Re: California Motorcycle & Automobile Riding & Driving & Written Tests

"pinbob" wrote

> >> I would like to collect in one place for a friend and all new friends out >> there the very hidden California DMV motorcycle and driving tests, >> completely and fairly. > > "Very hidden"? They didn't hide anything from me. Just asked me to answer > the questions on the written exam and then demonstrate some basic riding > skills. I answered the questions correctly, demonstrated the skills, and > that was all there was to it. > >> As you all know, the California Motorcycle Riding Test is nearly >> impossible >> to pass when done on your own > > Uh, no, I passed it on my first try, no problems. > >> (everyone passes when they are the sole judge >> but almost everyone on a big bike fails because the test is well known to >> be ridiculous and only for the purpose of funneling money to the MSF >> "BasicRider" class which is a scam in and of itself). > > Bullshit. The test isn't particularly difficult, and if you can't pass it > you shouldn't be out there riding on the streets. That's why they want you > to take the MSF: because you need lessons if you can't pass the test. (And > if you think the civilian test is tough, I'd hate to hear your opinion about > the CHP's motor-officer riding tests, which make the tests *we* take look > like a walk in the park.) > >> Worse than being impossible, the California DMV absolutely REFUSES to tell >> you what the test is, even if you fail one of the four parts, they won't >> tell you what the next part is - and you only get three tries overall. >> >> So, the ONLY way to know what the text actually consists of is to get it >> HERE! >>
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> >> Since the California DMV forbids you practicing the test, (snip) > > Where did you ever get that idea? I simply went down to the DMV parking lot > after they closed one day and spent a few minutes riding around inside the > lines of the painted circle to see how hard it would be. > It wasn't very difficult, and there's nobody there to stop you. > >> Good luck to all you new riders -- you're gonna need it! > > Or, alternatively, they *could* learn to ride *before* they try to take the > test rather than whining about how "impossible" or "ridiculous" it is. > >

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.

Reply to
Steve W.
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Thank you, Steve. Someone who passed an even harder test than the CA test. And, on a Goldwing no less.

Reply to
David White

"Steve W." wrote

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!"

Reply to
P. Roehling

LOL......Thats not just an American attitude!

It's the motto for the 'Me' generation........

Reply to
BrianNZ

On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 17:36:47 -0700, David White wrote: =

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.

Reply to
Jim Benson

Even people who passed or didn't even take the test all agree, to a man, the test is idiotic.

What do YOU think of the test? (Or do you have no clue what it is?)

Reply to
Jim Benson

I'd bet the statistics saved by the California DMV show, I'd guess, 98% or more of the GoldWings FAILED this test. Believe me. I've seen it. It is hard to pass on a bicycle. Try it before you say I'm crayzy!

BUt, rather than conjecture, is there ANYONE on this newsgroup who knows someone in the California DMV who can tell us how to obtain the public records of what bikes passed and which bikes failed?

They write down the bike before every test.

Is there ANYONE who can get us real California DATA or are we all left to guess?

Reply to
Jim Benson

That include all the California cops who pass that and more?

The test described requires that the circle be significantly smaller than CA, even if the degree of precision is less. That makes it harder, unless you believe that precision of maneuver is impossible to achieve.

Reply to
J. Clarke

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

Reply to
David White

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

Reply to
J. Clarke

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

Reply to
David White

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.

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Reply to
Outback Jon

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

Reply to
David White

Very impressive! I'm glad thats not the test....I wouldn't pass! :)

Reply to
BrianNZ

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!!!

Reply to
Steve W.

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?

Reply to
Jim Benson

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.

Reply to
Jim Benson

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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!

Reply to
Jim Benson

How does one do this?

The difference? The difference would be the truth.

Or does the truth mean nothing to you?

Reply to
Jim Benson

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?"

Reply to
Jim Benson

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