It always confuses me that people seem to think that the smaller the size of the vehicle means that they can't create just as much death and carnage.

A pedestrian or cyclist can kill just as many car drivers, as a car driver can.

No-one should be able to jump on any vehicle (regardless of size) without taking a road-use test - including cyclists.

I've heard many motorcyclists say "car drivers should first be forced to ride a motorcycle for 6 months", and I agree that this would cut road-deaths, however, it's completely unrealistic (a lot of car drivers couldn't physically ride a motorcycle).

One person I know failed her CBT 5 times, due to complete lack of co-ordination, yet she had a full car drivers license!

A general 'rule-of-thumb' is that it is impossible to 'fail' a CBT - unless you keep dropping the bike (which she did).

A low-powered two wheeler is entirely a different propostion to a bus, lorry or car.

You might think you know all about it, but wait 'till you get on those two wheels in heavy traffic with not enough power to keep up.

Take your CBT with a decent riding school, keep an open mind and learn as much as you can from the instructors, it might just keep you alive.

It's not DVLA, of course. They are following the legislation that Parliament has passed. You could follow the evidence trail back from the legislation to Hansard to see what was said about this decision at the time, and the reasoning behind it.

However it seems unreasonable that people who had the moped on their licences before the due date, but never used the entitlement, retain it.

There is a general principle that people who have rights to drive a particular type of vehicle will not have that taken away by subsequent changes in rules. They are known as 'grandfather rights'. Having passed the test in 1977 I have, as well as the moped rights in this thread, permission to drive various forms of minibus provided I'm not doing it for hire/reward. Would check before doing so but I think that applies to vehicles up to 16 seats.

I can also tow eg a caravan. Current outfit is under 3tonnes gross train weight and I *think* my kids who passed post 2010 could use it. But I can go to considersbly higher weights - eg double axle van towed with a Land Cruiser.

In practice I did some training before buying the 'van and would do same if I took leave of my senses and wanted a moped.

PS. When I did my CBT, I was part of a group. Some had been riding a while, some had never ridden before. All the group except one passed our CBT in a day. I think the last one took three days, and we all hoped (for her own safety) that she would rethink the idea of getting a bike licence.

You used to have to repeat your CBT every couple of years if you hadn't passed a bike test. I don't know if that's still the case? It didn't apply to me as I immediately went on to become one of the last to pass my test on a 125 and get a full unrestricted bike licence.

My brother-in-law, who passed on a 125 at about the same time as me, went out and bought a ducati 916 the next day. He nearly killed himself, and had given up biking within about three months. I went the more sensible route and gradually built up my skill.

Edited by Marlot on 11/12/2016 at 06:08

Absolutely lethal in icy weather, the rear wheel drive will not necessarily pitch you into the left hand side of the road, thus expect to be thrown facing oncoming trafic. .....

Buy a bike.