Just how safe a rider are you? An Australian transportation department has put together a website that tests your skills to make sure you’re ready for the street.
The website (find it here) is part of New South Wales’ Ride to Live program (you can see a video clip for that program below). The site is pretty ingenious, allowing test jockeys to manipulate a virtual motorcycle (brakes, steering, throttle) while scanning for hazards. It even works on a tablet or smartphone, along with a PC.
Of course, since this is an Australian program, you’ll be riding on the wrong side of the road, but the situational awareness skills should translate well.
Frankly, this sort of safety program is the kind of thing we need more of in North America – not only is there the skills test, there’s also a list of good road trips in the region of New South Wales, and a list of other helpful safety tips.
Trouble is, the AMA, arguably our continent’s greatest organization of motorcyclists, is much more concerned with ending helmet laws. No Canadian organization exists with the same sort of clout, but if they did, they’d probably be stressing the importance of loud pipes – the only concession to safety that most riders seem ready to make. Yes, that was sarcasm – to see how I really feel about loud pipes, click here.
Did you take the riding test? What were your results? Post ’em below in the comments section – we’d show you our results, but they’re pretty dismal because we are too busy working on preparations for EICMA to play video games.
Umm. When I have to steer with arrow keys and moving my helmet around with a mouse, I’ll take a similar test. Otherwise, it’s sort of like every crappy software simulation. It doesn’t bare any resemblance to what you have to do.
All I get is a fuzzy screen that doesn’t respond to any inputs.