" your understanding of what it takes to be a doctors and economics then you lot wouldn't qet one."
Since many of us run businesses, often with multi-million pound turnovers, suggesting we don't understand the economics of business or the value / cost / return on education is incredibly short-sighted of you.
Unless of course you are suggesting that doctors take twenty minutes to sign a piece of paper. Instead one might refer you to the statement by the Secretary of the BMC, who revealed that their opening bid in the negotiation over the doctors contract had been the standard over-value and no-one had been more surprised than they when the Government accepted it with question.
Various sources have noted that the Medical Council operate a monopoly cartel limiting the number of doctors who can complete training each year, thus ensuring a shortage of doctors and a resultant premium on their services. One only has to compare their remuneration against those of similarly qualified graduates (engineers for example) to see a considerable disparity.
However that is really outside the terms of this thread, which is that the immediate costs of karting through the MSA, in terms of licencing, icluding the ARKS test, medicals, meetings premiums and so on are very poorly represented t the average karter, who can see that bare-bones karting as represented by the independent karting community appears to be much better value for money.
For example, there are far greater numbers involved in independent karting, with very few of them required to hold an MSA licence. Yet the standard of driving, the frequency of incidents and, in the context of this thread, the number of people displaying unacceptable levels of health despite the absence of medical testing, does not show there to be a need for the ARKS test, nor licencing, nor medicals.
So, are they needed for MSA karting or are they simply the result of the vested interests of the karting industry, not so much the Association of British Kart Clubs but the Association for Boosting Karting Costs.
In a different thread the new chairman of the ABKC, Colin Wright, asks for suggestions from the body of Karters rather than the body of kart clubs. One of the valuable exercises that could be done is a series of explanations as to why the costs are so disparate, because as you indicate, many people do not understand it.
I do understand, for example, that if one wants to race at a single club / track , then it is sufficient for the operator to be satisfied that the driver is adequately skilled to drive at the chosen level and that there is a cost associated with maintaining a wider database of drivers who are judged competent at other tracks, thus allowing them to race at any track without further evaluation.
But one has to ask where the cost/benefit line is drawn. The falling numbers of MSA kart licence holders suggests that the costs are seen as significantly more than the benefits to the average driver and are deterring those involved with MSA type karting, while numbers involved with independent karting seem to be rising.
And, of course, it isn't one single cost that is under discussion, it is the associated costs of ARKS, medicals, the national justice system, track licencing,MSA committees and so on.
This thread by concentrating on medicals, which would seem to be satisfied by the "Well Person" examinations already meant to be conducted by doctors on an annual basis, identifies the common thread of 'Value for Money'.
Responding as you have that the medical charges should be charged simply because they could be, or because they are small in relation to the overall expenditure, while insulting everyone who doesn't hold your view as being 'moronic' truly isn't helpful.
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