by Paul Batkins
Home >> Driving Exams or Driving Expenses?
I passed my driving test in 1982 in London. I’d previously passed my motorbike test. Thank God I passed them all well before they decided to introduce the theory test. However, we did also have to study the Highway Code and answer any questions that we were asked correctly. They could ask anything at all in the book so it wasn’t that easy!
I recently decided to take a few recovery driving lessons here in Spain. Not because I have to, but because here you drive on the wrong side of the road! No, seriously, I just found it a bit strange, as my reflexive tendencies for changing gear and using the handbrake are with my left hand, and my natural position for the car is on the left side of the road!
Learning to Drive in Spain
When I was in the centre booking the lessons, they gave me a pamphlet with all the fees for learner drivers. Good thing I don’t have to pay them. There were registration fees, fees for theory lessons, fees for tests, etc., which amounted to thousands of euros. Then I heard from a colleague at work that the multi-choice theory questions have trick answers to catch you out, and hopefully make you pay more money for further tests, as about only three faults are allowed. There are also fees for psychological tests whenever you have to renew your licence, which in Britain you don’t do unless you commit a driving violation or have passed your 70th birthday.
With all these extra safety precautions, you would think that driving in Spain would be one of the safest in Europe, yet there are still thousands of fatal accidents on Spain’s roads. Have a look at this link from the DGT .
Learning to drive in Britain
Britain changed its driving tests fairly recently. Though there the theory test came into force only in 1996, Britain is second on the European list for safe driving. You don’t believe me? Have a look at this . In Britain, moreover, there is now a test where learners watch a video of potential road hazards and have to decide how to react.
To drive a car in Britain, you have to apply for a provisional licence. This allows you to drive only if supervised by a fully qualified driver. So you can take driving lessons with another person, maybe a member of the family, etc., although in my opinion it’s much better to pay for lessons in a driving school than to endure the stress of being taught to drive by your spouse, parent, sibling, etc.
In Britain you have to be over 17 to drive a car, but according to the Department of Transport, 20% of all accidents and 25% of road fatalities are caused by drivers in this age group.
Now don’t misunderstand me! In Britain too it costs money to learn to drive in a driving school, and most people need at least twenty lessons to pass their driving test. But there, in general, the system is more concerned with day-to-day driving and not so much with paperwork! You might like to have a look at the driving test procedure in Britain .
Well, that’s Britain and Spain, but if you want to see a really lax attitude, let’s look at the USA.
Learning to Drive in the USA
Apparently, in the USA you can drive at 16. You just get a licence and drive. Another American colleague tells me that you do need to have a fully qualified driver with you as well. The test system in Oregon consists of a driving test in which your examiner watches you and marks down the successes and faults on a sheet.
You need to get seventy-five points out of a hundred to pass, and if you fail, you just drive around and learn your traffic signals and road sense for another seven to twenty-eight days, depending on how many times you’ve failed. If you fail five times in a row, you wait twelve months to take it again.
But considering the size of the USA, the statistics are not that high. Take a look at this and you will see what I mean. Unfortunately, it doesn’t include Spain.
So, are all these theory lessons and umpteen driving lessons necessary? Or is it just the governments wanting to earn as much money as they can from the poor motorist? Before you answer, you might also want to consider parking and speeding fines, but I think perhaps we’ll leave that for another Weekly Lettter.
Released under the following licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDeriv
You are free to copy, distribute and display the contents of this article but you must give credit to and mention the original author. You are not allowed to use these contents for commercial purposes, and you may not modify them to make any derivative works.
For full licence description, go to: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.1/es/deed.en
Posted on http://www.weeklyletter.com at 2007-06-07 10:00:00 +0200
Copyright (C) ITT (http://www.itt.es) and Planet Lingua (http://www.lingua.es)
We have more weekly letters by Paul
Poll for this weekly letter
The new learner driver safety measures are just to make more money for the government and have nothing really to do with road safety.
Licencing
You are free to copy, distribute and display the contents of this article but you must give credit to and mention the original author. You are not allowed to use these contents for commercial purposes, and you may not modify them to make any derivative works.
(click the above link for more information)
Add a comment
Hello.
1.-I think the new driving measures are necesary, because there are too many accidents.
2.- There are many times you don’t need to go to a driving school, because you know how to drive. Sometimes you only need to pass the exam, but you can’t if you don’t receive any class
3.- There are many countries where people drive worse than in Spain. for example in China is a danger to cross the road to the other side.
Patricia
Here in Hervey Bay, Australia, there are a lot of young men who drive their cars as if they were Ferraris. But, otherwise, I think that driving here is quite easy and even relaxing. The roads are wide, there aren’t too many cars, and there’s always a place to park for free.
It hasn’t been a problem for me to get used to driving on the left lane. It did, however, take me some time to get used to driving an automatic car, which is quite common in Australia. All of a sudden, my left foot had nothing to do!
The driving tests are similar to the ones in the UK.
My wife has just learnt to drive, in a proper driving school. If what she was taught so that she could pass the test is any indication, then I’m not surprised there are so many accidents here. She wasn’t taught how to do an emergency stop. She wasn’t taught how to do a hill start with the handbrake. Shockingly, her instructor mentioned nothing of a car’s blind spots, something which I consider fundamental.
You only have to drive here for a while to see how bad the driving is. People tailgate. They drive too fast. They use a mobile phone and smoke at the wheel, sometimes at the same time. When it rains people seem to speed up. Drivers here are impatient, discourteous, inconsiderate, lazy and sometimes downright bloody dangerous. Yes, there is the new points-based driving licence, but if the police aren’t going to enforce the law, then what’s the point?
I’m glad I learnt to drive in Britain!
(I’ll get off my soapbox now)
Thanks for your answers.
Patrica
If you are a Lingua student as I think you are, you should send your comments to the questions to your tutor, and they will comment on /correct them.
The blog is generally for more general comments,but please feel free to comment on any Weekly letter or Business Weekly Letter.
I personally think some driving measures stop accidents happening,but a lot of them are superflous and just to look good or make more money.
Although you can learn with a member of the family,and take your test in Britain, I don’t think it’s a good Idea as you need to know all about the highway code and road safety,and have the technical driving knowledge to enable you to pass an exam. So I think that you’ll have a much greater chance of failing the exam, if you don’t learn from a qualified driving instructor.
I do feel however that you can get a lot more practical practice on the road if you are allowed to drive with a provisional licence and with a qualified driver.
But this would also mean you don’t have to have so many lessons,and therefore give less money to the driving schools. Maybe that’s why it’s not so popular in Spain?
I don’t know a lot about driving in China,but if the funny e-mails I’ve received at work are anything to go by , then I think driving in China must be pretty horrendous!
Paola
Hello Paola. Nice to hear from you.
Funny enough, I was wondering about how you would feel driving in Australia. As you have the exact same situation,( but in reverse) that I have here in Spain!
I’ve found that as long as I keep to the right, I’m ok. It’s when I start going over to the left even if I’m alowed to ( In one-way traffic etc) that It starts to become a problem because if you then reach a junction, it’s easy to forget and turn left. (as un unfortunate cyclist found when I nearly knocked him over in a town called Intxaurondo!)
Thank heaven the for dual brakes in a driving school car!
I just need to say to myself. “Keep over to the right stupid !” And it works!
Well,that’s all from me. Bye for now, and good luck with your driving in the land of Oz!
I am 46. I don’t drive. I have never driven. I will never drive. In all my life I have never needed to be anywhere so fast that I needed a car.
On a bus or Metro you have time to read and to think. All cars do is raise your blood pressure and lower your bank balance.
It takes the same time to cross London in 2007 in a car as it did in 1857 by horse and carriage.
I do not want to hurtle along in a dangerous metal box under the illusion that joining a traffic jam somehow liberates me.
—_“I can’t swim. I can’t drive, either. I was going to learn to drive but then I thought, well, what if I crash into a lake?â€? _ Dylan Moran
Knowing how to drive nowadays is almost necessary, driving is not. I drive. I got my driver’s license late; I was 17 (In Iowa, you can get a learner’s permit at 14 and a license at 16). In my high school, driving was yet another class (the only class I ever received an academic warning in). It wasn’t so much theory as it was practice. We even had simulators, little machines with a steering wheel and pedals and a big video screen…the video never had an accident.
Here, knowing how to drive well is secondary when getting a license. If you can pass the evil exam (something I was forced to do because I am, ahem, American), that is enough. The evil exam consists of arbitrary questions that do not test your knowledge but test your ability to identify trick questions. I passed the first time. Then when you go to the “real” driving test, you are tested by people who either drive worse than you do or are determined to make you fail. My examiner here chatted with my instructor about hunting. I passed the first time.
We (in Europe) can get by without driving, but lately, my car being repaired, I have discovered how irritating public transport can be, especially all the wasted time waiting and waiting and waiting… (I will stop at this point because if I continue, this might as well be published as a sequel Weekly!)
Hello everybody. Thanks for your replies.
Dave
Well Dave, I think you’ve said it all! Although I cannot give such a vivid opinion because I haven’t really driven to any extent on Spanish roads yet.
Although what I have seen hasn’t been really impressive.
I must agree about the handbrake though. I couldn’t believe it when the instructor over here told me to not to use it on a steep hilll,about a 1/10 I think.
Now I can balance the clutch really well,but you still roll back to some degree!
I think in all fairness tailgating is an international thing,and I’ve seen loads of drivers tailgate in London, but I do agree from what I’ve seen that the Spanish are much more disrespectful than British drivers.
Dónal
Having seen the argument from both sides, ie spending years driving in London and then being without a car for a few years even in England then starting to drive again,and having spent 10 years in Spain without driving,it’s very easy to get used to not having a car again.
I agree they’re very expensive to run. Especially in England, but they do give you your freedom. For example: sometimes there isn’t any transport if it’s late at night and a car can be very handy to get home.
In the Basque Country as you know there often isn’t adequate transport from one town to another so a car can be a real bonus there!
I know you can take a taxi,but they’re normally very expensive.
You made me laugh when you called a car a little metal box because you reminded me of someone who once said to me. ” A car can be as fast as you like or as luxurious as you like,but when you’re stuck in a traffic jam,they’re just little metal boxes with irrate drivers in them.”
Paola
Just an afterthought,as I was too sleepy last Friday afternoon!
I was also interested by your comments on automatic cars.
I have driven a few automatics and you have to keep your left foot back ,as the pedals are normally (in England anyway) very big. Another thing is that the brakes are normally very strong too.
I don’t know if the automatics in Australia have column change (the gears are on the steering column) like in America or have central drive,park and reverse gears like in Britain, but one thing that can happen is that the car can start moving albeit very slowly without you putting your foot on the accelerator !
I remember the first automatic I drove. I picked up an XJ6 Jaguar for a company director from a garage. I took about 2 minutes trying to find the handbrake as it was in a very strange position. (They often are in luxury cars!) The car started moving as I put it in drive so I braked,but the brakes were so strong that it was like a mechanical horse. The mechanic’s face was a picture. I’m sure he thought I didn’t know how to drive!
Oh well,enough of my boring anecdotes.
Bye for now,
Hello Wes!
I must admit I’m surprised you can get a permit at 14 in America. If the age limit gets any lower,they’ll be driving in nappies. (diapers to you Americans)
Maybe they could start having classes in those children’s pedal cars. (Slight exaggeration I know!)
I must agree with you however about practical driving ,which I consider to be very important,although I think you need half and half. Half the practice in a driving school and half driving on the road with a qualified driver.
I can’t drive. I get driven. But I have drive. And I drive some crazy.
My dad says that if you can drive in Manila, you can drive anywhere. To drive there, you don’t need lessons. You have to be street-smart.
Hi!
I can tell you my experience here in Spain. I passed my driving test in 1994 and motorbike test in 2003 in Madrid. In the fisrt case, the theory test was relatively easy and I started my first classes with the teacher 2 weeks before the theory test.
The teacher was so clear and I remember what he told me: “Victor, I´m not going to teach you drive well, I want you to pass the exam; then you have time to learn with your own car”. At first, I thought he was joking but he was true, I could observe that in the driving school only help you to obtain the licence. All my instruction was focused to confront and pass diverse situations I could encounter in the exam.
I passed the exam, with a bit of luck, and I can ensure that I really started to learn when I was alone with my car. I don´t know if this happen in other countries but, in Spain, I`m sure that nobody learn well in driving school.
Bye!
Thanks for all your comments.
José Victor
I agree with you entirely,and I think your instructor was just being honest with you.
You really just have to drive how they want you to drive in the exam, and have to do things exactly by the book or you’ll fail.
I remember with my instructor when a woman pulled out in front of the car,and I had to do a very unexpected emergency stop.
He said ” You would’ve failed the exam!” I said “why. I’ve stopped perfectly and didn’t have an accident! ”
“You’re not in full control of the car” he said.
Apparently, as I had reached down quickly afterwards, a split second before the car stoped to change the gear and didn’t have both hands on the wheel, I would’ve failed the test for not being in full control of the car!
Gina
Well done Gina! You’ve just given us 3 definitions of the verb “to drive”.
I personally think all woman drive us men crazy!
Oscar
As I said in one of my earlier comments I don’t really know anything about driving in Asian countries apart from the funny e-mails I receive, but I’ll trust your dad’s judgment!
Hi everybody,
I’d never wondered about this question, but may be you are right, Paul. The system to learn to drive in Spain is very expensive and I think that it isn’t the best, because, in fact, it isn’t the safest.
It could be that people in Spain know the Highway Code more than in other countries, they might pass psychological tests that aren’t necesary in other countries, but don’t drive better than foreigners.
There are a lot of people involved in this system who earn their money through the system, and I think this isn’t a red-hot issue actually, probably because of the ignorance about other systems. Do you think this is it ?
Hello Paul,
I really enjoy driving…especially my motorbike, but not in traffic jams where (we) people usually get anxious for many different reasons and are always in a hurry.
I enjoy driving in lonely roads, like the ones Paola describes in Australia.
Regarding accidents, I think that the education we receive, traffic laws, seeing policemen when you drive, radars and other measueres are conditioning the rate of traffic accidents. The state of the roads and infrastructure has also an impact on this rate.
Best regards,
Cristina
Thanks for your further comments.
Toni.
I think that although Spain may not be the safest country in the world in which to drive,it’s certainly not the worst.
Just take a look at the weekipedia link in the article and you’ll see that the Eastern Euopeaan countries record is horrendous!
Knowing the Highway Code helps you to drive I agree, but there’s nothing like practical road sense!
Although I don’t think this is the most important issue, I think the Spanish Government would do well to look at other countries systems in order to better their own,and not concentrate so much on making money out of the poor motorist.
Introducing a provisional licence so people could practice more, would be a good start!
Christina
I love riding a motorbike in the summer with the wind blowing on you.It’s great!
Yes, I think some traffic laws do have a good effect on road traffic accidents,but as I already said, a lot of them are just money orientated.
Hi,
I like the theme of the article Paul! I’m always tempted to think that the accident figures & styles of driving here are much worse than elsewhere, in Europe say, but then again one factor that must have a direct influence is simply this : the number of journeys that people here make.For example, within Britain many people travel abroad when they go on holiday. That effectively gets them off British roads.The country is smaller/ narrower/ shorter. Fewer longer journeys are made (or even possible) and perhpas (I don’t know) it’s on those type of journeys that the risk of accidents through tiredness is higher (come the next puente ask people you know how often they stopped for a break…) But here a much higher number of people simply drive to their destination. More accidents are a logical result.More car journeys take place.
It surprises me too that there are a lot of people around who prefer to a) cynically accuse the authorities of trying to make money from fines, exams etc etc…instead of b) accepting that wearing a seat belt and driving more carefully is directly going to reduce the possibility of death.
The costs of emergency services, motorway surveillance, damage to public property caused by accidents, let alone the costs of “educating” people about the dangers (tv ads etc) is huge in itself.
...