RE: OT: Autobahn driving

[Jeroen Dekker <Jeroen -at- Square1 -dot- nl>]

> and the
> almost fanatic requirements to get a license to drive in Germany.

I'm from Holland, next to Germany, and went to get a US driver's license
when I lived there some years ago. So I drove up to the DMV in my 1983 Grand
Marquis (a large, large automobile for those who don't know), which is
already strange considering I didn't have my license yet. So after checking
the lights and stuff and barely making my 3rd attempt to parallel-park the
beast, the DMV guy sends me around the block. Literally. 5 left turns, and
we were back. During those 5 turns I even managed to cut off an oncoming
car, to which he said "you shouldn't do that". In Holland, the guy would've
made me pull over, get out of the car and drive me back to the DMV himself.
While I was already anticipating the fun everybody would make of me for
having failed, the guy said "Well, you passed, but don't do that again!" And
off I went, legally qualified to drive a lethal weapon.

Not sure about Germany, but in Holland you need to pass a theory exam that
gives you 50 pictures of a traffic situation, and a proposed course of
action. E.g. "You want to take a left turn here; is that allowed?". Then you
have 10 seconds to click Yes or No. 5 mistakes is the maximum. Meanwhile, it
takes about an average of 35 one-hour driving lessons with a professional
instructor (about $30-$40 each), before you get to take your $150 half-hour
driving exam, typically involving freeway driving, city driving, town
driving, special maneouvres. Which many if not most people fail the first
time. Some people need like 5 tries. It's big business. Whether or not it's
fanatic I don't know - in the end, there's good drivers and bad drivers
everywhere. Oh and you need to be 18 in Holland, versus 16 in the US.

I'm sure there's a tech-writing tie-in here somewhere. Visual training
versus written training for example.

Jeroen

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