Mod 1 practice

[kingley]

I've got my Mod 1 booked for a week on Friday. I need to practice the swerve and emergency stop a little more first to be confident on getting them right. I have a couple of questions I'd like answering if you don't mind.

Firstly on both those manoeuvres, do I need to stop with the front wheel in the box signified by the four cones?

Secondly the test centre I'm using has both left and right courses. So I need to practice the swerve on both sides. Am I right in thinking it's 51 metres from the first set of red cones to the box (blue cones)?

[trikeschick]

On the Avoidance test you must either go through the blue cones (ie have your position corrected to go in a straight line) or stop before them. There is no need to stop within the box. After your controlled stop, where you must stop in the 'blue cone box' in my experience (I did the test four times) the examiner lifted two of the cones away. And on your emergency stop, you should be aiming to stop way before the blue cones otherwise you risk a fail for not stopping in time.

I am not sure what the distance is so perhaps best to get confirmation from DVLA. They do have videos on YouTube that are kinda helpful. The other thing you can do is look at the test centre via Google Maps. Gives you a good birds eye view!

Good luck next week
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"Light travels faster than the speed of sound, which is why some people appear bright until they speak"

[Rogerborg]

Yup, the test changed in May to make the swerve stop much less strict - it used to be effectively a 2nd e-stop.

The exit from the curve has also been opened up so that you can pick a better route through the swerve cones.

Try not to sweat it, even with the old test it wasn't that hard an exercise.

Pro tip: you'll be given a "sighting run" round the bend and through the e-stop speed gate. You can "mis-hear" that and practice the swerve instead - the sighting run isn't part of the tested exercises.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[snikks]

[Rogerborg]

I'll clarify. Since May 2011, a "sighting run" has been added to module 1. This is a practice ride of the emergency stop route: around the bend and then through the emergency stop speed gate. You won't be told your speed unless it's excessively high or low, although you can ask. It's not scored as part fo the test (it's possible that you could just decline to do it), but you do still have to take observations.

The idea is to give the rider a chance to get a feel for the bend, maybe get some nerves out of the way, and for the examiner to detect the worse spackers and stop the test before they have a chance to bin it (which is also why the e-stop is now done before the swerve, and both are at the end of the test).

Now, folks more cunning than I noted that if you do the wrong thing during the test - rather than the right thing badly - the examiner should assume that you mis-heard or mis-understood, and give you another go. So on the "sighting run", if you go round the bend then practice the swerve, the examiner should assume that it was just a mis-communication and give you another practice run through the e-stop gate, so you actually get to practice both routes.

A bit naughty, but it could be a laugh to try it on.
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[kingley]

Thanks for all the help and advice everyone.