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Driving in your country

M

mr_diss

Active Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2005
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170
Location
'uddersfield
I've just read an old post and it's inspired me to make this one....

How do you become qualified to drive in your country?

In the UK:

At age 17, you can apply for a provisional licence (basically anyone can have one but you need to apply for it and pay). With that you can drive anywhere except motorways and you have to be accompanied by someone over 21 who's had a full licence for 2 years.

To get a full licence you need to pass a theory test, then pass a practical test within a year. Then you're free to drive with no more restrictions!


So..... How does it work in your country?
 
Pass theory test, you can begin with that at 17.
Pass practical test at 18 years of age.

We have a pointsystem, I think 3 points and with a few serious things you lose points, when you lost them you need to do the test again on your own costs.
 
GERMANY:

You can start before you turn 18, but the earliest you can take your practical test (actual driving) is one month before you turn 18. Dunno about the theory test...

Interestingly: Its all messed up with motercycles...
You can get the license when you turn 18, but you aren't allowed to drive a bike with more than 34 hp for 2 years... I had to be extra careful during that time, since my Dads has 100 hp ;-)
But when you are already 25, you can get an unlimited license from the start...
Its fucked up for the driving schools, as they need a bike with 34 hp and one with more than that.

Buba
 
In Belgium there are 3 models from which you can chose, although the governement has plans to change this.

1) 16year and 9 months: (expensive)

12 hours theoretical lessons mandatory
=> theorethical exam
when you pass this exam you must take at least 12 hours practical training
=> you receive a Learning Permit
=> from the age of 17 you must drive minimum 12 months (max 18 ) with a Mentor
=> Practical exam
=> If you pass you get your Driving Licence


2) 17year and 9 months (Mentor): (quite cheap)

12 hours theoretical lessons or self-study
=> theoretical exam
when you pass this exam you must take at least 8 hours practical training
=> Temporary Driving Licence Model 1
=> from the age of 18 you must drive minimum 6 months (max 9) with a Mentor
=> Practical exam
=> If you pass you get your Driving Licence


3) 17year and 9 months (no Mentor): (most expensive)

12 hours theoretical lessons or self-study
=> theoretical exam
when you pass this exam you must take at least 18 hours practical training + you must be declared "ready to drive" by the driving school
=> Temporary Driving Licence Model 2
=> from the age of 18 you must drive minimum 3 months (max 6) with a L-plate. No Mentor is needed. (only 1 passenger allowed: same conditions as the Mentor)
=> Practical exam
=> If you pass you get your Driving Licence


Mentor: Not younger than 24, must have a licence for at least 6 years, may never have lost his licence (in court), may in the past 3 years not have been convicted for drunk driving etc...
 
Norway:

If you started at a traffic school before 01.01.2005:

You can test drive from age 16 if you're accompanied by a person that's at least 25 and has had a licence for at least 5 years in a row.
A course in driving in the dark and driving on a slippery track.
Two hours of practicing overtaking, and three hours of driving continously (sp?)
You need to pass a theory test and a driving exam. This can be done between 16 and 18, but you won't get your licence before you turn 18

From 01.01.2005:

Starting course (10 hours of theory, first aid, and a demonstration in the dark) This will give you a learners permit, and you can test drive by the same rules as above .
2 hours of guidance by a teacher
4 hour safety course on a track (1 hour theory, 2 hours of driving on a slippery track and 1 hour learning about how to secure people and load in and on the car)
13 hour safety course on the road (8 hours driving and 5 hours of theory)
Theory test and driving exam. Same 16 to 18 rules as above.

Licence is for cars under 3500 kg, moped, tractor and snowmobile. Don't know about licence for motorcycles, lorries or busses.
 
When I got my lic in Maine it was damn eazy,

at age 14 if you lived on a farm you could get a conditional lic to drive trucks/equiptment with farm registration

at age 15 anyone could get a learner's permit after taking an eazy mulitple choice test, and having 6hrs driving time with an instructor.

Also at age 15, if you passed the state driving exam you could get a restricted lic to drive between home and either school or work. with no passengers aloud(yeah right, everyone I knew with one drove everywhere with a car load of people)

At age 16 you could get an unrestricted lic after at least one month with a permit or 1 month with a restricted lic. people with a permit must pass the state driving exam. which consisted a quick driving exam(less than 1 mile) you're tested on proper signaling, hill stop using the parking brake, looking both ways and waiting 3seconds at a stop sign, crossing a rail road track(look both ways before crossing) and paralell parking(behind *one* car :roll: ) Anyone with an IQ of more than 10 could pass that test... I did it in the middle of a snow storm. :mrgreen:

Now I waited until I was 18, I seriously didn't feel ready until than. But at 18 I didn't need a permit, I could have just gone in and taken the test!? However, I did twice as much driving school as was needed and practiced on my permit with my parents for 6 months before I got my licence. As I am and always have been very critical of the laxness of US drivers licence testing. I wish it were difficult to obtain a licence here with harder driving tests higher minimum ages, stricter car inspection etc... I'll bet that would reduce accidents significantly and lower insurance costs as well.
 
tloekke said:
Norway:

If you started at a traffic school before 01.01.2005:

You can test drive from age 16 if you're accompanied by a person that's at least 25 and has had a licence for at least 5 years in a row.
A course in driving in the dark and driving on a slippery track.
Two hours of practicing overtaking, and three hours of driving continously (sp?)
You need to pass a theory test and a driving exam. This can be done between 16 and 18, but you won't get your licence before you turn 18

From 01.01.2005:

Starting course (10 hours of theory, first aid, and a demonstration in the dark) This will give you a learners permit, and you can test drive by the same rules as above .
2 hours of guidance by a teacher
4 hour safety course on a track (1 hour theory, 2 hours of driving on a slippery track and 1 hour learning about how to secure people and load in and on the car)
13 hour safety course on the road (8 hours driving and 5 hours of theory)
Theory test and driving exam. Same 16 to 18 rules as above.

Licence is for cars under 3500 kg, moped, tractor and snowmobile. Don't know about licence for motorcycles, lorries or busses.
Click to expand...

Now that's the kind of thing I'd LOVE to see here! I hear Germany has some tough tests too...
 
In France
you can learn to drive at 16 (after about 20 hours of lessons and successful theory test needed) ..But accompanied with a person that has his license for 5 years and older than 23

the basic way is to learn at 18 (about 20 hours too) and then pass theory test first and practice test of 30 minutes.

then, during 2 years some speed limitation and then :driving:
 
From 15-18, you can pass a multiple choice test to get a learner's. You can then drive with someone over 21 who has a driver's license in the passenger seat.

At 16, you take the written again I believe and also go out with a DMV person to pass a driving test.
 
In California, USA

You can get your permit when your 15(Written Test), then you can drive but only when accompanied with an adult over 25. Then you take driving school, which is 24 hours of inclass instruction. Then 6 hours of accompanied instruction with an instructor. Then the driving test is a sinch, you don't even to paralell park!

And i agree, there are a bunch of shitty drivers in America. However, part of the reason everybody can drive so easily, is because we don't have good mass transportation because the country is spread out
 
Well, we don't have good mass transportation inbetween cities. In city wise though, speak for yourself. One of the best and most used public transportation systems here in the USA is here in Portland. ;)
 
CANADA:

16 -- get a Beginner's licence. Can only drive if the passenger carries a license for at least 4 years
8 months later -- if you went to a driving school you can get your G2 license. Basically no liquor in your blood. Everything else allowed
OR
1 year after 16 -- If you didn't take driving school you can then take your G2 licence.

Finally one year after that you can go for your full licence. No restrictions.

I had my full licence at 17 :).
 
Here in Texas it is quite easy to get a license-

When you turn 15 you can take Drivers Ed. After like 3 hours of Drivers Ed classroom theory, you take a multiple choice test. (This test is incredibly simple and has questions like "What do you do on a red light" and you have to recognize the shape and color of signs)

When you pass this you get a permit which allows you to drive if a person over the age of 21 and has a valid drivers license is in the passenger seat.
After that you have to have 7 hours of in car training, 7 hours of in car observation and 29 more hours of classroom training(for a total of 32 hours). The classroom work is totally pointless, just busy work like copying vocabulary out of a book and answering stupid questions.

Your 7th hour of driving instruction is your driving test, and as long as you dont break the law or wreck, you pass. You do not even have to parallel park.
After you graduate Drivers Ed. you have to have your permit for 6 months or until your 16th birthday, whichever is later. Then you can get your provisional license, which means you cant drive between Midnight and 5 am unless going to or from work or school.. You are also not allowed more than one non related person under the age of 21 in the car with you. After 6 months your license becomes unlimited.

Of course if you are are over 18 you can just go and take a quick driving practical test and a short theory test and get it then.

And you have to be enrolled in school or graduated to get it before you turn 18. Dropouts have to wait until they turn 18.
 
Here in New York:

Obtain Learners Permit at 16 years of age and pass simple 20 question test. Must drive with a licensed driver at all time.

Obtain Junior License after driving with a licensed driver for 20 hours, take a 6-hour defensive driving course and pass a road test. Most people around here take a Driving Education course to enhance their driving ability. The road test consists of parallel parking, 3-point turn, left and right hand turns into roads with various lanes, and other simple stuff. Many people fail becuase they forget simple things like a full stop or blinker.

Obtain Full License at 18 years of age, I think you must pass a written test. If you still have your learners permit at 18 years of age, you can take the same test and get your full license.

I am pretty sure that is how it goes. I currenty have my learner's permit, and I will be taking the Road Test during the summer so I can drive by myself.
 
joemoefro said:
In California, USA

you don't even to paralell park!
Click to expand...

That's because when they were still testing || parking, accidents cost the state too much so they just cut it out

bump or scratch = time wasted finding owner, exchanging info, etc..
time wasted = need more DMV workers to accomplish same job

the whole thing is really pathetic here, but then again there really isnt much they can do to help the people who are eating and shaving while monitoring their kids as they are talking on their phones. carelessly bad drivers and dangerous drivers wont disappear if you make the theoretical classes longer.

they should have those mini-tracks where people drive go-karts while obeying traffic laws, hands on and low risk :thumbsup:
 
Lithuania:

You'll have to pass theory and practical exam if you wanna get licences here.

If you have university diploma - you can go straight to take those 2 exams (well awcorse you'll be more than 20years at that time, probably 22-24 :) )

If you don't have university diploma you have to go to driving school, you can go to it when you are 17 but take exams after finishing it and only when you are 18. In driving school people are thought theory and have to drive 20 hours of practise.


I think that's it :)

EDIT: Forgot to say that 2years after you get your licence you mustn't go faster than 70kmh (44mph)... sux... but the rules are set because we would have something to break :)
 
Im all for raising the driving age here - 16 is too young me thinks
 
You wouldn't be saying that when you were 16.

I know 14 year olds that can drive better than most adults.

And for some fucking reason, people on the 401 don't understand the concept that the left lane is for faster driving. Forcing people to pass on the right, that's something you should be shot for, Clarkson style.
 
Here in Finland you can start to practice driving 6 months before you turn 18. Theory part can be started earlier. You can do these in a driving school or then for example your dad can teach you.

There's a book and few hours of theory and of course the driving lessons.

When you have been to those theory lessons (no lessons of course if you do this with your dad, you just have to study the book yourself) you can do the written test. And after driving lessons there's the final driving test (have to be 18, when you do it).

If you pass it, you will get a license that can be used for 2 years. It's basically same as the normal license, but if you get fined more than 2 times, you have to do the driving test again. Great thing is that you can drive where you want and there's no speed limits for young drivers.

During those two years you have to do the "phase 2". There's some more theory and another slippery track driving day (the first one belongs to the normal driving lessons). After that you'll get permanent license.

I think that's about it... :yawn:

EDIT: BTW, many people do the license with dad, because it's fucking expensive to do it in a driving school. My license cost me about 1200 ?, and the phase 2, which i'll do this summer, costs about 2 hundred ?... :cry: If you do it wiith dad, he just have to buy pedals for himself and some extra mirrors. Cheaper.
 
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