{"id":5515,"date":"2015-03-24T05:41:08","date_gmt":"2015-03-23T19:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.privatefleet.com.au\/?p=5515"},"modified":"2020-06-20T01:10:23","modified_gmt":"2020-06-19T15:10:23","slug":"the-toughest-place-to-get-your-licence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/driving\/the-toughest-place-to-get-your-licence\/","title":{"rendered":"The Toughest Place To Get Your Licence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"skidding\"<\/a>So you thought that the practical driving test that you had for getting your driver\u2019s licence was hard.\u00a0 I know I did.\u00a0 Didn\u2019t help that the cop who put me through my paces when I was a timid wee lass of 17 was built like a brick outhouse (fine for dealing with the local drunk and disorderlies; terrifying for a nervous teenager).\u00a0 However, the most difficult thing I got asked to do was to back around a corner \u2013 something that I\u2019d never heard of or seen done so I initially suspected some sort of trap.\u00a0 Also, the small town where I sat my licence was out that back of nowhere, and there were no hills for hill starts, no uncontrolled intersections and, courtesy of the local council planners, no parallel parking in the main street. I practically got my licence out of a cereal packet.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a different story on the other side of the world in Finland. I don\u2019t think that I\u2019d manage to get my driver\u2019s licence even now that mumble-mumble years have gone by and my teenage son is preparing to sit his practical test for the second time (failed the first time for not having parallel parking down pat).\u00a0 Most of us don\u2019t know an awful lot about Finland except that it\u2019s up near the Arctic, borders Sweden, is the home of Nokia and produces rally drivers with names that look like they ought to belong to Tolkien characters.\u00a0 Good rally drivers.\u00a0 And given what you need to do before you get your licence, this isn\u2019t surprising.<\/p>\n

The theory test you get in Finland is pretty much like the one you\u2019d get in most parts of the world \u2013 a set of questions with illustrations showing different scenarios, to which you have to apply your knowledge of the road code (which you probably spent the previous night swotting).\u00a0 After that, the practical driving begins.\u00a0 No being taught by Mum and Dad for the Finns: it\u2019s driving school for two years unless Mum and Dad have an instructors\u2019 permit and the family car (what\u2019s the betting that it\u2019s going to be a Saab <\/a>or Volvo <\/a>from across the border?) is fitted up with an extra pair of brake pedals for the front passenger. \u00a0And you can\u2019t get that provisional licence equivalent until you\u2019re 18. Which means you get your full licence at 20, and it\u2019s valid for another 50 years.<\/p>\n

Driving school isn\u2019t just a case of endless three-point turns and parallel parks in a safe environment.\u00a0 Safeish environment, yes \u2013 including computer simulations for situations that the instructors can\u2019t make happen just like that\u2026 like night driving.<\/p>\n

I have to say that the driving course does look quite fun.\u00a0 There\u2019s quite a good video clip about it.
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