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he said in all of his years he had never had an American or Canadian fail the test with him and had good things to say about North American driver training
I've long been baffled at how poor British training must be given that people fail their driving test so often. IIRC in Germany you spend months doing it, with extensive classroom lessons and a lot of driving practice, and you're not set up to fail in a practical driving test you have to re-take multiple times, as seems common here. I imagine it's more thorough in the US, too?
Oliver Schick-
I've long been baffled at how poor British training must be given that people fail their driving test so often. IIRC in Germany you spend months doing it, with extensive classroom lessons and a lot of driving practice, and you're not set up to fail in a practical driving test you have to re-take multiple times, as seems common here. I imagine it's more thorough in the US, too?
Yes. IIRC we had 15-20 hours of practical driving, a similar amount observing plus the class time. I had a learners permit at 15 then did lots of driving with my parents in the front seat. My dad had a hardship exemption and had a full drivers license at 14 (~1959).
Here it's made to be a big complex thing. Not sure why. It can't be that difficult, we've all seen some completely incompetent driving.
Aroogah
OK you may find it not so hard then. Get an automatic if you are not happy with stick shift. I did mine with RAC as I had to do the theory and practical to get my license, and it was pretty straightforward. My chat with the assessor was interesting - he said in all of his years he had never had an American or Canadian fail the test with him and had good things to say about North American driver training. You'll be fine, and being a cyclist will give you far better road awareness than the average person.