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California Motorcycle & Automobile Riding & Driving & Written Tests



 
 
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  #21  
Old September 7th 07, 02:50 AM posted to rec.motorcycles,ca.driving,rec.autos.tech
Outback Jon
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Default California Motorcycle & Automobile Riding & Driving & WrittenTests

OK, having just looked at the pictures that were linked to, it really
doesn't look that difficult. It looks like it simulates a u-turn on a
street. Assuming I'm understanding the way the test works.

I bet these guys could do it without problems.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...290&pr=goog-sl

--
"Outback" Jon - KC2BNE

AMD Opteron 146 ) and 6.1 GHz of other AMD power...
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  #22  
Old September 7th 07, 02:55 AM posted to rec.motorcycles,ca.driving,rec.autos.tech
BrianNZ
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Default California Motorcycle & Automobile Riding & Driving & WrittenTests

Outback Jon wrote:
> OK, having just looked at the pictures that were linked to, it really
> doesn't look that difficult. It looks like it simulates a u-turn on a
> street. Assuming I'm understanding the way the test works.
>
> I bet these guys could do it without problems.
> http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...290&pr=goog-sl
>


Very impressive! I'm glad thats not the test....I wouldn't pass!
  #23  
Old September 7th 07, 03:20 AM posted to rec.motorcycles,ca.driving,rec.autos.tech
Steve W.
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Default California Motorcycle & Automobile Riding & Driving & WrittenTests

P. Roehling wrote:
> "Steve W." > wrote
>
>> From looking at the CA tests and the written examples they post it looks
>> easier than the NY test I took.
>>
>> Ours is a 25 question written test, then a riding test where you provide a
>> vehicle for the brownie who then follows you around on the course (usually
>> just normal streets, traffic and all). You listen for the chase vehicles
>> horn to tell you to turn left/right/stop. Then you do a maneuvering test,
>> One left loop one right loop, one figure 8. If you touch your feet or the
>> curb during any of them you fail. The usual area you do these on is a
>> narrow side street, about 16 feet wide or so. Took mine on a Gold Wing and
>> passed the entire thing in one shot.

>
> Thank you, Steve.
>
> These "California's driving tests are unfair" threads pop up every so often;
> and we'd all probably take them a lot more seriously if they weren't
> invariably posted by somebody who couldn't hack the test and now wants to
> cry about it in public.
>
> The assumption that the tests *must* be unfair because the poster couldn't
> pass them gives us a snapshot of the current American attitude towards life:
> "I'm entitled to be given whatever I want. I shouldn't have to *earn*
> anything!"
>
>


Same attitude out here. Everyone seems to think they should be handed
anything they want. School kids on up all seem to think they are
entitled to stuff.

When I took my test the guy just before me failed when he touched down
on the figure 8. He was complaining about it while waiting for the
brownie to finish his paperwork. When I told him I was taking the test
on the 'wing he kind of looked shocked. I told him I already had about
10 years of saddle time.

You just need to know what the bike can do and what YOU can do on it.
When I got the Venture Royale I currently ride I decided to see just how
far it could be pushed. It just amazes the squids when this fat 41 year
old blows by them on turns with sparks flying from the pegs, while the
stereo plays some Glenn Miller!!!

--
Steve W.
Near Cooperstown, New York
  #24  
Old September 7th 07, 03:59 AM posted to rec.motorcycles,ca.driving,rec.autos.tech
Jim Benson
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Posts: 10
Default California Motorcycle & Automobile Riding & Driving & Written Tests

On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 18:38:23 -0700, David White wrote:

>> Basically, anyone who "says" they passed it on a GoldWing ... is lying.
>>

> Just because you can't does not mean that everyone else can't. What a fool.


I live about five miles from the DMV parking lot. Every once in a while,
particularly when I get my "number" at the DMV, over the years, I've
watched bikers take the test.

I've NEVER seen anyone pass. I've seen perhaps a dozen or more failures.
None even make it to the fourth section.

Perhaps the most poingnant was a K1200 rider, confident as hell, rides up
about ten minutes early. He asks "where's the test" to the gaggle of
sulking bikers who had just finished. They showed him the little they knew
as they didn't make it to the third section themselves, and he took a lap
or two, missing widely by at least six inches on the circle.

He apparently figures this astoundingly huge error won't matter becuase
after just two or three lap attempts, you can see his patience wear thin,
and he zooms off to the "inspection" area to wait his turn.

Back about fifteen minutes later, he gets the same instructions which
include NEITHER WHEEL can cross the line by as much as a quarter inch.
Immediately, he repeats his performance, missing by a whopping six inches
on the latter part of the first curve - not even 1/3 the way into the
entire four lap test, double weave, and double straights tests.

Again, don't take MY word for it. Read the record. Nobody has ever proven
they've passed this test on a Gold Wing. Nobody. Not one. It's all words.

Most of us would be lucky, me included, to pass it on a mountain bike.

But don't take MY word for it. SOMEONE PLEASE point us to the public DMV
records which show what the percentage of passes and failures are and what
bikes passed and failed. That would be the Gods' honest truth that would
put all the lies to rest instantly.

Can ANYONE get this public DMV data and be our hero?
  #25  
Old September 7th 07, 04:10 AM posted to rec.motorcycles,ca.driving,rec.autos.tech
Jim Benson
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Default California Motorcycle & Automobile Riding & Driving & Written Tests

On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 18:42:52 -0700, David White wrote:

> Jim Benson wrote:
>> On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 17:36:47 -0700, David White wrote:
>> =out?
>>> Thank you, Steve. Someone who passed an even harder test than the CA
>>> test. And, on a Goldwing no less.

>>
>> Not likely.
>>
>> I think he was referring to the WRITTEN test being harder ... 'cuz there's
>> no test in the entire USA that's harder than the idiotic California DMV
>> motorcycle rider lollipop test (as has been very well documented).
>>
>> Basically, anyone who "says" they passed it on a GoldWing ... is lying.
>>

> Willing to put your money where your mouth is?? Before you answer, read
> all my posts in this thread. Fool.


Hi David,
I see you're from Virginia.
Did you ever take this California test you feel is so "simple"?

Do YOU know what you're talking about?

I took the test and I tell you I failed twice.
You can believe me. (Or do you think I'm lying?)

What you can't believe is someone like you who says they can do it on both
a Gold Wing and on a 50 cc bike (which isn't even allowed as far as I
remember on the course). Or on a 1200 cc superbike.

You can always believe the guy saying he failed - you can never believe the
guy saying it was a cake walk. Sure, "some" people must be passing this
test, but let me tell you, you'd be hard pressed to pass it on a scooter!

Try swerving through five cones without touching anything, then immediately
within a 2 foot 3 inch path do two complete concurrent circles then exit
sharply at speed and repeat the swerves, then turn around, head up one of
the legs of the lollipop, again, at a sharp angle do two more complete
circles in the OPPOSITE direction (most people who are good in one
direction have problems in the other direction), and again, exit sharply at
speed tilting the bike from a heavy lean to a straight within 2 feet 3 inch
boundaries, without either wheel ever crossing the lines (by an impartial
observer, not by yours truly) ... and THEN ... when you've done all that
(which I have done many times in practice on a puny bike but also failed
just as many times on that puny bike) ... and do that CONSISTENTLY 100
percent of the time because the DMV tester won't give you a second chance
that day and you only get three chances total ...

AFTER ALL THAT ... (all of which I've done) ... THEN I want you to come
back and tell me that the test is so simple you could do it on a Gold Wing
with your hands tied behind your back!

Hearing you and the others, it's the difference between a war-veteran, sick
of war, and a brand-new wannabe in a pressed Virginia blue suit saying
he'll take 'em all on single handedly.

Again, don't take MY word for it ... let's get someone in the DMV to just
produce the public record which should lay all this discussion to rest in a
split second. And, I already know what the results are having watched many
a test, and never a person pass.
  #26  
Old September 7th 07, 04:14 AM posted to rec.motorcycles,ca.driving,rec.autos.tech,ba.motorcycles
Jim Benson
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Default California Motorcycle & Automobile Riding & Driving & Written Tests

On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 18:50:56 -0700, David White wrote:

> Where is it well documented that the Ca test is harder than all the
> other 49 states??


http://groups.google.com/group/ba.motorcycles

Search the group for something like "california dmv test" and you'll see
what I'm talking about.

Again, the failure rate, I'm estimating from my observations, is somewhere
in the range of 95% on bikes over a liter, given an impartial observer
(everyone things they winged it when they get to be their own judge).

It would be nice to choose a date and a place, and all riders show up with
a hundred bucks cash, put it in the bucket, and whoever can pass the test
on their first run in a liter sized road bike, takes the cash home.

Does anyone wish to organize that?

I'll bet your eyes and mouth would be agape at the results!
  #27  
Old September 7th 07, 04:16 AM posted to rec.motorcycles,ca.driving,rec.autos.tech,ba.motorcycles
Jim Benson
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Default California Motorcycle & Automobile Riding & Driving & Written Tests

On Thu, 6 Sep 2007 21:41:36 -0400, J. Clarke wrote:

> Why don't you just file a FOIA request for the data? But what
> difference does it make?


How does one do this?

The difference? The difference would be the truth.

Or does the truth mean nothing to you?
  #28  
Old September 7th 07, 04:23 AM posted to rec.motorcycles,ca.driving,rec.autos.tech,ba.motorcycles
Jim Benson
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Default California Motorcycle & Automobile Riding & Driving & Written Tests

On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 22:20:00 -0400, Steve W. wrote:
> When I took my test the guy just before me failed when he touched down
> on the figure 8.


Bear in mind, we're not talking about an easy figure 8 here in California
where there isn't even a painted line for you to stay within or the
supremely easy u-turn box of the MSF where not only is the box astoundingly
huge but you can miss by ten feet and still pass the course.

No ...

We're talking about a Ca dmv test where you won't know what it is going to
be beforehand (unless you read this newsgroup), where you're not allowed to
practice on the course for fear of being arrested, where you must enter and
exit a 20 foot circle from both directions and from both a five-cone swerve
and a 2 foot wide straight and where you can NEVER have EITHER wheel stray
one quarter inch outside the painted lines you can't possibly even see so
you have to guess and if you look "ahead", it's actually to your left or
right by 90 degrees given the speed and radious, where you may have cars
driving up and down on both sides of you (depending on the course and I've
seen four at this point), where you can not put your foot down or touch any
of the five cones, where you MUST circumnavigate two complete loops in each
direction for a total of four loops, and where you MUST 100 percent of the
time not make any mistakes whatsoever or you fail fail fail.

While everyone's opinion is valid, if you haven't taken this test yourself
on a liter sized bike, then you really can't know what you're talking
about.

It's like Norman said ... "Have you ever BEEN in a mine field?"
  #29  
Old September 7th 07, 04:37 AM posted to rec.motorcycles,ca.driving,rec.autos.tech,ba.motorcycles
P. Roehling
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Default California Motorcycle & Automobile Riding & Driving & Written Tests


"Jim Benson" > wrote

>> Where is it well documented that the Ca test is harder than all the
>> other 49 states??

>
> http://groups.google.com/group/ba.motorcycles
>
> Search the group for something like "california dmv test" and you'll see
> what I'm talking about.


Uh, those are called "opinions", which are not the same thing as being "well
documented".

> Again, the failure rate, I'm estimating from my observations, is somewhere
> in the range of 95% on bikes over a liter, given an impartial observer
> (everyone things they winged it when they get to be their own judge).


"Your own observations"? You mean you stood and watched a significant
umber -say 1,000- riders take the riding test and then waited until they
came out of the DMV and asked them each individually how they did?

If not, "your own observations" don't mean squat.

> It would be nice to choose a date and a place, and all riders show up with
> a hundred bucks cash, put it in the bucket, and whoever can pass the test
> on their first run in a liter sized road bike, takes the cash home.
>
> Does anyone wish to organize that?
>
> I'll bet your eyes and mouth would be agape at the results!


No they wouldn't. The first decent rider there would take all of your money,
and should a law-enforcement motor officer show up to compete he'd kick
*everybody's* ass in terms of low-speed riding skills.

Heck, I passed that "impossible" test on the first try -and I'm very
definitely *not* Valentino Rossi.


  #30  
Old September 7th 07, 04:39 AM posted to rec.motorcycles,ca.driving,rec.autos.tech,ba.motorcycles
Jim Benson
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Default California Motorcycle & Automobile Riding & Driving & Written Tests

On Thu, 6 Sep 2007 20:37:20 -0700, P. Roehling wrote:
> "Your own observations"? You mean you stood and watched a significant
> umber -say 1,000- riders take the riding test and then waited until they
> came out of the DMV and asked them each individually how they did?
>
> If not, "your own observations" don't mean squat.


I agree with you P. Roehling.

Let's be constructive and either organize a "contest" where everyone puts
in 100 dollars and the first biker who genuinely passes the test gets to
take the pot home .... or .... we figure out how to get the DMV to tell us
the failure rates (which I'd guess to be in the very high nineties) for
liter sized bikes.

What do others think?

 




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