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If a person is steering and operating a motorcycle/motorbike, are they using the motorcycle, driving the motorcycle, or riding the motorcycle?

I am asking because I read the following passage. Is the usage correct?

Students are expected to have the ability to behave properly and correctly on the road, especially by using motorcycles for the safety of other road users and able to have a positive influence on their environment.

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    It's context-dependent.
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Sep 12, 2022 at 3:07
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    What does using a motorcycle for the safety of others even mean?
    – Jim
    Commented Sep 12, 2022 at 4:01
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    It's not ungrammatical to say "use" though it might be less common. I don't think "grammatical" means what you think it means. Although your paragraph is ungrammatical for other reasons.
    – Stuart F
    Commented Sep 12, 2022 at 7:00
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    See this question
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Sep 12, 2022 at 9:52
  • Presuming that some thought went into the wording , I assume that there may have been cases of cars (too big) & skateboards (less controllable) which resulted in accidents & hence the school decided that only motorcycles would be encouraged for safety , though it is hard to see why cycles are discouraged. But then , when I see "Students are expected to have the ability to behave properly and correctly" which should be "Students are expected to behave correctly" [[ (1) not just have the ability & (2) "Properly & Correctly" is redundant ]] , I doubt much thought went into this ! @Jim
    – Prem
    Commented Sep 12, 2022 at 10:58

2 Answers 2

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The actual Question can only be answered in context. To 'use' or 'drive' or 'ride' are all perfectly acceptable in different circumstances; often, they're simply interchangeably.

One might 'use' but never 'drive' or 'ride' a motorcycle to transport parcels/transplant organs/whatever.

One might equally 'use' or 'drive' or 'ride' a motorcycle to get from A to B.

The cited passage 'Students are expected to have the ability to behave properly and correctly on the road, especially by using motorcycles for the safety of other road users and able to have a positive influence on their environment' immediately reveals the writer as a non-native speaker, possibly with pretensions to grandeur. I guess the writer was Filipino, Indonesian or some such but I'm taking no bets.

'… using motorcycles for the safety of other road users and able to have a positive influence on their environment…' is broadly intelligible but that's as far as it gets.

'… using motorcycles for the safety of other road users…' should be something more like '… using motorcycles with due regard for the safety of other road users…'. Is it clear, there is no real comparison?

Of course 'students are expected to have the ability to behave properly and correctly on the road…' but no native speaker would ever say that instead of 'students are expected to behave properly/correctly on the road…' The ability is assumed, always.

'… and able to have a positive influence on their environment' is too far different by any measure to follow as part of the sentence that went before. It needs at least a new paragraph, perhaps with a fresh explanatory or linking sentence.

Again '… to have a positive influence…' is not comparable to being '… able to have.' Either way, it might be fine in English but '… to have a positive influence on their environment…' has nothing useful to do with 'driving' or 'riding' or 'using' motorcycles or any other vehicle.

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One "operates" a motor vehicle in the context of drivers' education. There are other expressions in your example that are not stylisticly pleasant as well. How about this:

Students are required to display proper behavior on the road, especially when operating motorcycles, for the sake of the safety of other motorists and the environment.

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