I failed my motorcycle endorsement test...

Preface: I've been riding 19 years and never had an accident. I've dropped bikes, but never at more than 2 mph and I haven't done that in years. I've done a trackday - I was slow, but I wasn't trying to be fast. So while I'm no where near the caliber of rider that most of you are, I'm a capable, experienced, and safe street rider.

So after being bikeless for four or five years, I bought me a new DRZ supermoto. Part of the reason I bought the SM instead of my usual sport / naked bike was to make myself a better rider. I also figured I'd do things right this time and get my endorsement.

Oklahoma's test consists of basically a ride around the block. You go through a neighborhood, then out on a main road, then back to base. A DPS worker clips a walky talky receiver to your jacket and gives you instructions on where to turn, etc from a car. (As far as I know, she's never been on a motorcycle in her life) So long story short-ish, I do the test, park the bike and the woman instructs me to bring her over the receiver. She then tells me that I did a great job riding but she has to fail me because "you entered an intersection as the light was turning yellow." I know exactly what intersection she's talking about...a left hand turn with no one around, and I GUARANTEE you that it didn't turn yellow until my front tire was either on or had already crossed the line designating the intersection.

WTF was I supposed to do? If I'd stood the bike on it's nose, I would have been in the middle of the intersection when I came to a stop. So now I have to take another day off work and schedule another test. I guess this time I'll approach every intersection at a crawl just in case the light turns yellow, then do a panic stop.

Fuckin' bureaucratic bullshit...she probably has a fail/pass percentage she has to meet.

 

Damn that sucks. My lil sis failed her first driving test in a similar way. She did great unil turning her car into DMV. She was in left turning lane and inched out past the line and it turned yellow and she went..and FAIL!

 

So that sounds like the most dangerous way a test could be given possible. You strap a walkie talkie on so you aren't paying attention to what is actually going on around you but instead nervous and listening for instructions. That is unrealistic as shit. Not to mention dangerous. I would love to see how many people fail/pass that 1st try until they have the route memorized and dont listen to the instructor at all.

Sorry to hear, but I bet that is an awful pass/fail percentage.

 

My wife took her motorcycle test and the DMV lady gave her a hard time over not changing gears. They told her to go down to a school, turn around and come back. The speed limit normally was like 30 or 35, and it was also a school zone which dropped it to 15 or 20. My wife pulled out, cruised down to the turn, turned around and came back. The DMV lady almost failed her because she didnt change gears on a GSX-R 600 in a 20 mph zone. I looked at the lady like WTF is wrong with you? She reluctantly passed her. We grabbed her license and left.

 

Nearly the same thing happened to me when I took my first driving test. DMV was on a low traffic 2 lane road. I turned right into the parking lot of the damn DMV from the "driving lane" instead of merging over into the "turning lane" which was little more than a 4 foot shoulder area on this road. I'm still convinced the proctor was a man hating old bag.

I was crushed. Such a huge deal to a 16 year old.

 

I failed my first riding test as well. After that I decided just to take the state santioned MFS course which incorporated all the riding skills. Was a great class anyway, and got my endorsement at the end.

 

So I found the pertinent motor vehicle code (not that it does me any good now)...

Yellow or amber alone, "caution."
a.
the showing of such signal color following green shall constitute a warning that the "red" or "stop" signal will be exhibited immediately thereafter.
b.
vehicles facing the signal shall stop before entering the near side crosswalk or at the limit line, if it is marked, unless the vehicle is so near the limit line when the "caution" signal first flashes that a stop cannot be made in safety, in which event vehicles may proceed cautiously through the intersection.

 

You can always go back and take the test with a Can-Am Spyder and the test will be much easier but slighlty less hetero.

 

At least it's an actual driving situation. Missouri has a cone setup type course. It's fairly difficult compared to any realistic street driving. Especially on a sportbike. At least you get to watch the others eff up a lot.

 

I had to take mine twice, don't sweat it. All because I hit the yellow line one time.

 

Read Chris Ulrich's article in this months RRW about taking his written test. I was cracking up.

On the other hand, he listed a couple of question's that had me stumped because they are so vague.

 

He _has_ to sweat it. How the hell else are you supposed to get victimhood points?

1. Be victim
2. Post on internet
3. ?
4. profit

 

Twenty five years ago, I actually dropped the bike right in the middle of the test and somehow sweet-talked the lady examiner into not failing me. To this day I don't know why I passed. I was riding a 1984 GPZ-750 that seemed heavy as shit.

 

speaking of which, i need to borrow a little bike for the wife to take hers on in GA anyone have anything that would work. Can you take it on a scooter?

 

During my drivers license test my final test was to go backwards around a corner. I was driving my 4x4 extended cab truck. That thing has no turning radius so there was no way I could make that turn going backwards. If you own a 4x4 truck you know what I mean. I was almost failed just because of that test.

On a side note maybe you should do the MSF course. By the end of the course every competent rider is passed and will get their license. It is normally a 2-day event but they usually hold them on weekends.

 

I failed my written in Idaho, after living in NYC (with my license and endorsement) for 10 years. For some reason I had to take the written portion out there before they'd give me a license.

I aced the driving questions. But missed the f*ckin' questions about things like what the procedure is when you hit a cow in open range versus pasture land. Can't make that shit up.

Oh, and if you hit a cow in open range land in ID, you own it.

I think. I mean, I did fail the test. But I got the license next time. And when they asked if I'd ever taken a hunter's safety course I said yes, but I'd lost the card - could I get a concealed carry permit anyway? You bet.

Loved that place.

 

yeah the Ohio test is in a parking lot and consits of riding in and around cones and whatnot, I took it when I was 14 on a moped LOL and passed it, then when I got my CBR I took it on it and passed the first time. . while my two buddies failed LOL, they ended up going back and taking it on a scooter and passing..

 

Same here...when I took mine there was a guy on some huge GS1100 bitching about how he'd been riding for years, this is BS, I know how to ride, blah blah.
He failed in the first turn and nearly dropped it.:up:

I got a perfect score on my street legal dirtybike.

Suck to be the OP tho. Test sounds pretty goofy.

 

Do you own it or do you have to buy the cow?
If you own it I'd drive around with a beater truck taking out cows...

lol... j/k

 

Hell i've had an endrosement since 1996,a few months ago I just found out that I had actually never had it, "says" Dept of Motor Vehicle lol.