Meet the examiner: Steve Turner

Our occasional series of ‘Meet the Examiner’ is aimed at giving EKAM club members insight into who our IAM Examiners are and some of the skills and behaviours they are looking for at test.  For this latest article Steve Turner has been good enough to give us his thoughts on a few common questions of interest posed to him recently.

Could you provide a resumé of why and how you ended up taking the role of an IAM Examiner? 

I was approached to become an examiner by the late Terry Friday while I was having breakfast at Mickeys Diner one day. I was still in the Police at the time and a member of the Motorcycle team based at Coldharbour, Maidstone, where I spent the last ten years of my service as a Traffic motorcyclist.

Having received the training both in cars and on bikes and having the opportunity to do so many things I felt I could offer my experiences to help other riders become safer riders.

I have an uncle who is a very keen biker who raced a Norton Commando and he was my inspiration for riding bikes, I liken him to ‘Ogri’ the cartoon character that used to be in Bike magazine.

My riding experience started on my 16^th birthday when I took to the road on my red Suzuki AP50 sports moped, I’d only ridden around the garden previously and I wasn’t particularly competent. My notable experience on this bike was that I crashed into the back of Danny Blanchflower (former football legend for Tottenham & Northern Ireland) on the A20 at Lenham Heath.

I passed my test on a Honda XL125 and then progressed to a yellow Honda CB400F2.

Over the years I have owned two Honda 250 Superdreams, four Honda CB400F’s (Including a current 1977 registered F model in red) a CBR600F, CBR954 Fireblade, a Triumph Sprint & two 1200 Triumph Tigers.

I started riding bikes in the Police around 1988 completing a standard course on a BMW R80 and then had my first Advanced course in 1993 riding a BMW K100.

This course became a defining moment in my life & Police career as the course ended in tragedy when myself & the two other student riders crashed at high speed on the A3 at Guildford. Sadly, my colleague Alex Doe was killed in the accident and this is another reason why I feel that by carrying out the examiner role with the IAM & assisting to deliver Bikesafe with Kent Police, I am honouring the memory of Alex.

Associates can sometimes come to their Advanced Test fully schooled and test ready, but then not demonstrate the best of rides and perhaps even fail. Can you share any insight into common causes of this and any hints on how to best prepare for the day?

This is always something that I am aware of & I do try to put people at ease, but some people do get themselves worked up & stressed over the test. The only thing I can say is that nerves happen to everyone, I was nervous for all of my Police tests, so I know what it’s like.

I once had the job of escorting the Transport Minister at the time around the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit prior to a round of the British Superbikes. It was a publicity opportunity for him to show that he was a biker.

We were sat on the start finish line waiting to go off with 70 – 80,000 people watching, all hoping we’d fall off!! I was nervous, and I looked over at the Transport Minister & I could see his knees actually knocking against the tank of his bike. I gave him some words of encouragement & we all got around safely.

So, when someone turns up for the test, remember it’s just a case of harnessing the nerves, remembering your training, believing in yourself and just treat it like another ride out with your friends where you’re showing them what this advanced riding stuff is all about. You wouldn’t be there if your observer & chief observer didn’t think you were ready.

On a similar theme, are there common system weaknesses displayed by candidates that we should be especially conscious of?

A common weakness is overtaking, candidates know that they have to demonstrate that they are competent in this area and I regularly see riders that are not working sufficiently to look for overtaking opportunities.

By this I mean looking ahead, reading the road & anticipating that there may be an opportunity developing. Moving up from the following position to an overtaking position but still positioning themselves for the flow of the road. There’s no point if you are out to the offside to look for an overtake if the road is going around to the right, you’ve lost the view.

If an overtaking opportunity doesn’t present itself, then drop back into the following position and start again.

This will demonstrate to the examiner that you are competent and understand the principles around overtaking. It could be that on the day you don’t get a clear-cut overtaking opportunity but if you have demonstrated that you are looking for it then that is all the examiner can ask of you.

The most important thing to add to this is that the decision to overtake is a personal one, if you have any reservations about the overtake then you should cancel it. That is why when you move out from the overtaking position, this is the final check to decide ‘Yes it’s on’ or ‘No, I’m not happy with it’. Even if you don’t know why you not happy with it, its amazing how often a ‘gut feeling’ proves to be the correct decision.

Just recently I have also experienced a few candidates pushing the filtering a little too far, I appreciate if you are commuting into London you will need to ride in a certain manner however when on test with the IAM, it is all about safety. I have seen candidates paddling with their feet between vehicles & turning the handlebars to get past car mirrors. I consider filtering as a raising in the level of risk. You are putting yourself into an area of potential conflict with other road users. Remember we try to have a safety bubble around us as much as we can so filtering should be done in a calm controlled manner & if the gap between vehicles narrows to the point where you can’t proceed in a controlled manner then you should wait for the gap to widen before considering filtering further.

One of my colleagues, not a police rider, got caught out filtering when he hit a postman that ran out in front of him.

That reminds me of the crossword joke, Q: ‘Postman drops his bag at Christmas?’ R: How many letters? Blooming hundreds!!

What makes a ‘good’ test route and what particularly do you like to see included?

I try to ensure that my test routes have a variety of different road types, I normally start from Mickey’s Diner, A229 Bluebell Hill which means we start on an A road dual carriageway and this gives the candidate the opportunity to settle down at the start of the ride, again hoping to get rid of any nerves.

I then go into Maidstone town area to give them the opportunity to filter in the traffic if appropriate and then head out onto the motorway where I can see that they are competent at joining & exiting a motorway & can maintain motorway speeds.

From here I mix rural B roads with A roads to see the candidate react to changing road types & conditions. This also tests them on riding to what they can see, what they can’t see & what they can reasonably expect to be there.

My routes all feed off each other so I can pick & choose which route I wish to use while I am on the move & this then also assists when you come across a road closure, to be able to navigate around it & pick up the original or a new route.

I don’t include anything to try & catch the candidate out, I try & pick roads that will give them the opportunity to demonstrate to me what they have learnt and show me how they can ride a motorbike.

Do you have any advice as to how to guard against post-test regression and the return of bad habits?

Referring back to my days as a Police rider (and trying not to sound like Uncle Albert) the standards were kept up because you rode with colleagues who were all of the same standard or better. If you made a mistake, you knew it & so did they & if it was bad enough you were going to be buying doughnuts & then everyone else on the team would know about it.

You should always assess your own ride, you will never have the perfect ride, it doesn’t exist, but you should know when you’ve ridden well & likewise when you could have dealt with a situation differently. That’s how you gain experience & it’s experience that keeps us safe on our bikes. We are all tapping into the experiences of the riders that have gone before us.

I can still remember a saying by Terry Friday Q: What does it mean if a vehicle has its turn signal operating. A: It means the bulb’s working and that is all it means.

I would recommend that riders who have passed the test continue to ride with good riders in the group. The passing of the test is an achievement to build on by developing your sills further. You don’t have to go on & become an observer or do your masters but look at how other riders deal with different situations & be open to adopting the styles you admire but rejecting those that you don’t.

How do you as an Examiner keep your own skill levels up?

One of the best ways to keep my skill level up is to conduct tests, I never know what the riding skill of the candidate is going to be and fortunately I can adjust my rider modes on the move – more than once I’ve had to put it into adventure mode when I get someone who is riding to a good standard.

I also ride with a colleague who was with me in 1993 on the advanced course, we both take pride in our riding and try to ride to the same standard that we were taught.

Have you a tale of any particularly strange or unusual incident that has occurred during your career that you would care to share with us?

I have had the opportunities to represent the British police at motorcycle shows in France, Belgium & Germany, I’ve escorted the 2012 Tour of Britain, the Tour de France in the UK and a centenary cycle event from Paris to London plus various Royal & ministerial escorts over the years.

I did on one occasion lose a prisoner when, after tracking him down to the Harty Ferry area of The Isle of Sheppey where he was using a jet ski,. I arrested him and he promptly jumped in the sea. I considered jumping in after him but as I was wearing my brand-new BKS leathers and I was scared of what my sergeant would say if £1,000 worth of leathers were destroyed for a shoplifter. I decided not to and had to watch him ride off out to sea on a jet ski. In hindsight with all the kit I had on I would probably have drowned as well.

Lastly, is there something you would particularly like to raise with our members whether to do with tests, riding standards or simply road safety in general?

The System of Motorcycle control is about safety, sometimes I feel that candidates believe that the most important thing they must demonstrate to me is speed & making progress.

It’s not, if you concentrate on being smooth everything else falls into place, observation, anticipation, hazard awareness and speed.

Remember we ride bikes because they are fun, they look & sound nice, and we enjoy it, lets keep doing it for as long as we can.

Our thanks to Steve for taking the time to provide his very helpful and useful responses to our questions.