Simon’s had his slippery road lesson for the driving license this week and of course he passed. He had a double driving lesson as well and was told his driving was good but he needs to pay more attention to the blind spots, the right hand rule and when reversing around a corner he apparently did it too quick. Knowing how Simon drives I find it very hard to believe that he did it quick and reckless in any way but what do I know. The teacher said that he could pass if he was to do his driving test today but he could also fail, all depending on how strict the examiner is. Hard to hear when you have a license already and I know I’m biased but Simon is a really good driver.

Something went quick, for a change. Simon received a letter from Transportstyrelsen today, his learner’s permit. He did the eye examination on Monday last week at the driving school and sent in the certificate on Tuesday or Wednesday. So instead of taking up to 6 weeks as he was told he got it in just one week. Nice when you (occasionally) get positively surprised.

Simon has booked in a double lesson with the driving school as well as his part 2 of the risk education – the slippery road test in about a months time (I just hope he gets his learner’s permit before then). It’s not right to call it a test though since it’s almost impossible to fail. The aim of the exercise is to educate you on how to drive in slippery or hazardous road conditions and as long as you actively participate, listen to the instructor and don’t go over the speed limit you’ll pass.

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I’ve missed something crucial when it comes to the driving license process. Despite the fact that Simon has a valid Australian driving license he still needs a provisional driving license, a learner’s permit (in Swedish Körkortstillstånd). It’s apparently compulsory to be allowed to do the driving test as well as drive with the driving school. I was naive to believe that since he’s allowed to drive on the roads using his valid Aussie license he didn’t need it. Anyway, we’ve sent in the application, paid the fee of 220SEK and now he has to send in a certificate of an eye exam in order to get it processed. The eye exam can be done with any optician, doctor or sometimes even with the driving school.

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 I little tip for those looking for help practising the theory before taking your driving license test. Trafikskolan TEO is apparently a good way to go.

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We attended part 1 of the mandatory risk education yesterday and it was actually a waste of time. Nothing new was mentioned that we didn’t know before so I don’t really get why it’s mandatory. I can see how it might be more useful when you’re 17-18 years old and have less life experience in general (but even then it’s a bit iffy) but there were people in all ages in the class and I’m sure most of them found it pretty useless. The seminar went on for 3 hours and at least where we went it was 600 SEK.

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I want to address an issue I’ve discussed a lot with my mum lately and that’s the language barrier. Not so much between Simon and myself but between Simon and the rest of my family (mainly my parents) who are not as confident in speaking English as I am. I haven’t thought about it as a big issue before but after speaking to mum I understand that it’s a bigger issue than I thought it to be.

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I mentioned in an earlier post (HERE) that it’s time for Simon to get a Swedish license and today I called around trying to find a driving school or other authorised instructor that holds part 1 of the risk education (that’s mandatory to attend before getting a license) in English. It seemed like mission impossible even though I tried both Göteborg and Malmö. No one even knew about anyone that did it so after speaking to five different people and only being given the advice that Simon can bring an interpreter (read me) with him to the course we’re now booked in for the course in two weeks.

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I ordered the theory books for the Swedish driving license HERE yesterday for Simon and they came in the mail today. That’s what I call quick delivery.