I take the ERC about 3 times a year taught by our World Champion Drill Team, only because I like to ride slow, and ride around in circles.
There's one thing I do take exception to and like to argue my point on almost every time I take the course, and thats my two fingering the clutch and front brake. I used to race professional motocross and either one or two fingered my clutch and front brake while racing. The rest of my hand was wrapped around the handlebar grips holding on for dear life over the whoops and the jumps.
The ERC instructors (both Drill Team and MSF) contention is that if I ever have a bad accident and crash, I will lose my fingers (the ones wrapped around the grip) because they are all not covering the brake or clutch and the levers will sever them off.
This is about the biggest crock of sh!t I have ever heard!
Now here's a real life scenario that happened to me and a couple of my friends. We were all riding our bikes, I was on a V-65, my racing buddy was on a V-MAX, and my other friend (never raced motocross) was on a VFR 1000. We were all lined up at a stop light. I had my own lane and they were side by side in the other lane. There was a van behind them and a car behind me. The light turned green, the van was looking at and anticipatong the light and not the bikes and rear ended them. My buddy on the V-MAX (who rides just like I do) was catapulted out into the intersection and kept control of his bike. My other friend wasn't so lucky and did a back flip off the back of his bike, while his bike shot across the intersection. He got ran over by the front tire over one of his legs, luckily the van was able to stop in time before running him over with the back wheels. The driver realized he's just hit a couple of bikes and ran a guy over and was apologizing profusely for what he had done. The ambulance came and took my friend to the hospital. He had a broken tail bone, bruised leg and a couple of scratches.
I asked him if he had his clutch pulled in with just two fingers or his whole hand. He stated to me that he had it pulled in with his whole hand. He also had his front brake covered by his whole hand.
I asked my other buddy on the V-MAX if he had his whole hand engaging the clutch or was we two fingering. He told me if it wasn't for the fact that he had his clutch pulled in with two fingers and the rest of his hand grabbing the grip, he would have probably endoed also.
I believe the MSF and it's teachings regarding using the whole hand to pull in the clutch or the front brake are very outdated. I'm sure it was okay in the 50's and 60's when you had to have a "popeye arm" just to pull a clutch in, or brake hard (drum brakes) but since the advent of hydraulic clutches and disc brakes, it is no longer an issue.
I have to ask you guys that have ridden for many years... have you ever (personally, not heard any stories) seen a motorcyclist that has lost his fingers due to the clutch or front brake lever severing them off? I didn't think so...
Like I said... I used to race for many years and have yet to see a 2 fingered racer. Now steer roping is a different story! I have a few friends that are missing a finger or two because they got caught in their dally and whacked them off.