Progress towards full driving licences for all three children is slow. They’ve all passed their theory test including herself who finally did it last summer. To be honest, I was never very worried about the theory test even if there were a lot of hard questions about tractors (the licence also equips one to drive a tractor something I don’t expect to be a major feature of their lives but who can tell?) – I think they might all have got 100% – it’s the practical test I was more concerned about and I am right there. Herself is in England and so beyond help essentially – she’ll have to sort herself out, I think. I regret this but there it is.
The other two are at home and on our insurance policy at enormous expense (two twenty year olds on provisional licences, of course the expense is enormous). One of them has taken the test and failed. The other hasn’t taken the test yet. Part of the problem is that they don’t have much practice as our lifestyle does not involve much driving. Because of where we live it is almost always easier to cycle or take public transport. If we are going for longer distances we tend to take the motorway where learner drivers are not allowed. And, of course, they have to be accompanied by a qualified driver so we have to go with them when they drive which is a bit tedious and occasionally alarming. I suppose we will get there in the end.
We had a friend who lives in the Netherlands to stay recently (home for a month’s mind for a man she knew from college, very depressing, only in his mid-50s with young children). Her children are of an age with our children so we were asking about progress on driving and her eldest has passed the test. We were suitably impressed particularly when we heard about the Dutch system. Apparently the people who give you your lessons also pass you on the test. The lessons cost a fortune so the incentive to pass people is low. Her son passed on his third or fourth attempt and it is not at all unusual to have a lot of attempts. On one occasion, her son turned up to take his test but could not do so as the test centre had been burnt down by someone who had been failed 14 times. People, there’s a whole world out there.
My eldest son was an AWFUL driver. I was a passenger with him just once while he tore down a highway under construction drinking a can of coke, music on full blast with his window wide open. Never again.
His car sat unused during Covid and thankfully he has let his license lapse.
That is terrifying but somehow the awfulness seems deliberate rather than accidental which is better, I guess?
When I got my license 40-ish years ago, I took the classroom sessions at school , had 3-4 practice sessions with the instructor and then was free to go to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to take the test. Which I did not as my father required me to take the test on a standard car. It was a good requirement although I didn’t think so at the time, especially as we lived in an area with many steep hills.
When my daughter got her license 3 years ago, the process had changed a lot, with 18 months minimum of combined classroom instruction, 40 hours of practice with a parent, and then formal road instruction with a state-appointed private instructor. My daughter took 2.5 years to complete the requirements and I suspect the private instructor only passed her out of frustration. I found the whole process terrifying, but she is a pretty good driver.
Previously, there was a requirement that new drivers (accompanied by parents if underage) had to go before a judge to receive their license but that was given up after Covid.
Good luck to your three!
I am fascinated by requirements in other countries. When you think about it it’s kind of crazy that these young people can head out and drive around with these lethal machines but it seems to, weirdly, work ok.