BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

It's not surprising that drivers may have a lack of information. How many questions on your drivers test were related to bikes in any way? Are they even mentioned in the state issued "drivers manual" which is basically a study guide for drivers tests?

Here's a link: http://www.dmv.state.pa.us/drivers_manual/pa_driversman.shtml

There is no section listed in the TOC about bikes. There is no mention of what bike lanes or sharrows are. Is there a statement about the buffer space required when passing a bike on the left? Do you remember any of these questions from your drivers test (if you drive)?

Did you even have to parallel park, I didn't. Not that I couldn't do it, but it wasn't part of the test.

I seriously think the drivers tests need to be a little more thorough, and be more inclusive to pedestrian and bike related issues. Besides that, I think we all need to be informed of motorist and cyclist safety issues.

BTW, here's the state bicycle drivers manual.

http://www.dot.state.pa.us/Internet/Bureaus/pdBikePed.nsf/infoAcknowledgements?OpenForm

Also, my electric company and bank send me tips about how to save money and conserve electricity. Does my state send me tips about safe driving (or sharing the road with bikes?) when I renew my drivers license or auto registration... nope.

I'm just trying to point out there are a lot of areas for improvement, and not just complain too much.

You didn't even have to parallel park? Crazy. In Minnesota, you had to parallel park on a hill, make sure your wheels point the correct direction so your car doesn't roll into traffic if your brakes go, etc. We also had to back into a narrow parking space, starting perpendicular (90 degrees) to it. Unfortunately, no bike related stuff that I remember. Bike-friendliness wasn't all that popular in the Twin Cities back when I took the test though. I got a lot of "get on the sidewalk" and soda cans thrown at me back then.

When I took the PA driver's exam, which was admittedly a while ago, parallel parking was required. Interestingly, at no time was actually driving on a road with other traffic required. There was the "written" test (20 multiple-choice questions), and a closed-course driving test which was pretty dumb. You drove along a marked route, which had a couple of stop signs. (Blowing through a stop sign was, of course, automatic fail.) You parallel-parked once. They'd give you three tries; miss and fail. You perpendicular-parked once. Same deal; three tries. In both cases, there were no other objects on either side of the parking spots. At no point was there any other traffic or any distractions on the course. Max speed was something like 20mph for the whole thing. There was a special 10mph section where you had to stay at or under 10 and go around a couple of cones. The whole thing was pretty dumb, IMO, because it didn't do anything at all to see if you could actually drive or park in anything like a real situation.

And, of course, there's no re-testing. Not that it'd matter; people would just skip the re-tests, let their licenses expire, and drive anyway.

I got my license in NY in 1976. 20-question multiple-choice written test, read the letters on the eye chart, then wait 30 days to take the on-road. Mine was on quiet village streets. We had to be prepared to do both a 3-point turn and a parallel park, but was asked to do only one. No practice log necessary.

Moved to PA in 1982. Re-took the 20-Q written, no on-road re-test, and nothing besides the every-4-years renewal and photo ever since.

Yeah. And with digital cameras, they've even removed the renewal requirement that you show up on film.