Mr Cholmondeley-Warner wrote:If you're going driving in Denmark (particularly Copenhagen), be prepared to have to devote quite a lot of attention to bicycles!
Noted! I'm not actually going driving in Europe any time soon, but I may move to Denmark shortly after I graduate as I'm slowly becoming more and more disillusioned with living in England...
martine wrote:Also I was talking to a Hungarian driver last week and it seems their licence acquisition is rather more formal than ours. You have to attend theory sessions covering first aid, mechanical including actually changing a tyre etc first. Initial driving lessons are off-road on special 'tracks' and only once you pass that can you be trained on-road. All lessons are done by driving instructors (no friends/parents).
I suspect the UK government could take quite a lot of notes from a lot of European countries. People are always banging on about how the driving test is getting harder and harder, but it's not the driving test that's the problem, it's the lack of a sensible driver training/education regime. I'm rather unique in the fact I'm interested in driving, and I enjoy trying to drive quickly, while being safe and smooth, as I enjoy the challenge of being a "thinking driver", but I'm increasingly seeing so many drivers around my age who seem to slot into a 'robot mode' when they get in the car, and they don't seem to care about anything unless it's happening in the 2 metres in front of the bonnet.
I rather liked the way I went about learning to drive as a system, as I basically learnt to control a car and use the clutch and gears etc and made sure mirror checks were a habit etc etc, THEN I turned 17 and was let loose on the roads with an L plate, but I was already a confident driver as I had been driving a car and so the whole process of changing gear etc was instilled in me, and all I had to focus on was how to judge appropriate speeds for bends, how to read other car's body language and positioning, and all the more "brain-y" stuff, rather than the physical stuff like changing gear, indicating, blah blah blah.