Our Prov. leaders are on crack!
We have quite an active motorcycle community and because we have twisty roads, we have the occasional accident.
One of these involved a noob on a 130hp sportbike who slammed into a rock at fatal speeds. Rather than blame the poor judgement of the victum, we now look to improve the system with some form of simulator. How would this test anything, other than how much money riders are willing to pay.
I support a graduated licence system, where someone moves up to larger power bikes as they gain experience. Squids will still be able to wadd up themselves on 125's but they will have to try harder.
Quote:
Province mulls use of simulators in licensing motorcycle riders
Times Colonist (Victoria),
25-Apr-2006
B.C. will investigate using simulators to test novice motorcycle riders' skills as part of the licensing process, Solicitor General John Les said Monday. There are no plans to limit the size of motorcycles that learner bikers can ride.
"I have a strong suspicion that technology has improved to the point where you could do a very real simulation of driving a motorcycle that would perhaps be helpful to screen out those who just have no chance of being able to do so safely," Les said. The B.C. solicitor general made the comments after meeting with Denise Lodge, a mother who lost her 21-year-old son Corey in a crash on the Malahat in March 2005.
Corey Lodge had his learner's permit less than 24 hours when he crashed his new 1,000-cc crotch rocket into a cliff face while travelling at more than twice the speed limit. Denise Lodge has since been campaigning for more stringent graduated motorcycle licensing, including mandatory driver education and restricting the size of motorcycles to 250 cc for a minimum of three years for new riders.
"She had specifically suggested that we limit the size of motorbikes that people with their learner's licence could drive. I've done some research on that and there's nothing to indicate that would be productive in terms of reducing accidents or fatalities," Les said.
"So it appears to me there's not much point in going there unless there's some evidence which is lacking in this case."
Les promised the Lodges Monday he would investigate using the simulators.
"I want to look at that a little more closely [to see] if not only the technology exists but what effort and expense would be required to install it in sufficient locations. I think this might be something that is possible today that wasn't 10 years ago," Les said.
Lodge said she was disappointed Les isn't prepared to act now on the size of bikes new riders can operate."I'm actually quite upset that there's still so much research that we're going to have to do. We're going to have to do a petition as well, I think, because we're going to have to force their hand," she said.
She does believe the simulators could be a great asset."There's a lot of times when you can't be on the road and know what your reaction is going to be when someone [for example] opens a car door in front of you."
ICBC spokesman Doug Henderson said data from 2003 show that 31 per cent of motorcycle crashes involved a driver with two years or less experience. No information correlating accidents and motorcycle size was available
