PiNG's Danish Adventures: The Danish Driving License

PiNG's Danish Adventures: The Danish Driving License

The Danish drivers test is like...

Unfortunately I cannot claim that that Australia is free of these ridiculous tests that people are forced to go through, but this video reminded me of what it was like to go through the Danish Driving test!

A course of action that I would not recommend!

Well on a lighter note (well not at the time, but upon reflection), I have something kind of funny to share about my experience at the theory test yesterday. After coming out of the test and waiting about 15 minutes for the results, we were handed back our application forms with a sheet which summarised our "results" (see picture). There was no explanation, no congratulations you have passed or sorry you have failed, no instructions on what you should do next, nothing, just simply the forms were handed back by the same grim faced police officer who conducted the test. I quickly looked down the page to find the "6" fails - SHIT!!! Looking around the room I could see that I was by no means the only one who had failed, but even those who had passed only seemed to have just passed with 5 wrong pictures (at least I didn't see anyone with less than 5 wrong). One thing we all had wrong in common was pictures 1 and 2, despite people saying they had answered it differently. Picture one was about overtaking on a country road and it didn't seem to mater whether people had answered yes or no to overtaking, we all got the picture wrong, so obviously some of the other questions pertaining to the picture were tricky! Apart from the "report sheet" being too brief and in Danish, it is seriously hard to remember the 25 pictures and what the questions to each were, so the report card was pretty useless as far as I was concerned!

When I approached the grim faced police officer (well at least I presume he was a police officer, he was not in uniform) and asked if I could go through the incorrect questions with him or someone else, I was abruptly told that I should do that with my driving school instructor! I complained that this was not possible, as the sheet he had given me did not have sufficient information for that,

and I was again abruptly dismissed, at which point my anger overflowed and I let 6 months of frustration fly! I said (or something very close to this ) "I have been driving 25 years in Australia with a good driving record and I am now forced to go through this crap.... this is total crap" and maybe there were a few more rantings as I went out the door ........ So I am not sure I would recommend an outburst like this, but certainly you should let them know this is an unfair test and system and that YOU object to it! By the look on my other theory test victims faces I think I said exactly what they were all wanting to say but maybe did not have the courage to! I think I understand why the police officer was so grim faced now, its probably not the first or last time he will get an angry outburst like that, which for me is just another indication, like the 30% pass rate, that something is seriously wrong here!

Take the fight to the Danish Ministry of Justice!

Apart from coming home from my failed theory test yesterday completely deflated, angry and in need a a hard drink, today I decided to be more proactive and hence this blog. I also wrote to the Danish Ministry of Justice (again) and the Australian Embassy (again) regarding the situation. Below is a copy of my email to the Ministry of Justice. If you are at all inclined, I would encourage you to write an email, even if only brief. If no one ever complains, then obviously it is not a problem and nothing will ever change or be done to fix the problem! I'm aware that if any change does come out of this that it might be too late to make a difference for me, but this "injustice" just infuriates me and I would like to see it changed so that at least people in the future might benefit!

I'm also considering starting a petition and standing out the front of the Teoriprøve doors in Valby where I took the test. I'm sure I would have absolutely no problem whatsoever getting people to sign a petition! I could overhear just about everyone complaining about it in some way. Maybe we could start an online petition (but I have not worked out how I would go about this, so please anyone who has any ideas please let me know).

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To:

jm@jm.dk

Dear Sir/Madam,

I'm writing to you to provide an update on my experience to gain a Danish Drivers licence (see your reply to my email from last year attached).

Firstly I would like to say quite simply that this has been one of the most frustrating and time consuming processes I have ever endured!!!!

I can also tell you, that I am not the only Australian, American or foreign national that finds this process totally frustrating.

Because I was not fortunate enough to have an ACT licence, I was forced to go through the Danish Drivers licence tests, however as you probably know, the obscure Danish drivers theory test is almost impossible to pass on knowledge of the road laws or driving ability alone, you need to understand what the Danish authorities "expect" to hear for very weird questions such as "what must you pay particular attention to?". So even if you have practised and continually pass the online practice test and believe you have got some idea of what they want to hear, you can still fail the actual theory test as I did yesterday! The fact that this test is unfair and totally obscure is reflected in the fact that (I believe) only 30% of people pass this test, and from my perspective it seems like it is by luck as much as knowledge that people manage to pass. Even Danish people are frustrated by these tests and find them difficult to pass (An intelligent, professional engineer colleague had to sit the theory test 3 times before passing!!). The whole reason I decided to get a car here is because I travel 3+ hours everyday by train to work. Getting a licence and car was meant to save me time, but so far it has consumed my time and money, and after 6 months jumping through several regulatory hoops and frustrating delays (I won't even bother to explain this part here) I finally got to sit the theory test and then failed! I anticipate it will possibly take several more attempts to pass the theory test (by luck), and then sit the practical test, and this could take another 6 months - a total of 12 months and lots of heartache and frustration to get a car which was meant to save me time! I am now in the situation where I must simply decide how much more effort I am prepared to put into this process. Should I continue to persevere until I somehow get lucky and pass this test, or should I put up with my long train travel to work everyday. For me it depends on how much time I expect to remain in Denmark, and although it was previously for me a very open timeline, now I am forced to make a decision of whether I expect to be here 1-2 years (whereby the licence is not worth the effort) or longer! In addition to the theory test being obscure, other parts of the process are totally frustrating. There is also a substantial cost involved in both monetary terms and my time (medical examinations, driver school registration, fees for the temporary licence and drivers tests, fees to gain access to the online practice tests etc). The online tests have obvious mistakes in them (several times the exact same question for a picture is repeated with different correct answers and in addition some answers are plainly wrong, for example that someone on your left in a round about should give way to you entering the round about!!). The English interpreter at the theory test (which I paid for) did not have a good command of English and there were several questions where myself and other people in the test were obviously confused by his use of the language. It is bad enough that I am FORCED to take these tests, but the fact that they are seriously flawed and do not accurately test my knowledge is extremely frustrating.

In your last letter to me, you pointed out that the difference between an ACT and Victorian licence is that the ACT has a certain requirements for the practical and theory tests that the other States do not. I was informed by the Australian Embassy that this "requirement" was that in Victoria you are NOT REQUIRED to have a qualified instructor. Well in my case (in Victoria) I did have a a qualified instructor, but because it was 25 years ago, I have no records or way of proving it now. However surely after 25 years of driving experience, with a good driving record and a rating 1 insurance for life (I have an Australian insurers letter stating this- see attached), I am more qualified to drive than anyone who manages to pass the theory test by luck!!?? In addition, you must still pass the theory and practical driving tests in Victoria (even if you are not taught by a "qualified" instructor), and this is all I am now required to do here in Denmark, so what is the difference?! In other words, you do not require people who are seeking a conversion licence to be under the instruction of a "Qualified" instructor (only pass the tests), so how is putting people through the agony of the Danish tests any different to them having already passed the tests in their respective countries!

I believe that the Danish authorities need to seriously review their regulations here. Do you seriously consider that the Danish regulations and that Danish drivers are better than in other Western countries such as Australia and America, and that the accepted counties such as South Korea, Taiwan and Russia are better drivers than Australians and Americans? I think there is a serious problem with this logic and that the authorities are so focused on the "rules and regulations" that they are losing perspective and have failed to put faith in the American and Australian driving tests and systems.

Once again, I would like to point out that I am by no means the only foreign national who is frustrated by this regulation. I know of several other highly educated, professional people who have come to work in Denmark that are totally frustrated by the time and effort they must use on gaining a Danish drivers licence despite being good drivers and valuable members of society who are contributing to the Danish economy and society. I believe if you want to make Denmark an attractive place for such individuals, you must revise your requirements for drivers licences.

Yours sincerely,

David

The frustration of it all

Well here we go, my first posting, my first blog! Where shall I begin with this whole frustrating process of obtaining a driver's licence in Denmark?! Well maybe I'll start with a brief run down on where I am at right now. Yesterday I took the Danish driver's theory test and failed! You are allowed 5/25 pictures wrong and I got 6 pictures wrong. Each picture has mostly 4 questions about it, and you must get ALL questions correct to pass that picture. It seems many people yesterday got 5+ pictures wrong and I believe that around 30% of people fail this test, so obviously it is not an easy test to pass, and at least for me it suggests that there is something wrong if that many people are failing the test! Most of these people have taken an intensive driving school course (compulsory if you are not converting your licence) and could probably answer most if not all your questions on road law correctly! So what is the problem? Quite simply these tests are designed to confuse, trick and make you fail! In addition to the tricky way these tests are worded, you also need to learn certain terms and what is expected when these certain terms are asked. For example, "what must you pay particular attention to here?"...with yes/no answers to the following: the course of the road, the surroundings of the road, the type of road, the condition of the road, oncoming traffic, the traffic lights, pedestrians, etc. Mmmm, well I suppose I should pay attention to all these things to some degree, but which ones should I pay PARTICULAR (you will get tired of hearing this word in the test!) attention to? After investing a lot of time learning when something was particularly important and when not, I thought I had worked out some of their logic and learnt that I needed to focus on the immediate situation in the picture and that whatever the most immediate danger was is what I should pay particular attention to. I practised the online tests (for which you have to pay for access and which are quite frankly wrong and flawed in some instances...in another post I'll talk about this) and managed to get to a point where I consistently passed, however it is apparent my efforts were still not enough to pass the actual test which contained a few new and confusing terms. In addition to the fact this test is confusing and difficult to pass (even for Danes), as foreigners we are forced to have an interpreter for the test, who reads out the questions in the chosen language as the 20-30 year old slides are shown to you on the projector! You also pay for this luxury of an interpreter, which for me and my class of 12 was of course in English. Well I have to say that my interpreter yesterday had a poor command of the English language, and I could tell by the look on several peoples faces and by a question for clarification, that I was not the only one who had a problem with understanding the meaning correctly. Its bad enough that we are forced to take this difficult test and forced to pay extra for an interpreter, but then on top of that the interpreter we get does not have a good command of the language! I've met many Danes who have very good English, and in fact probably most Danes would have had a better command of the language than the interpreter we got yesterday! Just to highlight that this was not just my problem, after the test many of my fellow victims had the same opinion! So it would seem that the odds are stacked against you passing this test, and to me it seems that passing it is as much about luck on the day as any road knowledge!