English Living: Driving Licence
Every now and again I give a bit of tale to whoever might be listening on the other end of my chat session. Tale of some injustice or weirdness of living in England. Some have suggested I should be writing these down somewhere. So, in honor of the fact that it has now been a year (holy jesus) since I moved over here and because my tumblelog is about something other than this, I'll see what I can get started here.
Today I passed my UK driving licence practical exam. This is the part where you do some actual driving. Earlier I did the theory and hazard perception portions of the test. The whole thing felt like quite an ordeal, but evidently I got off easy.
Those of us who learned to drive in the US will remember being 16 or whatever and getting shoved into a car with a terrified parent and setting out on the road. A short time later you go to a testing place, write some things down you learned in a book, get in the car drive around the block and as long as you don't run into anything, it's time to go home a newly certified driver.
Some of us (I was one) may have lived in a state where there was compulsory drivers' education: watch a bunch of really gory movies, then spend some time becoming friends in the back of a car with some people you never otherwise would have talked to in school, laughing when the guy up front fucks up a little or commiserating when they fuck up a lot.
It's not quite like that here. Officials recommend 40 hours of in car training with a professional driving instructor. There is only a 42% pass rate. You can have major and minor faults. Major fault and you're done. I think you can have 15 minor faults. I got eight.
The theory test and hazard perception stuff is not too much of a big deal. You sign up on online and they tell you where the nearest testing center is. You spend some time studying books or online resources. The questions are very detailed but with multiple choice answers; however, unlike my recollection of the US tests of similar ilk it isn't one obvious answer and several laughable answers.
The other half of the theory test experience is the hazard perception test. You watch some videos and click on the screen when something in the video is going to make you slow down or change direction. This is much trickier than it sounds. I don't know if it is a UI thing or what, but damn. But I passed both, so...
You have to get a thing called a provisional licence. This is like a learners permit in the state. It says you can drive with an adult, during the day. I was already driving on my US license so this part didn't matter much to me, but for the parts where I was getting instruction and doing the test, it was that licence I was using.
Once you have the licence, you can seek out a driving instructor. There are five million of these guys. Especially in Oxford. I asked the examiner today how many people they run a day. He didn't tell me but he did say that on a busy day they run eight examiners concurrently. Each test is about 45 minutes long.
My first instructor was a guy I found online. He responded to my email. I could write an entire book on the email and retail experience in the UK. If you want to make contact with someone in a business here, call them. Email just doesn't seem to work out. But this guy, he did respond to my email so I thought, right on, I'll go to him.
Before our first meeting I did some asking around and some learning. As it happens, Ben (my son) is in the process of taking lessons as well, so he, amongst others, was able to give me the skinny on how things work.
It's all about the details. There is a wrong and right way to hold the wheel. There is a time and place for the handbrake. You should turn the wheel _this_ much. Shift now. Oh, did I tell you that you can only drive a manual transmission car if you test for a full licence? If you test in an automatic car, then you can only drive automatic cars. When you take the test you get faults for being in the wrong gear, for revving too high or too low, for not using the handbrake, for hesitating, for not using the mirrors as much or when you should.
So filled with all this alarming knowledge I meet up with my dude. He's in a little black Hyundai. No problem there. The problem is that in this car the turn signal is on the right. In my car and every other car I've ever driven it's on the left. So for our first day I kept heading around corners with the wipers on.
This guy was pretty keen on starting me from scratch. I never got comfortable. The next day I fell sick anyway, so I gave up on that guy.
The next guy was more my style. We did 3 lessons of two hours each. His initial assessment was much the same as mine: I can get around without killing people but I have habits that are not in line with the details mentioned above and I don't know much about the maneuvers that done during the test.
Those are things that test your ability to go backwards mostly: reversing behind a car (like parallel parking), 3 point turn in the road, reversing around a corner, reversing into a parking bay. There are ways these are to be done, details thereof. Such as when and where you make your observations. And don't forget that handbrake!
And then there's the show me tell me part of the test. At the start of the test you have to answer two safety questions about the car. Such as the how to check the tyre pressure or the oil. Or how to turn the rear foglights on. Or how to confirm the power steering is working. Where's the horn?
Miagra.
But is done. I'm now able to legally drive in the UK. Today was the day I took my test, today was the last day my US license could officially be used here (although as far as I know no one is checking).
Don't forget to use your handbrake.
Today I passed my UK driving licence practical exam. This is the part where you do some actual driving. Earlier I did the theory and hazard perception portions of the test. The whole thing felt like quite an ordeal, but evidently I got off easy.
Those of us who learned to drive in the US will remember being 16 or whatever and getting shoved into a car with a terrified parent and setting out on the road. A short time later you go to a testing place, write some things down you learned in a book, get in the car drive around the block and as long as you don't run into anything, it's time to go home a newly certified driver.
Some of us (I was one) may have lived in a state where there was compulsory drivers' education: watch a bunch of really gory movies, then spend some time becoming friends in the back of a car with some people you never otherwise would have talked to in school, laughing when the guy up front fucks up a little or commiserating when they fuck up a lot.
It's not quite like that here. Officials recommend 40 hours of in car training with a professional driving instructor. There is only a 42% pass rate. You can have major and minor faults. Major fault and you're done. I think you can have 15 minor faults. I got eight.
The theory test and hazard perception stuff is not too much of a big deal. You sign up on online and they tell you where the nearest testing center is. You spend some time studying books or online resources. The questions are very detailed but with multiple choice answers; however, unlike my recollection of the US tests of similar ilk it isn't one obvious answer and several laughable answers.
The other half of the theory test experience is the hazard perception test. You watch some videos and click on the screen when something in the video is going to make you slow down or change direction. This is much trickier than it sounds. I don't know if it is a UI thing or what, but damn. But I passed both, so...
You have to get a thing called a provisional licence. This is like a learners permit in the state. It says you can drive with an adult, during the day. I was already driving on my US license so this part didn't matter much to me, but for the parts where I was getting instruction and doing the test, it was that licence I was using.
Once you have the licence, you can seek out a driving instructor. There are five million of these guys. Especially in Oxford. I asked the examiner today how many people they run a day. He didn't tell me but he did say that on a busy day they run eight examiners concurrently. Each test is about 45 minutes long.
My first instructor was a guy I found online. He responded to my email. I could write an entire book on the email and retail experience in the UK. If you want to make contact with someone in a business here, call them. Email just doesn't seem to work out. But this guy, he did respond to my email so I thought, right on, I'll go to him.
Before our first meeting I did some asking around and some learning. As it happens, Ben (my son) is in the process of taking lessons as well, so he, amongst others, was able to give me the skinny on how things work.
It's all about the details. There is a wrong and right way to hold the wheel. There is a time and place for the handbrake. You should turn the wheel _this_ much. Shift now. Oh, did I tell you that you can only drive a manual transmission car if you test for a full licence? If you test in an automatic car, then you can only drive automatic cars. When you take the test you get faults for being in the wrong gear, for revving too high or too low, for not using the handbrake, for hesitating, for not using the mirrors as much or when you should.
So filled with all this alarming knowledge I meet up with my dude. He's in a little black Hyundai. No problem there. The problem is that in this car the turn signal is on the right. In my car and every other car I've ever driven it's on the left. So for our first day I kept heading around corners with the wipers on.
This guy was pretty keen on starting me from scratch. I never got comfortable. The next day I fell sick anyway, so I gave up on that guy.
The next guy was more my style. We did 3 lessons of two hours each. His initial assessment was much the same as mine: I can get around without killing people but I have habits that are not in line with the details mentioned above and I don't know much about the maneuvers that done during the test.
Those are things that test your ability to go backwards mostly: reversing behind a car (like parallel parking), 3 point turn in the road, reversing around a corner, reversing into a parking bay. There are ways these are to be done, details thereof. Such as when and where you make your observations. And don't forget that handbrake!
And then there's the show me tell me part of the test. At the start of the test you have to answer two safety questions about the car. Such as the how to check the tyre pressure or the oil. Or how to turn the rear foglights on. Or how to confirm the power steering is working. Where's the horn?
Miagra.
But is done. I'm now able to legally drive in the UK. Today was the day I took my test, today was the last day my US license could officially be used here (although as far as I know no one is checking).
Don't forget to use your handbrake.