Getting a license - How hard in the UK?

[Deus]

As a new UK rider, I've been reading all about the accident statistics and stuff in the UK and in many cases I just don't understand how so many of the "younger" riders even got their licenses. I passed both my motorbike and car licenses in Switzerland so I don't actually know how hard it is to get either in the UK. All I can say is that in Switzerland it's expensive, and hard.

I just wanted to go through what one has to do to get a license in Switzerland, and I was hoping someone could tell me the equivalent process to get one in the UK.

In order to even apply for a license in Switzerland, you have to do a 4 day certified First Aid course (2 hours a day). Once that is done, you can take the theory exam. I assume it's virtually identical to the UK one. Once theory is passed, you can drive with an L plate straight away (max 125cc, unless over 21).
Then there are 12 hours of mandatory (and costly) courses, done over two days.
Once that is done, you then have to take another 8 hour mandatory theory course which goes over hazard perception and avoidance (and in my groups case, they brought in someone who had been in a horrible accident so that we really got the message).
After passing all these courses you can then take your final exam (equivalent to CBT). However, unlike the UK, Switzerland does not allow you to make any mistakes. Not indicating or turning your head at every turn = fail.

Now it doesn't end there. The license is now on a three year probation. During those three years (this also applies to car license), there are two more mandatory courses. The first has to be done in the first year. It is basically an advanced braking and hazard perception course. They take us out on a small track, and with the help of lots of sprinklers and different surfaces, show us how [Censored] we would be if we weren't reminded about braking distances, etc.

Anyway, although it's all time consuming and quite expensive, in the end I feel like a much better driver because of it, and hence feel a lot safer on the roads. I think mandatory first aid is brilliant to be honest.

Do you think this is too much?

Apologies for the long post.

[Tom L]

Nothing like that over here, i think all of those options exist but its up to yourself if you want to do them.

I did a one day CBT, then rode on L-plates for a year. (very badly)
did my theory, next day started 3 days of training and at the end of the 3rd day, took and passed my test.

[bambam]

many moons ago i took a five day course that covered cbt and full test and passed.
the whole course was done on a yammy sr125........now THATS a beast of a machine
this meant full power bikes straight away.

oddly out of the five of us on the course the only one that failed was a bloke who had a full greek bike licence and wanted to get a uk one to stop a lot of messing about every two years.

[JohnBob]

First aid is always a great extra skill/knowledge to have. Is the course orientated around riding, or first aid in general?

The mandatory course on hazard perception; If they feel this is needed, why pass the rider on a big bike? During the course of learning to ride these things should have been covered & examined before allowing to progress.

Although i'm sure it puts good riders onto the road, it does sound a little excessive & may intimidate/deter people that may have become perfectly capable & safe riders.

Phew, this is a bit heavy on the brain for 07:30 in the bleedin' morning, i'm off for some coffee...

[Deus]

First aid is always a great extra skill/knowledge to have. Is the course orientated around riding, or first aid in general?

The course is mainly focused on skills that could save lives in case of road accidents. However, they are obviously transferable skills. This includes lessons on how to quickly observe and assess an accident and how to secure it (as well as how best to call the police/ambulance/etc).

The mandatory course on hazard perception; If they feel this is needed, why pass the rider on a big bike? During the course of learning to ride these things should have been covered & examined before allowing to progress.

The course of learning to ride is focused mainly on driving and safety (basically 80% of time spent on the bike) whereas the other 8 hour hazard course is pure theory. They use it primarily to reiterate the dangers of driving dangerously and go through accident statistics, etc and explain to people how to avoid being caught in accidents. To be honest, it was a very interesting course. Going over dozens of accidents in order to learn how not to get caught out is a useful skill . Obviously they also make it very clear that there are accidents where there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.

Although i'm sure it puts good riders onto the road, it does sound a little excessive & may intimidate/deter people that may have become perfectly capable & safe riders.

The number of motorbike riders here in Switzerland is immense. It's an amazing place to ride. Although it is a pain, the government essentially only wants bikers that are safe and responsible drivers. One reason they made it harder to get a license is to deter wealthy young kids from getting on their "super cool awesome bikes" and smashing them into on coming traffic. You'd be surprised.

But in the end, it's good to remember that Switzerland hates cars as well. More so in fact. When taking the motorbike test they told us to keep to the speed limit unless circumstances don't allow it. Going slowly on open roads = fail.

[jon_piscitelli]

I did mine back in March and it's nothing like that, first off you have to decide if you want a full licence or no.

So if you don't and are just happy to ride a 125cc age dependant, then all you have to do is your CBT, basically a day on a play ground followed by the 2 hour assesment ride as the T only stands for training not test in this case.

If your happy with this then repeat every 2 years, if you want more then you can do your DAS.

To do this you need your CBT and test certs then 3 days or so training on a 500 followed by test job done!

I'd never ridden a bike before the Saturday of my CBT, did that, followed by 4 days training, test on the thursday and a pass picked up the GSXR on the Friday.

To be fair I do wonder if it's safe, I've made an effort to ride everyday come rain or shine in different situations (city, a & b roads motorways etc) and know that i know bugger all about the bike and am still learning preffering to spend my money on rider upgrades, training etc rather than cans and go faster bits.

But in answer to your orginal question it really isn't that hard more cost prohibative than anything.