Driving myths: the driving test.....

[Mustang nut]

I drove through the peripherique in Paris on my way up to Normandy in July during rush hour traffic. Very bad experience... Overall though I find France easy to drive in.

Well I think Parisians are a breed apart from the French, Ive driven towards Paris many times and the closer you get to it the more manic the driving becomes. Away from Paris I agree its pretty safe, the Dutch are cool drivers too but Italy Spain Portugal are at times a mind blowing experience. Maybe its the Catholic influence they drive like they want the after life RIGHT NOW Seeing kids flying about on sports motorbikes with no helmet and a tee shirt and shorts used to make me cringe.

 

[Readie]

That I can agree with, but I think the Italians still take the cake.

The French are the easiest to drive with in my opinion, it is very relaxed driving in France.

Yep, The French are a courteous nation on the road generally speaking. The Parisians are somewhat different, but they have to be I guess being so important...

I would observe that the type of car seems to dictate the level of aggression behind the wheel.

Cheers

John

 

[davparlr]

All I remember from my drivers test was that gee is right and haw is left, or, is it, gee is left.....

 

[RabidAlien]

They used to joke that the highschool I went to (south Georgia....so south, if you farted, Florida got the brunt of it) had to cancel its Drivers' Ed class the year before I started, because the mule died. They didn't have the funds to replace him, because the library also burned and the school board ordered them to replace both books.

 

[BikerBabe]

Here in Denmark you have to pass several tests: First aid, theory, practical and medical - you have to get a physical examination at the physician's, ensuring that eyesight and general health is fit for driving.
First aid is usually no problem, and the medical test isn't either, if you're fairly normal physically. The driver's license is usually valid until you're 70 years old. After that, you have to pass a medical examination eyery year to keep your driver's license.

Theory is about the car and its maintenance, documents, insurance and traffic law, signs, road markings, other kinds of vehicles and their manoeuverability [sp?], dangers on the road, weather and traffic, alcohol, drugs, cell phones and such, human behaviour in the traffic, reaction time, manouvering on the road and much more.

The practical test is basically you showing the examiner that you've learned the basics of how to drive a car and behave in the traffic.

Both the practical and the theory test lasts about half an hour, and you cannot learn from for example your parents or a friend how to drive - that's illegal here. You have to go to an officially approved driving school to learn how to drive.

And you have to have a minimum of 26 lessons of theory, 16 hours of driving lessons, 4 hours on the manoeuverability course and 4 lessons on the "slippery" course, before you can move on to the practical and theory tests - that's the legal demand for a driving student.
The theory test has got 25 questions, and if you've got more than 5 errors or non-answered questions, you don't pass.
The practical test results are judged a little more varied: You get judged on the errors you might make, how bad/serious they are, what you know, and how you handle the car in the traffic on request from the examiner, for example parking, motorway, turning the car, etc.

So I'm just proud that I passed the theory test with three errors, where two of them were made out of sheer nervousness. The moment I had answered, I knew my answers were wrong - but you can't correct the answers when you have answered.

I had only one error when driving (got myself placed in a dangerous position in the traffic between a truck and a bicycle rider), and I explained to the examiner that I could see the moment I got in there that it wasn't good, and so I just wanted to get out of the situation as fast as possible.
The examiner told me that it was good that I saw that, and that my reaction was correct.
Of course I shouldn't have gotten into the situation at first, but he approved of me solving the situation as fast as possible, and that I actually saw the situation, thereby showing him that I knew the dangerous situation when I saw it.
Phew!

Another thing is:
As a new driver, you can only have a maximum of two "clips" (offenses) for the first two years when you're driving; after the first two years you can only have three "clips", before you have to get re-examined about your ability to drive.
I have no "clips" and no fines.