Wow Sunshine!
I sat down and work out the answers to all these questions and I was a bit shocked...
I worked out I spent over £875 ($1,400) learning to drive. It's not exact because it was about 5 years ago and I can't remember exactly how much I paid. Plus of course the exchange rate was probably different, and prices have gone up...
Broken down that works out as: The licence at £42 ($67) in total, that's the price of a provisional one, plus the cost to convert it to a full one. I took about a year to pass the test, with an hour's lesson a week with an instructor, I caluculated 50 lessons at £14 ($22) each, although I probably had more. I was one of the very first to take a theory test, and that now costs £18 ($28), and I took three practical tests before I passed, which cost £38 ($60) each now.
And there were lots of other costs that I didn't even start to include, like the cost of petrol, or for transport to the driving lessons....
As for how many hours I took to pass, well it's probably well into the hundreds, as well as at least 50 hours of lessons, my parents made me drive the car as much as possible.
I probably could have passed earlier, but I always got nervous in my tests, and the first two times I made silly mistakes.
Up until now I had never really added it all up, but it's a lot. I was at school at the time, and I worked at the weekends, nearly all of my wages went on driving lessons.
One of the really interesting things to come out of this survey is the differences between countries. I know in the UK they are trying to make it harder for people to pass the test, especially young people. Apparently, satistically young people, especially young men, are more likely to be in accidents. So their thinking goes stop the young people from driving and reduce accidents, by making the test harder, by putting the prices up, and by making insurance higher.
In my view all that means that there will be more people driving without a licence or insurance...
I have a feeling that some of the changes that have been happening in the UK are also because of European-wide directives....
I do remember when I was in the middle of learning to drive I read an newspaper article about learning to drive in the US. I know it varies from place to place, but still.... Apparently, there is one city where you are taken on one of two possible routes for your test, so consequently they are two of the most dangerous routes in the city, because of all the learner drivers practicing. And I may be making it up, but there are places where you don't take your test on public roads....
And I also found out from an American friend, that there isn't the equivalent of L-plates, that you have to put on the car to show it's been driven by a learner....
Of course I know some of the differences in the driving test are country specific for a reason, in the UK you have to be able to parallel park. We live on a small island, and we have lots of cars, so it's an essential skill if you are going to be able to park anywhere
Helga
(Who's amazed by how much she knows about driving tests
)
