Just failed mod 2, well p**sed off

[mackemforever]

Just got back from my mod 2 and I failed with 2 majors. 1 of them due to genuinely bad driving and 1 which absolutely takes the piss.

The legitimate fault was for pulling away from the pavement and causing a car to brake. He didn't have to brake hard, I just slightly misjudged how far away he was when I pulled away.

The one that made me want to thump the examiner is as follows:

You are riding down a slightly twisty, 60mph road. You are approaching a right hand bend while travelling at 50mph. You see what appears to be oil covering about 2/3rds of your lane. You have 4 possible courses of action:

1) Ride through the oil at 50mph.

2) Try and ride through the small gap between the oil and the verge on the left.

3) Move onto the wrong side of the road and go around the blind bend on the wrong side of the road.

4) Check your mirrors, check over your shoulders, slow down to around 25mph to safely get through the gap between the oil and the verge, then get back up to speed straight after.

Anybody with half a mind would choose option 4, but the bast*rd doing my test failed me for that because apparently I was riding too slowly and causing a danger to other cars on the road. The only problem with that theory is that there were no cars on the road behind me at that time except for his and he was a long distance behind me and my decrease in speed didn't cause him to have to jump on the brakes or do anything out of the ordinary.

When I told him that I saw oil in my lane and slowed down so I didn't hit it and risk crashing his reply was "well I didn't see it" said in a tone that made me want to punch his sodding lights out.

So, thats £75 down the drain and now I've got to wait for ages to do my second test. As you might be able to guess, I'm a bit annoyed.

[chiz]

I'm guessing he doesn't have his bike licence (as he was following you in a car), so he probably doesn't know to look for shite on the road, in other words; he didn't see it because he wasn't looking for it!!

That's one (of the many things) that annoy me about the DSA, how can someone conduct a test without holding that category of licence themselves? It's happening more and more often too.

To be honest, it's not worth chasing it up because the other fault was legitimate, so you'll not benefit from it.

[TC]

They can be picky and its so annoying that you can't really argue your point because they don't seem to listen.

Was that a question he gave you with 4 answer or a real life situation which he told you there where 4 options for you.

I got a Minor in my test for not getting up to 40 from 30 quick enough. and i know someone that got marked down for slowing before traffic lights on red(not to slow) anticipating them turning green so he didnt have to stop. The examiner told him to ride up to lights at normal speed and stop.

[chiz]

...and i know someone that got marked down for slowing before traffic lights on red(not to slow) anticipating them turning green so he didn't have to stop. The examiner told him to ride up to lights at normal speed and stop.

 

Which is actually good practice for everyday driving, encouraging smooth acceleration/deceleration/braking.

[mackemforever]

They can be picky and its so annoying that you can't really argue your point because they don't seem to listen.

Was that a question he gave you with 4 answer or a real life situation which he told you there where 4 options for you.

I got a Minor in my test for not getting up to 40 from 30 quick enough. and i know someone that got marked down for slowing before traffic lights on red(not to slow) anticipating them turning green so he didnt have to stop. The examiner told him to ride up to lights at normal speed and stop.

 

That was a real situation.

I wasn't going to try and get anything back from the test as I know I should have failed for the other mistake, but its just bloody annoying that I got the first major for taking the course of action that was least likely to cause an accident.

Now the thing annoying me is that the next available bike test isn't till October 19th, which considering I'm starting University on October 2nd isn't much use!

[caretaker]

Sorry to hear that it never worked out.... I know its so disapointing especially on the day!

Re getting another test early ...often they do have cancellations a couple of days before a booked test date so it may be worth contacting a local training school or asking the test centre to keep you informed of cancellations........cos a lot of them (training schools) pre book a number of tests a month in advance, hence the waiting lists....but don't always use them all so cancel at last chance ie 3days before

[polecat]

I wouldn't expect when taking my Car test to have the examiner following me on a bike and in the Same vain I would not be happy on my bike test to have an examiner following me in a Car .....But thats just me

[mackemforever]

Sorry to hear that it never worked out.... I know its so disapointing especially on the day!

Re getting another test early ...often they do have cancellations a couple of days before a booked test date so it may be worth contacting a local training school or asking the test centre to keep you informed of cancellations........cos a lot of them (training schools) pre book a number of tests a month in advance, hence the waiting lists....but don't always use them all so cancel at last chance ie 3days before

 

Yeh, I know that schools do book loads of tests in advance. I've put together a list of every single bike school in Bristol and am going to ring around them all tomorrow to ask them to let me know when they cancel some bookings.

[mackemforever]

I wouldn't expect when taking my Car test to have the examiner following me on a bike and in the Same vain I would not be happy on my bike test to have an examiner following me in a Car .....But thats just me

 

Its not being followed in a car that bothers me. Its the fact that I was being followed in a car by somebody who doesn't even ride a bike that gets on my nerves.

[Aaron]

Well you know you would have failed anyway, so really it's best to just forget about it. Even if he turned round and said "Good effort spotting that oil back there!" you'd still be waiting 'till October 19th for a retest. Forget about the oil bit and you'll feel better : )

I do think it's bad though that you're tested by a non bike rider :s I always just thought that the instructor might choose to use a car if the weather is bad (understandable if he's examining all day long).

[techno]

Do we actually know he was a non bike rider???

I was tested on all my tests by being followed in a car, surely it doesnt necesarily mean they dont hold a bike licence!

infact i wouldnt swear to it but am sure you have to have a bike licence to take a test.

[mackemforever]

Do we actually know he was a non bike rider???

I was tested on all my tests by being followed in a car, surely it doesnt necesarily mean they dont hold a bike licence!

infact i wouldnt swear to it but am sure you have to have a bike licence to take a test.

 

I was speaking to him before the test about it. He does hold a full bike licence BUT he hasn't owned a bike for the last 5 years, and hasn't been on a bike since he sold his 5 years ago.

[caretaker]

When he mentioned that he hadnt seen the oil..its also possible he was 'giving you the hint that if he was a car driver behind you that also didnt see oil' they wouldnt be expecting you to do anything or do what you did..so indeed you may have missed the oil but been at risk from following traffic because you slowed.

I don't particularly totally agree with the logic etc but they do seem to assume you shouldnt do anything to interfere/upset car drivers cos you'd come off worse and in that they are right. in this instance your examiner was a car driver

I remember I got a minor for slowing down in advance for a couple of roundabouts. i did it so that i didnt need to brake suddenly at last minute if something quickly appeared but it seem they prefer the speed to be carried upto the roundabout as fast as a car would so that a car doesnt 'come onto you from behind'

this is despite me thinking 'it was safer and that its more unstable (at low speed - 20/25 mph)to stop suddenly when approaching a roundabout on a bike than it is for a car'

[spunky1976]

I wouldn't expect when taking my Car test to have the examiner following me on a bike and in the Same vain I would not be happy on my bike test to have an examiner following me in a Car .....But thats just me

 

Its not being followed in a car that bothers me. Its the fact that I was being followed in a car by somebody who doesn't even ride a bike that gets on my nerves.

 

i was told if my examiner turned up ina car to do my best to 'lose' them in the distance what they can't see they can't fail you on and if they make you wait for them to catch up they can't add time onto the test to make up for it, I also thought you couldn't test someone on a category you don't hold yourself

[caretaker]

Sorry to hear that it never worked out.... I know its so disapointing especially on the day!

Re getting another test early ...often they do have cancellations a couple of days before a booked test date so it may be worth contacting a local training school or asking the test centre to keep you informed of cancellations........cos a lot of them (training schools) pre book a number of tests a month in advance, hence the waiting lists....but don't always use them all so cancel at last chance ie 3days before

 

Yeh, I know that schools do book loads of tests in advance. I've put together a list of every single bike school in Bristol and am going to ring around them all tomorrow to ask them to let me know when they cancel some bookings.

 

or could you contact the local dsa test centre ans ask them to put you down for any any cancelations.... cos the bike schools will only be contacting the dsa anyway

[chiz]

... I also thought you couldn't test someone on a category you don't hold yourself

 

in fact i wouldn't swear to it but am sure you have to have a bike licence to take a test.

 

When I did my first 'old style' (ie, not mod1/2) test the examiner didn't hold a bike licence. I know this because my instructor mentioned it when he saw the examiner coming out.

He said; "Argh not this prick, he doesn't even have his bike licence, he's absolutely clueless".

Just what I needed to hear 30 seconds before my bike test.