Berit's Blog

I thought it was a piece of cake when I was 16, so how difficult could a driving test be at the age of 25? After nearly one year of living in Norway, I discovered that my American driver's license was no longer valid and I was required to apply for a Norwegian driver's license if I wanted to drive in Norway. Since I was still within the one-year limit, I was able to exchange my Minnesota driver's license for a Norwegian one on the condition that I pass the practical driving exam.

Other foreigners who have either exceeded Norway's one year limit or whose native country's driving laws do not comply with European driving standards are subjected to a grueling 34 hours of lessons, plus written and practical exams. Norwegians are required to take lessons for driving on ice, snow and in darkness. Having come from Minnesota, I was fairly confident in all of those areas, but at the same time quite relieved that I was exempted from taking these lengthy and costly courses.

The first step to taking my driving test was to find a car to rent. In Norway you cannot simply use your personal vehicle, but rather you must use a specially equipped vehicle, outfitted with several safety mirrors, passenger side brakes and special signage on the vehicle indicating that the driver is a learner and without a valid license. These special vehicles can only be rented through official driving schools in Norway, and often to rent them the driver is required to purchase at least one lesson from the school.

I signed up for lessons at the Majorstuen Traffic School, as it was one of the few schools that offered lessons using an automatic transmission car. Most cars in Norway are manual transmission, since automatic transmission cars are priced higher and less fuel efficient. Coming from a family that has only owned automatic cars, I had never learned how to drive a stick shift.

I met my instructor, Øyvind, on a rainy, dark December afternoon. Upon our introductions, he was quite obviously dismayed to find out that I was not in fact handicapped. Apparently, the only people who practice drive with an automatic transmission car in Norway are handicapped...or American obviously. I explained to him in my best Norwegian that I was not in fact disabled in any way, but rather simply did not know how to gear. He chuckled a bit at my expense and we proceeded to his Skoda station wagon to begin my training.

My first mistake was backing up before releasing the emergency brake. Øyvind explained that that was an automatic failure, one that I was not to repeat during my test. How was I to know that Norwegians are so crazy for their emergency brakes, even on level ground? The remainder of the two hours passed largely incident-free, with the exception of Øyvind forcing me to pull over a few times after I'd broken one Norwegian traffic law or another. I learned to yield to all cars coming from the right unless a sign with a yellow diamond is present. I also learned how to master a roundabout, drive through intersections despite the lack of stop signs and yield to all buses, street cars and pedestrians no matter where they're coming from.

At the end of our two-hour session, Øyvind strongly recommended that I take another lesson. Feeling quite confident as a driver of nine years, I declined his offer and proceeded to rent the Skoda wagon from him for my test day.

A week later I met Øyvind again at the Risløkka Trafikstasjon in Oslo, a half hour before my big exam. He made it fairly clear that his confidence in me passing this test was waning, especially as we drove around a bit prior to the exam. When the examiner entered by vehicle I knew I could not afford to fail, literally. The cost of this exam plus the rental of the car was several hundred dollars. I buckled up, adjusted the mirrors, released the emergency brake and put the car into drive.

Maybe she felt sorry for me because I couldn't operate a stick shift or maybe she just liked Americans, but by some miracle I passed the exam. I had remembered all the Norwegian traffic laws, taken extreme caution when a mother and child were crossing the road and had made friendly small talk through the test - appearing relaxed and confident. As she left the car, she informed an expectant Øyvind that I had passed. His reply was, "One more dangerous driver on the road." With that he got in his Skoda and left while I went inside Risløkka Trafikstasjon to have my picture taken. I can now proudly say that I have been a licensed driver in Norway for one incident-free year.

Originally appeared in Viking magazine