Worlds most difficult driving test!!

I may have driven for over 20 yrs. I consider myself to be a safe driver and have never hurt anything or anybody until now. However the stringent laws for acquiring a driving license in this country is wee bit frustrating.

There are a gamut of books you need to read up for your theory test and just reading them casually is not enough as the questions are designed to flabbergast you anyway. The answers are not stereotypical and may wary from situation to situation. Which essentially means they trick you once and again. The gala “gödkant” (pass) is achieved only if you scored over 80 % and what’s more is that after all this hard work you need to pass the dreadful practical test within a span of 2 months or else you go through the entire exercise all over again.

When I say “the dreadful practical test”, I am not being the least dramatic. This is a test dreaded by even the most experienced drivers. Even after spending an average 20-30,000 SEK on training you may be refused the license for not having looked in the rearview mirror before turning on the indicator to show your intentions of changing the lane or for briefly driving in the left lane, which is considered an absolute taboo if you are giving your driving test.

And one wonders what do they achieve with such stringent laws, so here is what it is. Sweden claims to be targeting a zero fatality rate in the next few years. The number of persons killed in road accidents has dropped to 221 this year, which is about 50% less than 2007. The alcohol tolerance is so low that you would rather hire a cab then be brutally fined or jailed for being caught for drunken driving, which is the greatest cause for fatalities on road. This is something that even USA has been humbled for not being able to handle. In fact in USA the casualties have been on an up rise to a whooping 41471. If you look at the statistics of all of Europe, you may not see anything unusual. However, if one looks at the Nordic countries the statistics are unusually low, with the tiny little Iceland leading the way at 15 fatalities.

As I continue being frustrated and being ripped of financially by the traffic authorities here the only consoling factor is that it is all for a good cause. Amen.