CBR Motorcycle Theory A common mistakes
CBR Motorcycle Theory A · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Treating a priority-to-the-right intersection as if the wider or busier-looking road automatically has right of way, and riding out without checking the road entering from the right.
Candidates transfer habits from countries or cities where main roads are signposted as priority, and underestimate how many Dutch junctions are unsigned and governed purely by the right-hand rule.
What to do instead
Build a reflex: on approaching any unsigned junction, look specifically to the right first and slow enough that you could stop. Practise naming the rule aloud for each junction type (signs, markings, right-hand rule, exit from driveway or dirt road) until the default answer is 'check right'.
Rolling through a junction or stopping line while only glancing left, because the rider is already planning to turn right and treats the manoeuvre as low-risk.
Right turns feel safe on a motorcycle, so attention narrows to the turn path and the oncoming or crossing traffic is never actually scanned.
What to do instead
Apply a fixed junction routine every time: mirror checks, signal, position, speed adjustment, then a deliberate left-right-left look before the stop line. Even for a right turn, complete the full scan before committing.
Riding too close behind a lead vehicle so that the view past it collapses, then being unable to brake when it stops suddenly.
Candidates copy car following behaviour and use a fixed distance in metres rather than a time gap, which fails as speed rises.
What to do instead
Use the two-second rule as a minimum and extend it in rain, darkness or on unfamiliar roads. Pick a fixed roadside object, count 'one thousand and one, one thousand and two' from when the lead vehicle passes it, and adjust until you pass it no sooner.
Braking with the front brake only in a straight line, or grabbing it abruptly, causing a front-wheel lock or a stoppie in an emergency.
Riders fear the front brake after a previous slide and rely on the rear, or they have never practised a progressive squeeze at speed so panic produces a grab.
What to do instead
Practise progressive front-brake application on a dry empty surface: initial light pressure to load the front tyre, then firm squeeze, with the rear brake applied lightly to stabilise. Repeat until the squeeze is automatic under stress.
Failing to cancel the indicator after a turn or lane change, so other road users misread the next intention.
Modern self-cancelling indicators and the mental load of a busy junction make cancellation easy to forget, and candidates do not build it into their routine.
What to do instead
Attach cancellation to a physical anchor: after completing the turn, press the cancel switch as soon as the handlebars straighten, before accelerating. Make it part of the same movement, not a separate memory task.
Misreading a priority sign or road marking, for example treating a yield sign as a stop sign, or ignoring a shark's-teeth marking on the rider's own approach.
Signs are learned from lists rather than from the road, so candidates recognise a shape but not its consequence for their own action.
What to do instead
Learn each sign by the required action, not the picture: yield means slow, look and give way without necessarily stopping; stop means a full stop at the line. Ride or walk routes and call out the required action at every sign and marking.
Sitting in a car's blind spot or alongside a lorry's cab during a lane change or approach to a junction, rather than being clearly ahead or behind.
Riders position for their own view and forget that being seen is a separate problem, especially beside large vehicles with wide blind areas.
What to do instead
Treat blind spots as no-go zones: hang back until you can see the driver's mirror and face, then pass decisively and move ahead. Never linger alongside a heavy vehicle, and assume a lorry turning right may swing left first.
Underestimating stopping distance at higher speeds, believing that the gap that felt adequate at 50 km/h still works at 80 km/h.
Stopping distance grows with the square of speed, so the intuition built at low speed systematically fails at higher speed.
What to do instead
Memorise the relationship rather than a single number: doubling speed roughly quadruples braking distance, plus reaction distance. Recalculate the two-second gap and add a margin whenever speed or surface condition changes.
Skipping the pre-ride check of tyres, brakes, lights and chain, and riding with a visor or helmet that does not fit or is not fastened properly.
Candidates treat the check as a test formality and protective gear as a comfort choice, so faults and loose fastenings go unnoticed until they matter.
What to do instead
Use a short fixed walk-around: tyre condition and pressure, brake feel, lights and indicators, chain tension, then helmet fastened and visor clean. Check gear fit by shaking the head before setting off.
At an incident scene, moving an injured rider or removing their helmet immediately, instead of securing the scene and calling emergency services first.
Panic and the wish to help produce action, and candidates do not know that unnecessary movement can worsen spinal injury.
What to do instead
Learn the order: warn other traffic and make the scene safe, call the emergency number with location and casualty count, then give first aid within your training. Leave the helmet on and the casualty still unless there is an immediate threat such as fire or blocked breathing.