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Originally Posted by alanmcorcoran
They probably ought to stress what will happen if you use the brakes at the wrong time on that one a little more. I think in my case, they mentioned that it's best to brake before (as in "ideal") but not that it could really hurt if you brake during.
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I never took the course in CA, but, assuming they follow the MSF curriculum, this point is actually stressed over and over again, both on the range and in the classroom. The mantra is "Brake or swerve, but don't do both at the same time.". On some exercises they specifically say "Brake, then swerve.". They also take off points if you brake and swerve at the same time. The instructors are trained to watch for the brake lights during the test.
This is also stressed very strongly in David Hough's 3 books on riding, which are, as far as I am concerned, the collective bible of surviving out there.
I can understand someone not remembering this from the course, so please don't take this as a criticism. One of my biggest criticisms of the course is that it is so time compressed, people do tend to forget a lot of what they learned very quickly. My daughter was 16 when she took the course, and did very well on it. She's a very smart young lady, now 21. From conversations with her, I know for a fact that she had forgotten at least half of what she learned within a couple of weeks. Five years later she doesn't remember any of it as far as I can tell. What she knows about riding is what she learned from me on an ongoing basis.
One study showed that there was a significant improvement in accident statistics among riders who had taken the course as opposed to those who had not. We would expect that. What they also found out, which is disheartening, is that that advantage disappeared after about 6 months. In other words, after about 6 months, BRC trained riders weren't any safer than non-BRC trained riders. Now, there's some food for thought.
The real lesson here is, don't assume that the course teaches you to ride. Go back on a regular basis and reread the course material. Practice the exercises, either in a parking lot somewhere, or on an actual state range when it's not in use. Get David Hough's books and read them, every year during the Winter is a good way to do it. About the time you think that you have no more to learn, or that you ride "as well as you need to" is a real good time to stop riding and give it up. My opinion of course.