the right to operate a forklift expiring after three years from the OSH course date.

Department of Labor website :

http://www.dol.govt.nz/workplace/kno...base/item/1404

"The certificate will specify the type of training received by the operator (basic, refresher.... .... It is required that retraining be undertaken every three years."


F endorsement automatically renews when you renew your licence.

http://nzta.govt.nz/licence/renewing...orsements.html