The rather farcicle big motorcycle test (pics)

Life Cars & Motorcycles
1

So I went to take my heavy, big motorcycle(translated) test this morning and was blown away once more by the sheer incompetence of the government’s lazy “examiner” that came to see us ride. Correction! not so much see us ride but rather hear us ride, I’ll explain after the first few photos showing the practice/testing centre at San-Shia next to the big factory that covers my car in half an inch of brown noxious dust each time I park there.

A brief picture explanation of the course and rules…

Take the motorcycle off the centre stand, mount and start the bike.
(Man in cap is not the examiner)

Ride very slowly down this narrow, pressure sensor rigged strip in no less than 8 seconds from start to finish without going off the sides.
Note the direction of the timer which shows the time taken in travel and that it’s facing the rider and away from the small building to the top left of the photo. That building is where the examiner was seated inside throughout the entire test within the air conditioning and out of the hot sun. How could he see the time taken? He couldn’t and there is no warning alarm to indicate a fail.

Next is the clockwise and then anti clockwise circular ride within about a two feet space between pressure sensors.
(This picture is taken from outside the small building where the examiner sat as his view is totally obscured as I will show later.)

In this next shot the red bike has just left a stationary position from behind the white line and is accelerating up to third gear and a speed of over 32KPH before braking hard and stopping before a red traffic light.

After the high speed run shown above and a green light allows the rider to move on, he comes across another traffic light which he must follow the signal of. The signal may change randomly and only a solid green light constitutes a ‘go’, all other signals, including flashing green means ‘stop!’.

After the traffic light encounter, the rider encounters another flashing crossing light which commands him to stop before the line until the light extinguishes and allows him to travel onwards to another crossing light where he must follow the same procedure. After finally coming to a stop in the box where he began, selecting neutral, turning off and then replacing the bike onto its centre stand for the next rider to begin.

Now the view from the examiner’s seat:

Straining to watch rider mount and ride onto slow speed straight. Remember the examiner can neither see the speed in which the rider takes to complete the slow speed maneuver as the timer is facing the opposite direction.

Here the examiner can neither see the circular ride area as it is completely obscured by the cars parked in front of the building. The cars by the way are waiting to practice part of the driving course ahead but are stuck behind traffic. Also there are at least two to three riders on the course, taking the test at any given time, so it is impossible for the examiner to conduct his examination properly.

Of course I passed my test without much of a problem, but I find the entire thing a farce and a rip off considering I didn’t need any practice to take the test and so didn’t turn up to practices. I believe I shouldn’t be charged the full fee for the use of the track other than for the short times I used the bikes for the brief practice I had before the test and for the use during the test. I will say though that the fee for the use of the bikes and grounds is negotiable and I managed to barter the original price of 6,500nt not including license printing fee (300nt) to 5,500nt, but had I known better about how easy the entire thing is, then I would have asked for less.

As I stated this testing and practice facility is in Sanshia, but my new license will be sent to Chungho Jingping road where I can pick it up close to home.

2

Thanks for the useful information. One thing: the pressure sensitive barrier strips may not have been working there, at that time, but I imagine they’ll be working at most testing centres, as they’re the same kind of thing used in the regular motorbike test, where the alarms do work, and loudly. :blush: (Passed second time).

3

The pressure sensors were all working, Edit: the slow speed ride doesn’t have an alarm for under time, just pressure sensors and it was the seconds counter that the guy couldn’t see…

4

I passed my test the first time!

I’m still wondering why all the officials at the centre were so surprised? “Wow, ni hao bang! Good balance. Which buxiban taught you how to drive?” :astonished:

5

I guess they run the test differently there - at the test course in Hsinchu / Hukou, they have the same test, with slightly different ordering. Both speed and timing monitors readily visible to all those waiting to test and the examiner. And the examiner was outside all the time with eyes on the course.

Actually I was sort of impressed by the examiner. One guy got too nervous and although managing to technically pass the test, the examiner failed him because he felt he just didn’t maintain good control of the motorcycle very well. During the hard breaking test he basically accelerated wildly in 1st gear to 32kph, then quickly shifted to 2nd/3rd with no acceleration after he remembered how to properly shift.

6

yes the test is a joke, but it is cheaper than any other country i know and of course much easier. so why the complaining??? Ahhh yes it is always much better in the “civilized world” were we pay sooo much more money to learn how to ride properly and learn all the rules then pay through the nose for tax and insurance. Yes this means that there are probably more idiots on the road here, but i can assure you that i have seen just the same amount of idiots in the UK.

Well if you wanted to make a difference you could always complain and write a letter to the transport authorities and demand they make thier testing much more difficult like every other country. Or you could choose not to take the test and stick to public transport.

It will always amaze me that people still find things to complain about when every thing is made easy, it’s still not right. :s

7

[quote]After the high speed run shown above and a green light allows the rider to move on, he comes across another traffic light which he must follow the signal of. The signal may change randomly and only a solid green light constitutes a ‘go’, all other signals, including flashing green means ‘stop!’.
[/quote]

Flashing green does not mean “stop”. I actually failed the bike test based on this piece of miss information. It means hurry up the lights are about to change.

Interesting account all the same.

Funnily enough although I had failed my test, I still drove off waving good bye to the examiner who told me, “See you next week.”

8

Mmmm… I made some videos when Llary and I did the test… just haven’t gotten around to dubbing them yet~

Yes, it’s simple… so simple that we started playing::

Slow riding part - who can stay up the longest
Winner: Your’s truly @ 22.2s… ((If memory serves me right, Llary got a respectable 20.x))

Accel + Braking - closest speed to 30
Winner: My two taiwanese friends got 30.0 ((I got 30.2))

Accel + Braking - top speed
Winner: Taiwanese friend with 45.2kph

Rules were also that you still had to pass… if you got 70kph but didn’t brake in time, it wouldn’t count…
I have photo evidence of these times if anyone wants them~

9

[quote=“UKbikerchic”]yes the test is a joke, but it is cheaper than any other country I know and of course much easier. so why the complaining??? Ahhh yes it is always much better in the “civilized world” were we pay sooo much more money to learn how to ride properly and learn all the rules then pay through the nose for tax and insurance. Yes this means that there are probably more idiots on the road here, but i can assure you that I have seen just the same amount of idiots in the UK.

Well if you wanted to make a difference you could always complain and write a letter to the transport authorities and demand they make their testing much more difficult like every other country. Or you could choose not to take the test and stick to public transport.

It will always amaze me that people still find things to complain about when every thing is made easy, it’s still not right. :s[/quote]

Well I did write a letter the very moment I got home after the test and complained that the examiner was inside the entire time and couldn’t see the course properly and couldn’t see the timer at all. The thing that I also complained about and very much the point I am making here is that if I am going to be forced to pay such an amount of money toward a system that is supposed to see me at a good level of riding by the time I am tested, then I want to be tested to a satisfactory degree and know how good or bad I am. At the same time I demand that every time I see someone on the roads on a lethal road going vehicle that they have the level of proficiency to control it and not harm myself or my family. Its nothing to do with cost as you put it as cost cannot make up for public health or lack of it. And just to make one point about the number of idiots here compared to the U.K. I can’t say how many you may have seen here or in the U.K. but I can assure you that the chance of dying here due to poor skill, ignorance or drunk driving by someone else is most definitely many times greater here than in the U.K. and I argue emphatically that the idiots are many times more apparent and plentiful here. I have previously and quite exhaustively posted about this subject before and even made a video about it which you can search for under “red light green light” in the forums.

It amazes me that people still believe that ease and convenience is somehow more important than one’s health and the health of ones loved ones, that’s why I am still complaining. Unfortunately even though I would say that not taking care of yourself on the roads is up to you, it does affect me at the same time when you are careering out of control heading straight for me. Now I’m not criticizing your level of skill as I don’t know, but I’m simply criticizing your criticism of me finding things to complain about. After all if there were nothing to complain about we would all be living in Nirvana and I wouldn’t have a problem with that, but I don’t think that Chungho can constitute a heavenly place somehow.

10

[quote=“Fox”][quote]After the high speed run shown above and a green light allows the rider to move on, he comes across another traffic light which he must follow the signal of. The signal may change randomly and only a solid green light constitutes a ‘go’, all other signals, including flashing green means ‘stop!’.
[/quote]

Flashing green does not mean “stop”. I actually failed the bike test based on this piece of miss information. It means hurry up the lights are about to change.

Interesting account all the same.

Funnily enough although I had failed my test, I still drove off waving good bye to the examiner who told me, “See you next week.”[/quote]

LOL

It would certainly make sense to me that the flashing green means hurry up or else why would we have amber, but this is what I have been told by two different testing grounds now and so all I can do is repeat what I was told. I go with your understanding as it makes perfect sense, but this is Tatwan.
(“Tatwan” is taken from the building sized bill board that used to be stuck to the side of my building after it was erected which read “Sky City, the pride of Tatwan!” I have loved the name ever since and thought it was a perfect name for the island given by the Taiwanese that never pay attention to detail or logic and displayed in such a massive advertisement . So these days I often like to say “Only in Tatwan!”)

By the way in the light motorcycle test did you notice how the flashing red light constitutes a stop until the light goes off?? And then have you ever actually stopped at a flashing red or amber light in real circumstances? Of course you haven’t because they flash for hours at a time, but again this is Tatwan and what the instructor tells me I follow when it comes to the test. Later I complain to the authorities to clear my mind of it and then carry on.

11

I think ease and convenience are greatly under valued.

There is obviously a trade off between safety and many aspects of road use. I do agree with you though, it’s probably better if the examiner isn’t slaking it in the air conditioned office. All the same, it can be perceived as a charm.