23 Jun
driving license: step 2
so you need two things before you can go to the road test.
- learners permit, enables you to practice
- 5 hour theory course, aka “pre-licensing course completion certificate”
(it is not mandatory to have any driving hours, although they recommend to have at least 30).
today I finished number two and boy, there ARE some differences to the european/austrian way of driving.
- there is no preferred lane (”driving on the most right lane”) if you drive on a multilane road
- but there is a preferred lane if you turn into another driveway on a crossing depending if you turn into a one way or two way street (this gave me the most headache so far)
- there are many conditions when you can overtake on the right side of a car
- you can also turn right on a red light (but not in New York City, everywhere else you can)
- the highway speed limit is kinda ridiculous (55mph? wtf?!)
- you have to stop for a school bus on the other driving direction when his red lights are flashing, even when the bus is 6 or more lanes away and there is no way whatsoever that children would ever dare to cross that many lanes (people actually failed on that one during the road test)
- …
So it seems I will take a couple of driving lessons, to get the new rules “into my system”.
But the funny thing is, I guess its much harder the other way around. I can vividly imagine an american driving in austria, struggling with manual gear, always trying to turn right on a red light, using the most left lane on a highway and wondering why the cars behind him get so close …. 