Dang, feel like murdering someone. These things are so stupid.

lol, you failed a driving test. They must be more difficult in Italy or wherever you are now. In the US it's along the lines of:

What color is a red stop sign?
Should you yield at a yield sign?
IF there's a highway and a crossroad with a stop sign, who has the right-of-way?

You know.

Heh - from what I hear they are harder in Europe in general, but... Satis must be forgetting some of the American BS they pull during the tests here. Morstly referring to the driving portion. I mean I got a coupld of points docked when the instructer covered the rearview and side mirrors and asked me to name the color of the car that stopped behind me at a stoplight. I mean WTF - who gives a shit if it didn't hit you or have sirens and lights!

Also, the car I took the test in was the schools car... not mine, and I got another couple of points taken off because I coupld not immediately find the windshield wipers - and it was a car I had never been in before in my life. I noticed them when I got it - but even in a new car it takes me a couple of times to just instincivly know where the wipers and such are located. I mean they are all basically in the same spot. Bah!

In Sr and Bg, I don't know personally somebody who passed it from the first try. I don't have a car, anyway, so I didn't take it.

Theyre renound as being pretty strict here in the UK. i mean, i failed because:

a) In heavy traffic, I switched lanes and made the person behind me in the new lane slow down.

b) squeezed through a tight spot with ease but should have waited because the other guy was speeding.

Damn, you should have failed. No offense. Those guys want to feel like in a goddamn coach when examining you.

(I removed a story from here for I was unsure if it went exactly like that, I will try to check)

From what I heard of Dutch people having driving tests in the US, it's a joke around there. Then again, US traffic is a lot easier then European traffic. Our cities are old and not build for lots of vehicles, space is scarce and it often comes down to centimetres if nor millimetres (especially when parking).
You can see the difference in car design too. American cars are great for driving fast in a straight line, European cars can make turns. Unfortunately, Asian cars are superior in a lot of ways.

Asian cars are in no way superior, they deliver what is needed at the most basic level, european cars deliver more than is needed and US cars, well lets just say that my personal point of view quite hostile toward US cars. Asian cars have lower price and in a lot of situations thats all that matters.

Derf, feel for you man. Driving exams suck.

I don't have a license either, btw. I have a provisional one - I took the theoretical exam- but I never bothered with the practical driving exam itself. So, I can't drive cars (or rather, i'm not allowed to - I am able). It's only really a bother when I need to pick up/go to a party at a remote location at night, but even then I can usually tag along with others.

When living in a big city, driving is seriously overrated in Europe. Costs handfuls of money, you're constantly stuck in traffic and the inner cities are restricted anyway.

As for the exams...I guess they're pretty strict. The last I heard, you had to be able to set tire pressure, gaugle oil levels and even (not sure) replace a tire on the practical exam, aside from the driving on the road and the manoeuvres on the driving school lot.

I guess that makes sense. Driving a car in Europe isn't strictly necessary... certainly not in the places I've lived. Public transportation can get you anywhere. The US is different... if you don't have a car, you're not mobile. You'll have a hell of a time getting to work, doing grocery shopping, or pretty much anything else if you don't have a car.

Oh well. Anyone know how long a German driver's license is good for? When I was living there as a teenager I automatically got one for having an American driver's license.

Having a license is indeed not necessary, but having one does have its uses. Going to my parents takes half an hour by car, and one and a half with public transportation. Still I don't drive much, and public transport is comfortable enough for me (having to do nothing is an important factor in this).

I agree Arathorn. I don't mind public transport too much usually, because it allows me to read. I often take a bus that is slightly less crowded but takes a little longer just so I can read in silence.

All in all: if it takes 30 minute to drive/ride my bike spent doing nothing but driving or 50 minutes I can use to read...it's not a bad payoff.

You tend to become pretty Zen when you're used to public transport too. It's funny, but I do notice how my friends with cars are a lot more impatient when it comes to waiting for something, anything. Not that I like wasting time but there's no use getting wound up over something you have no control over.

Most of the time people have to wait for me, but I can't blame that on public transport.

In Bulgaria, the city transport is pretty a must for many people. Usually you spend like twenty minutes (up to 90 minutes) waiting for any bus to appear, and then you fight with other 400 people that gathered on the station for a place in it. Inside, you are squeezed, and sometimes exposed to the sort of pickpocketers. (not exactly an environment where you can do anything else but fighting for air and watching your pockets) If you are wearing a suit, better take a taxi (pepper expensive) or line-taxi (although it also tends to be quite full).

The funny thing is that even trottoirs are missing on many places so, if you don't have a car, you are either destined to wait for a bus or to walk through mud / fight with cars for a little space on the street.

Beauties of EU.

I assume it's more or less the same in Bulgaria: when I was living in Prague, I couldn't help but notice that gas (car gas) cost about the same as in Belgium, even though the CR (and Bulgaria) have a lower standard of living than Belgium. People make less money there, but gas costs the same as over here...so in their eyes or lives it must have been really expensive. Many consider it to be expensive here as it is.

It's strange really, because you'd think that gas would get cheaper the more you go to the East, as that's where the oilfields are.

What's a line taxi btw? Express bus service?