OMG !!

OH...MY...GOD...! Finally I have a practical test date, and even better its next week! My driving instructor called me to tell me this week and it was good timing as I'd just spent 2 hours getting to work! Wish me luck :)

waiting, waiting.......

So finally I have passed the theory test, but now I am waiting for a practical test time to become available. Still none as I write this blog.... once I finally get a date there could be another 3-6 week wait for the actual test date from the time of booking. My teacher is searching the whole of greater Copenhagen, but nothing and no new test dates released yet....

Since passing the theory test I decided to change driving schools to the Copenhagen International Driving School in Gentofte since the Enlgish guy there seems a lot more organised and was also the translator and publisher of the Danish Road laws book in English, which I highly recommend you buy if attempting the theory test (www.learn2drive.dk). He was quick to organise a practical lesson for me on the Sunday after transferring to him - a double lesson just to make sure there were no bad driving habits or anything I needed to change before the driving test, and for me it was also good to get in extra practice at driving on the right. He was pretty happy with my driving, and his only general comment was that I should drive in the outer most right lane (slow lane) whenever possible as this is something they always pick up on. Personally if I am sticking to the speed limit I may not always choose the right lane due to parked cars or whatever, but will of course make sure I am never holding up traffic that wishes to go faster, and on a freeway (motorway) I will only travel in the right lane if there is no traffic going slower than me, otherwise I usually travel in the middle lane and stick to the speed limit. Personally I don't see the point of always being in the right lane if you have to constantly change lanes to get around slow or parked cars (a hazard in itself), but if that's what I have to do to pass this test then I will do it! Apart from that, my only other "mistake" was to pass a car on the right that was slowly accelerating from traffic lights that had just turned green.

PASS !!!!

Oh thank god I passed the theory test today!! Now just the practical test to pass, which apparently is easier but we'll see (I've lost all confidence in the process)!

My partner is very relieved I might add, as Australia was starting to call!

The paper here is the all important paper you must take to your test. It shows I failed the first but passed the second. Note there are 14 possible repeat tests on this page, but thats not all, there's 28 in total continuing to the next page. My god, do they consider it necessary to have 28 possible re-tests!!???

One more try!

Well I have decided to give the theory test another try - I do hate to be defeated! However I'm not sure I will bother wasting more time, effort and money if I fail again. I'll just resign myself to public transport for another year or two and plan on returning back to Australia.

So what's happened between now and my last post (and theory test failure) I hear you ask?! Well I had planned to book in for a new theory test earlier, but I had to rush back to Australia for a family funeral but luckily I managed to leave before the volcano erupted and return once the worst of it had cleared.

Whilst away in Australia I contacted my driving school and asked him to book me in for a new test. He told me he needed the form that I got from the Borgerservice in order to go to the Police and book me in for a test. I said I could bring it to him immediately on my return from Australia and that he should book a date in for me now. Of course he could not book the date without having my form (which he and the police have seen before), but oh no, he has to physically have the form to make the booking.

So on my return to Denmark I went in to the driving school with the form and got him to book in for a new theory test, and as usual there's a 4-6 week wait as I expected. The guy told me that "if its any consolation, I looked at the theory test you were given, and it was the NX version"! Apparently this "NX" version is the most difficult to pass but he could not tell me why the Police give this more difficult test sometimes, and apparently the Police could never answer this either. Well lucky me, I got it and failed by one picture! So he tells me he can probably book me in for a test in 4 weeks time. Great I said, do it. So that will be 1,500 kr. Oh shit, I just cycled over and forgot my wallet, but I did remember the form of course. He said not to worry, he'd make the booking and then I could pay him when I come back and collect the form (because you need to present this all important form at the test).

A week later I haven't heard back so I SMS him (this is his preferred way of communication) and he tells me the date of my test (which ends up being 6 weeks not 4 as he indicated previously). OK, I reply, I'll drop by to pay the money and pick up my form. So again I go back to the driving school. I pay the money and I ask for my form. Oh no he said, I need the form to make your booking. I said, but you have already made the booking and I understood that I would pick up the form today when I made the payment. He told me that it was only a pre-booking and blah blah blah, I would have to come back and collect the form a week before the test. Mmmmmm, not what he told me last time, but hey, I told myself to keep my cool and remember, this is the LAST time I put myself through this bullshit! He also asked me whether I'd like to go for a pre-test class with him again. I asked, well will that cost extra, to which he replied that it would be a "special" half price rate for me since it would be my second time. I said no, I don't think I will bother, after all he told me he thought I could not have prepared any more than I did last time and that even he would not necessarily pass the test if he did it himself!

So that's the current situation. Wish me luck, because I seriously don't want to put myself through any more of this bullshit and just line all their pockets with more money for nothing in return!

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!