I had my first UK driving lesson/assessment this morning. We originally thought we'd only be here about a year, so we only took the first part of the driving test, 2 years ago, which gave us a Provisional License so we could drive another 2 years. Well here we are, coming up on 3 years here in July (I still feel a bit shocked by that- in some ways so little has changed since our first weeks here) so we will need to get the next phase of the driving test taken care of before the Provisional runs out or else we can't drive here legally. Mine runs out in June, and I don't like to leave this sort of thing till the last minute so I booked a free assessment with a business contact of mine who teaches driving. Mind you I've never taken an actual driving test- when I was 16 it wasn't required, we only had to take the written part. I've been practicing what they consider to be good driving habits here though, for the past 2 years.
The driving lesson was very easy- I was relieved to hear him say that I should go ahead and book the test, with an hour or 2 or instruction beforehand, and I'd pass it easily. The goal is that you be a "safe" driver, and learning what exactly they mean by that is where it gets tricky. Anyway he considered me a safe driver already, which is good- only 60% of people pass the test the first time through, and 40% is a large enough possibility of failing!
I'll book the test for March I think so I can get it out of the way, and then I'll have a UK drivers license for life. That's right- for life. You don't have to renew it, or take more tests, or anything at all- once you have it that's it. I'm sure having a UK license will be helpful int he future, as most countries will allow you to drive if you have a UK one.
No comments:
Post a Comment