Story time:
The first time I took my driving test, the evaluator said ‘pull out of your parking space’, which I did very precisely, stopping at the street where the test started.
Then he said ‘turn right at this street’, so I did – and made the semi-truck coming down that road lay on his horn a bounce a bit to avoid hitting me. I failed before we even started.
I was so focussed on his instructions that I lost all situational awareness.
I took more classes, then spent a few years as a delivery driver, so I actually learnt to be a very good driver. But my first test was abysmal.
If you think this kind of thing is bad, you should have seen some of the turkeys who showed up in my group when I took my MSF course way back when. If you think a lot of people shouldn’t be driving cars, I suspect even more of them have no business being on a motorcycle.
Hello it’s me.
I took the MSF course three times to pass. :/
Imo, the MSF course is way too short. It’s a lot to learn in two days if you’ve never ridden anything manual. The first time I was just wayy too filled with anxiety and the instructor wasn’t overly helpful tbh. The company did not allow me to retake the class despite the website saying that they did.
The second time I took it, the environment and instructors were so much better. They made me feel a lot more confident and competent on the bike. When they saw that I was struggling with something, they would actually give me real guidance, not just telling me to “relax”. Their corrections actually made me miles better. But I still managed to fail the final test.
I was very frustrated, but that same company allowed me to retake the class no problem. I passed after learning what components on the test were worth what sort of demerits.
Look, when I learned to drive, I spent weeks in a driving course before I took a driving test. Two days for MSF is laughable in comparison.
I’m a firm believer that anyone can learn to be a competent car driver or motorcycle rider. It takes practice, anxiety mitigation, and not acting like a dip shit doing dangerous shit.
I think you misunderstand me.I wasn’t saying people shouldn’t be driving cars – we should learn to do as much as we cane can.
My point was that many of us start this ‘clueless’, but with support and humour we learn from each other.