Getting a driver's license

My driving lessons for getting the motorcycle driving license were actually almost the first time I ever sat on a motorcycle – the only other times were on motorcycle taxis in China and in Bonito, Mato Grosso do Sul state of Brazil.  I knew virtually nothing about how motorcycles worked; ahead of the lessons I got a very basic introduction from Henrique and read up on motorcycles online.  Actually getting on board, it wasn’t so hard.  I’ve driven cars for years, and the absolute basics – engine operation, clutch, gears, acceleration, brakes etc. are all almost the same, the only major difference being that things done with your hand in a car (e.g. selecting gear) are done with your foot on a bike, and vice versa (e.g. throttle).  Balance wasn’t a problem, I learned to ride a bicycle before starting primary school - Denmark is so flat that bicycles are one of the primary methods of transportation.

Motorcycle maintenance is also different from car maintenance, I find.  Most people haven’t a clue about how to maintain a car; it seems that a bit more independence is expected of bikers.  I hope to learn a little, at least.  If I have time in the future I'd love to take a motorcycle mechanics' course at SENAI or something.

All vehicles are different, of course.  French cars have irritating clutches, Japanese cars don’t break down, Volvos are comfy smooth rides, and so on.  Individual cars can differ among each other as well, of course, especially with a lot of mileage.  Naturally, it’s the same with motorcycles.  In the course of training, I had occasion to ride 6 different motorcycles; mine, Henrique’s Suzuki Intruder 125, three 125cc Yamahas of the same model (Factors, I think) but very different mileages, and a Honda (a loaner when the driving school's bike had a flat tire).

My biggest problem with learning to ride to pass the driving test was this: in a car, the differences between any two cars don’t jeopardise one’s driving, as long as they’re fully road-worthy.  If the engine dies on a car in decent nick, it’s because you’ve made a serious error, not because of a mechanical fault.  In my opinion, however, motorcycles are much more sensitive, especially under the circumstances of the driving test.  Example: throttle.  On my bike and one of the driving school Yamahas, at second gear, you can leave the throttle at the minimum and let go and you’ll keep moving, slowly but surely enough to complete the whole track.  On the other Yamahas (of the same make and model!) and the Honda, you couldn’t; leave the throttle at minimum for any length of time and the engine dies and you fail.  Consequence: you have to learn excellent low-speed throttle control or you fail.

So I failed my first driving test.  The problem: my driving school’s main bike works fine when it’s in second gear, but has a small problem changing from first to second.  You need a certain range of RPM to change gear without the engine stalling.  (Damaged gear spokes?  Chain problem? Don't know)  Hitting that range without going too slow to stall and without going so fast that you can’t manoeuvre between the cones is a pain.  Since a month had passed between my last class and my driving test, I didn’t compensate for that problem properly, and had to be quick to grip the clutch and rev the throttle again to avoid stalling, which made me unstable enough to hit a cone.  Out I go.  Yeah, my own fault and I’m not making excuses, but it’s the sort of thing that just doesn’t happen in a car in my experience.

Another thing about getting your driving license: corruption, as usual.  In the old days, my mother-in-law tells me, the driving school instructors would say that no matter how your driving was, there was no way you’d pass the test unless you bribed the officials of the Department of Transport (Detran).  Today you can pass it honestly, but most people don’t the first time.  It’s very common for people to “buy” their license. Unfortunately it’s so common that there’s little stigma against it.  It’s low-priority to the state, so there’s little oversight or efforts to combat this corruption; there’s the occasional scandalous report in the media, but little done by police.

Bureaucracy is another problem.  To get a license, you have to do theoretical and practical classes at an accredited driving school.  You have to register your presence using biometrics (a fingerprint reader).  Problem: theoretical classes are mostly just reading, but you have to register your presence at the school every hour.  What if you work during the day and need to study after driving school hours?  In the case of practical classes, they have to use biometric registration at the place of training.  Problem: in Rio de Janeiro, they shut down the two main motorcycle training locations (Maracanã, because the stadium is being renovated; Gávea, because they were using up valuable parking space).  That leaves Jacarepaguá and Engenho da Rainha, both in the middle of nowhere and not linked to public transport.  Result: schools get around the biometrics by making copies of students’ fingerprints and/or doing the biometrics at the school instead of the practise location.  Consequence: people get accustomed to ignoring Detran regulations, because you will not find a driving school following all the regulations.  Therefore, it’s a tiny, even unimportant, step from violating the biometrics regulations to violating testing regulations.

The driving schools don’t help things.  Since none of them obey the law, they’re likely all bribing Detran to stay in business.  Since they’re all bribing Detran anyway, there’s no reason to do a good job – where else can the customers go?  So I got basically no instruction, and when the instructor was taking me through the driving test – him driving, me in the back seat – he stalled the engine and we fell over in the first 10 metres.  As mentioned, it took a month between me finishing the classes and actually doing the test – because they didn’t explain the biometrics requirements (…to be subverted) and likely because they were fishing for bribes (…which they didn’t get).  Under those conditions – and I imagine everyone else’s experience is similar – it’s easy to understand the attraction of buying your license.  After all, if you’re out of practise on the bike you’ll use and you never got much instruction anyway, and if bribing Detran is so common and easy, is it really so wrong?

 
Yes, it’s wrong.  But the whole damn system needs fixing, with less bureaucratic obstacles but more efficient oversight, as well as better instruction and appropriate testing (the motorcycle test takes place at much lower speeds than real driving.  I understand that it’s a test of manoeuvrability, balance, and throttle control, but I’m not sure those passing the test are necessarily prepared for driving under real conditions.  Ideally the test should include both the current course and a 5-minute drive in actual traffic.).  In the meantime, traffic is chaotic and dangerous because so many motorists bought their license instead of earning it.

PS:  Something I find fascinating about Detran regulations - when getting your first driver's license, or in my case, converting my foreign B license to a Brazilian one, aside from the visual/medical test and practical/theory tests as appropriate, you have to pass a psychological exam!  4 hours in a class with a shrink doing childlike drawing and word-association exercises to try to prove you're not nuts.  I wonder how many people fail.  Perhaps failure is a requirement for a taxi license.