L plate - should I? Do you?

[blue eyed savage]

im on my L and i just ride, road, how do u spell that anyway. went from the grate NAKI to christchurch and there is no way in hell im going to do 70kph who the hell thourt up that, some person who drives a desk! and if i had a l plate on and i cop came up behind me he woud do me over so i just stay on 100kph and is all good. just ride safe and the copes dont bother you.
ps if you do 110kph and get f**ked/pulled over you can lose your licence for being 40kph over the speed limet.

[delusionz]

Wise point about not jumping straight into the 100km/h zones... Definitely the motorway was a place I avoided for the first few weeks

[delusionz]

ps if you do 110kph and get f**ked/pulled over you can lose your licence for being 40kph over the speed limet.

doesn't that apply to posted limits? It would just be a case of breach of license terms - 400 bux and 25 demerits or something like that

[Vapor]

I did'nt put an L plate on when I got my learners, and lasted about 2 months before I got my first warning, then 2 weeks later, got pulled over by the same cop and got a $400 fine. (Fair enough) seeing as I got a warning. But I put an L-plate on straight away after that, and got seen multiple times on the motorway by cops who didn't pull me over once for going 110kmp/h.

So, I would'nt want to risk the $400 fine.

Unless you are rich lol

[SlowHand]

On a 750 you dont have the option.
Your a rambling idiot ha.

Oh no, the people have spoken. It's official. Do I get a badge?

for the record tho, never had the L plate on till my restricted test.

[spudgun007]

What i did was break the corner of my L plate and blue tack it on the back...that way i could use the god old "it must of broke off" routine and have a lil evidence for the copper.

[Deviant]

I got pulled over on Thursday night at 11:30pm in New Lynn.

I had purchased L plates but not picked them up. It was after 11 anyway.

The cop was a really nice guy. He warned me it would have been $800 if he had decided to write out the ticket, but if I promised to get the plates and not let him catch me again, then I could go straight home. I have one on now (although there wasn't much room to put it that was visible :S ).

Now, I say you should wear it, because I really can't afford to lose $400 or $800 right now, and I don't think you would like to either.

[discotex]

The cop was a really nice guy. He warned me it would have been $800 if he had decided to write out the ticket

I take it the $800 was $400 for no L plate and $400 for out of hours?

I'm surprised you got away with the "out of licence hours" ticket. Who says coppers are all about quota. Here you were in breach of two licence conditions and he let you off. Nice

[Mikkel]

Well as I see it... not wearing the L plate is just another thing you can get slammed for if you manage to aggravate the fuzz.

There are five specific conditions on our learners license:

1. Wear an L plate at all times (can't remember what it says about placement).
2. Do not exceed 70 km/h at any time.
3. Do not drive between 10 pm and 5 am. (Applies to restricted as well)
4. Do not ride a motorcycle larger than 250 cc. (Applies to restricted as well)
5. Do not carry a passenger. (Applies to restricted as well)

If you get done breaking one of these conditions it can set you back NZ$400 and 25 demerit points. If you get caught breaking two that's NZ$800 and 50 demerit points. In other words - try to minimise the damage, your ass belongs to the cops anyway!

Getting caught doing 110 km/h not wearing a L plate you could get fined $800 and 50 demerit points for breaching license conditions and then you can add whatever the penalty for doing 10 km/h above the speed limit is (the speed limit is 100 km/h - not 70. That you're not allowed to exceed 70 is a specific restriction and carries it's own penalty).

My personal opinion is that restrictions 4 and 5 makes good sense. If you're a new driver (i.e. doesn't hold a full license already) I think that the other restrictions makes some sense - but if you've held a full car license for 5 years you will have some grasp of how traffic moves, what to look out for, etc. and the learners period doesn't make any sense whatsoever. But it's not that easy to put down rules though - however sitting at 70 km/h on the open road is downright stupid, and the police realise as much.

[Deviant]

I fully agree with both previous posts. HTe rules are there for a reason, not revenue collection (in this case!).

And yes, he was really nice about it. $800 would have seriously f***ed me, I'm in the middle of one of those times where even a small fine would be a major issue. Even if I wasn't, $800 is a big sum of cash.

[EJK]

Some newbies says "Having an L plate makes you look noob, Also get abused by some cage drivers"
But thats not true, I bet a single bus driver gets more abuse than every L plated Motorcyclist combined.

[Yossarian]

I don't understand the "stigma" of displaying an L plate. I have been in situations where I have stalled in front of cars (at lights) and collected my thoughts, and gone on my way again.
It makes other people aware that you will make mistakes, as I have and will continue to do so, and if they are normal they will not go totally mental if you stall infront of anyone, like I did last week in front of a big SUV, the bloke went nuts, shaking his fist and all that! Then I remembered " ahhh....I've got a big yellow L plate on the back " put the bike in gear and went on my way.
No problems.

[Snowcarver04]

Well as I see it... not wearing the L plate is just another thing you can get slammed for if you manage to aggravate the fuzz.

There are five specific conditions on our learners license:

1. Wear an L plate at all times (can't remember what it says about placement).
2. Do not exceed 70 km/h at any time.
3. Do not drive between 10 pm and 5 am. (Applies to restricted as well)
4. Do not ride a motorcycle larger than 250 cc. (Applies to restricted as well)
5. Do not carry a passenger. (Applies to restricted as well)

If you get done breaking one of these conditions it can set you back NZ$400 and 25 demerit points. If you get caught breaking two that's NZ$800 and 50 demerit points. In other words - try to minimise the damage, your ass belongs to the cops anyway!

Getting caught doing 110 km/h not wearing a L plate you could get fined $800 and 50 demerit points for breaching license conditions and then you can add whatever the penalty for doing 10 km/h above the speed limit is (the speed limit is 100 km/h - not 70. That you're not allowed to exceed 70 is a specific restriction and carries it's own penalty).

My personal opinion is that restrictions 4 and 5 makes good sense. If you're a new driver (i.e. doesn't hold a full license already) I think that the other restrictions makes some sense - but if you've held a full car license for 5 years you will have some grasp of how traffic moves, what to look out for, etc. and the learners period doesn't make any sense whatsoever. But it's not that easy to put down rules though - however sitting at 70 km/h on the open road is downright stupid, and the police realise as much.

Why does everyone misinterpret the restrictions on the learner license. The 70km/hr rule ONLY applies to OPEN ROADS and a motorway, highway or any other road is not an open road. These are marked with a white road signs with a black cross.

Pasted from LTSA website>>>

You must not go faster than 70 km/h on the open road.

[MaxCannon]

Can't say I've noticed any change in driver behavior after removing my L plate.
I actually left it on for two weeks after I did my test as my mate was borrowing the bike to sit his restricted.
While I was on my L I rode after 10pm a couple of time and never stuck to 70kph on the open RD

The hours rule is a waste of time for anyone with a full car licence. I've been driving for 15 years and it's just as dark at 7pm as it is at midnight. I'd argue it's probably safer to be riding late at night due to lower traffic volumes (drunken / stoned driver factor not withstanding).
For younger drivers just starting out I agree with it but I think anyone with 2 years or more experience behind the wheel should be able ride or drive regardless of what time it is.

The 70kph rule is dangerous. At that speed you are a traffic hazard.
I tried it the first two times I took the bike out and just about got steamrollered.
From then on I have riden at the speed the traffic is going, be that 100 or faster or slower.

[delusionz]

Why does everyone misinterpret the restrictions on the learner license. The 70km/hr rule ONLY applies to OPEN ROADS and a motorway, highway or any other road is not an open road. These are marked with a white road signs with a black cross.

Pasted from LTSA website>>>

You must not go faster than 70 km/h on the open road.

This has been debated time and time again, if you dig deeper into the site other than that one phrase leaving it up to interpretation you'll find somewhere that you're wrong about that. Here's for logic, one reason to limit a learner to 70kph could be to slow them down on the motorway (fuck knows why), but they can travel 80kph in an 80kph zone if they like. Or, the other possible reason is to slow them down to 70kph on all public roads (my interpretation of open road) because they are learning how to ride a bike for the first time so they shouldn't go too fast.

Yes we all know 70kph is slow, but if we're here posting about it we're obviously not so inexperienced to need that sort of restraint.