driver's licenses

When I was 17 I was going to an international high school located a 20 minute walk from the Village ... a village along the shore of Shawnigan Lake on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada. That is where I took two driving lessons - I think there was a stop-sign to practice stopping at, and the third driving lesson I took was in the nearest town, where I right afterward took my road test. This was the first time I had to deal with pedestrians, one-way streets, and traffic lights.

I passed. Barely. Don't remember how much it cost, but including the written test, lessons, road test, and license print-out it couldn't have been more than CAD200 (?) (using today's rates, approximately equivalent to NOK 1,250 / US$ 160 / NT 5,000).

Second time I got a car's driver's license was last year in Taiwan, before we came back to Norway (my Canadian driver's license expired about seven or so years ago; before it expired...or shortly after...I got my scooter driver's license in Taiwan - equally interesting experience, but I didn't take a driving course).

There I took a month long driving course, which consisted of practicing the closed-in obstacle course the road test consists of again and again and again, following all the tricks provided to me by my driving instructor ("for the parallel park, back up until that pole lines up with this part of the car, turn the wheel so-and-so many times, back up until this line appears in this mirror, then turn the wheel so-and-so many times back, and continue backing up until you see that line in that other mirror, and then stop").

The obstacal course consisted of using your blinker when turning, perpendicular and parallel parking, stopping at a train crossing, stopping and starting on a hill without sliding backward, stopping for a stop light, and driving straight - changing up to third gear - before stopping again, and then stopping for a pedestrian crossing (for a more detailed recap, see this post written after I took the test).

I passed. With flying colors. It cost all in all NT11,000 (CAD 440 / US$ 350 / NOK 2700).

Now it is time for me to take my driver's test a third time, now in Norway. Judge just got his last Thursday, after completing four levels of courses where the following were mandatory:

• First aid
• Driving in the dark
• Driving on slippery road conditions
• Long-distance driving (7 hours, 3.5 hours there that he drove and 3.5 hours back that another student)
• Travel planning (semi-long distance driving where I think technically they are supposed to plan the trip to hit about 20 local places listed up for them, and estimate time and gas usage, but his instructor had forgotten to send the list to Judge until the night before the trip, so he just told him where to drive and pointed the places out to him, while the other guy I think had to do the planning)
• Two advisory driving classes at level 2 and 3 to ensure he was ready to move to the next level

He also took individual driving lessons until his instructor felt comfortable with his driving skills both in terms of being confident with Norwegian driving rules and being economical enough in his driving method (using the correct gearing, speed, and braking so as to let out the least amount of CO2/use the least amount of gas); he needed a total of 13 lessons.

Then his instructor took him a final round around the town his driving test was going to be, right before his test, as it is in a different town about 50 min from the village they had normally been practicing (which is a 45 min bus-ride from our village), and Judge used that car for his driving test, which lasted one hour out on the open, wintery roads of that town and surrounding area.

Including the written test, lessons, road test (using the instructor's car, which is a requirement), and actual driver's license it cost us a total of NOK29,000. That is an equivalent of US$ 3,800 / CAD 4,800 / NT 120,000.

And now it is my turn. ... We are hoping I won't have to take many individual driving lessons, which could save us about NOK 7,000. Now wouldn't that be nice.

[taken on today's walk]

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