In response to a column I had recently written about our collective failure on the roads, an American lady who had been a resident of the Kingdom for a number of years before calling it a day sent me a response that deserves to be in print. A much traveled lady and currently residing in the United States, she says: “I think first of all, all Saudis - especially the young ones - need to take very strict driving lessons and be learner drivers for a year prior to being allowed to apply for a regular license. The actual driving test should be like it is in Europe which not only tests the responses of drivers while driving but also their knowledge of the road rules. “I took the military driving test when I lived in the UK as I was doing some volunteer teaching on the base and had got a ticket for driving 20mph in a 10mph zone. The British lieutenant who turned out to be the person I came under, suggested I get the military one and all would be well. For that one I simply had to sit and take a paper test. “I know Americans who lived many years in Europe working on bases there and never had to take a driving test. Once they stopped working for the military and had to take a national test, a number of them failed. “I have a full British driving license now. Easy to obtain, it wasn't. I had been driving for some years on my US military one and an international one. My US one expired as I lived abroad. I decided to take a couple of driving lessons from a driving instructor. Not to learn how to drive but to learn what not to do. We all develop bad habits if we've been driving for years. And the UK and other European countries have their own special laws as well. “Back here in the US I have taken the Florida driving test and now have my license here too. Although the actual test was easy compared to anything given in Europe, I was worried as here they ask drivers to handle maneuvering the vehicle differently. I had to try and - just for the test as I feel the British/European method is far safer and better - learn to do it the way they wanted here. Each state here is different! Never mind each country. “Each country is different. And the European tests - UK, Italy, Spain, and Germany - are not at all easy to pass. Learners are learners for some time before taking the test. The test I took in the UK was almost 100 percent on the road. You had to prove you could handle a vehicle under a number of conditions. Once back at the licensing place the examiner would ask a few questions about the rules. I had no idea what questions he would ask and I had to get all of them right or not pass. Now they even require that people know the parts of the engine and how it functions. “I can use my UK/EU license anywhere in the EU and I plan not to give it up! The one here in Florida was easy to get compared to what I had to do for it in the UK. And the best part is that they do not test you on actual roads under normal road conditions! They have you drive from a large car park to an empty one and then go in reverse for 50 feet, do a three point turn and park the car between two lines. The hardest part is stopping at all of the darn stop signs! The written test is all on computer and the questions ridiculously simple. Here, they even stopped asking people taking the test to parallel park because…wait for it…too many had accidents trying to do this! MJ Through her personal experiences, MJ correctly describes that the lawful privilege of getting behind the wheel and operating a vehicle should not be something easy to obtain. Having lived in the Kingdom for a substantial number of years, she remains alarmed at the high number of fatalities on our roads due to reckless driving. Something has to be done and now. Responsible driving should be taught in schools to begin with, followed by rigorous testing before being allowed on the road. For the less disciplined, speed governors must be installed on their vehicles limiting their capacity to cause a fatal accident.
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