MOTORCYCLISTS are 23% safer behind the wheel of a car

[cfoley]

I bet a lot of youngsters would get a 125 if the CBT was part of the driving test. I passed and then couldn't afford a car but a 125 might have been in the price range...


Probably a good idea to force everyone to experience driving something bigger too.

[ChristoT]

I bet a lot of youngsters would get a 125 if the CBT was part of the driving test. I passed and then couldn't afford a car but a 125 might have been in the price range...


Probably a good idea to force everyone to experience driving something bigger too.

That was my rationale for getting into bikes. I rode for over a year before even thinking of passing a car test because insurance was so high for me. Still is: that Peugeot you miserable piss-taking Foccers mock (for good reason, admittedly!  :b ) costs me over £1000 p/a in insurance!!  :eek And they don't count the bike crash either!

Since my crash, bikes have become ludicrous to insure. I started by paying about £600 for my ZX-4, by the time I'd added mileage, changed the address and added business use, I must have been skirting the £1000 mark on that too! How anyone expects the youth to get mobile is a mystery to me.  :\

[cfoley]

I think they expect the youth to grow old and keep you off the roads until then.


At 18 I was quoted £1500 -- £2500 for a 10 year old Ford Fiesta. I'm sure they just take the average claim for that age group, double it and that's your premium.

[Dead Eye]

My 106 was £1700 my first year of driving, prices will eventually drop providing you keep yourself out of trouble.

Going back to the OP though, I do find myself using my mirrors more often in the car (left hand mostly) than I used to before I got my motorcycle license. I was never bad and only once had a slight bottom clenching moment when I was joining the M32 for the first time in my 306 and there happened to be a car sat in my blind spot... that car was a nightmare for its damn blind-spot...

Thinking about it, I actually check my mirrors and do a shoulder check in the car now whenever I'm joining the motorway / dual carriageway from a slip-road and quite often when I'm changing lanes as well... this is likely an influence from doing life-savers on the bike

[cfoley]

Lifesaver in the car has saved me more than once.

[ChristoT]

Ditto.