[Gannu_1]

I would love to hear experiences from members based in the UAE.

I've heard the UAE has some very strict rules in place. A friend had to try thrice to pass the driving test.

[mazda4life]

Circa - 1995
Location of test : Leafy suburb of Jayanagar 4th block near Lakshman Rao park
RTO inspector: Middle aged chap with zero interest to really test my skills or lack there of
Test: I greeted the gentle soul, he looked at me top to bottom, told me to take my car for spin till the road end while he sat on his bike. He instructed a driving instructor who had come with his ward to look at how I drive. I drove till the main road and came back after signalling and all , when I came back, he asked his alter ego 'How did he drive?' , the instructor told , I was OK...signed the papers there and that was it. I got my first license from a quasi RTO inspector

[landcruiser123]

Two driving test experiences so far. And both were contrasting.

India: (June 2013)
I got my license before starting my undergrad.

Theory test: The less said, the better. It was a joke.

Car: I was asked to drive straight, take an U-turn and then drive a little more. The officer made the other three people repeat that, effectively going in a loop.

Motorcycle: I was just asked to slot it into first gear and ride a 100m.

Minneapolis, MN: (Nov 2017/June 2018)

MN DVS allows you attempt the knowledge test and go for the road test if you're above 18 and have a license from your home country.

Knowledge test (Nov 2017): Need 32 or more on 40 to pass. It was pretty tough, passed with a 33.

Driving test (June 2018): I had to do all the standard things- parallel park, 90 degree reverse, parking on a hill and normal driving.

Comments from the officer: "You signal too early and you nearly failed the parallel park."
I was a little nervous and cleared the flag by an inch while hastily exiting the parallel park.

Note: Driving tests in MN are conducted in enclosed areas. There's no public traffic.

[avisidhu]

RTO Office, sometime around 1997. The officer in charge glanced at the form and then looked at me:

How many gears are there in your Zen?

Me: 5 sir

How will you slot the 5th one?

I replied, and he signed on the form.

Which was a miracle in itself, because I had learnt driving in the royal 800 which had only 4 gears. Luckily, happened to notice that the Zen we had very recently purchased had an extra gear. Sounds hard to believe now but those were the days!

[procrastinator]

My first license was MCWOG at 16 and we have a narrow track imitating all scenrios(round about, a mini flyover etc) of Chandigarh.

I saw a green signal from distance and twisted the throttle, it turned amber at final move and with blink of an eye to RED.

Cop: You crossed at RED.
Me: I saw green and it was amber when I crossed.
Cop: You cannot cross at Amber.
Me: Sorry! It was no time to stop.

Thankfully, Cop understands the real world and the file was cleared.

[chiranjitp]

Brilliant topic . My personal experience in procuring a driving license wasn't as straightforward, as I had initially thought it would be. I was a petrol-head (since childhood) & hence I was very (over) confident that getting a DL would be a piece of cake for me.

19 October 2012, I had turned 18 & couldn't wait to get my driving license. So, I went to the RTO on my 18th birthday itself & I was determined that I would only return home after getting my learner's license. I quickly filled up the forms & went to pay the fees. After that I was given a date (about a week later) for my learner's test. I was adamant on getting the learner's license on my 18th birthday itself, so I meet the District Transport Officer himself & requested him to conduct my test on that day itself. He then told me that these tests are conducted after a week as to give time to the candidate to prepare for the test, so it would be better for me if I gave the test a week later fully prepared.

Do note that the RTO here supplies a small book (during form fill-up time), this books contains all the topics for the learner's test. After that I told him that I had gone through the book properly (which I hadn't) & was fully prepared to give the test. So, finally I was allowed to give my learner's test on that day. The learner's test consists of a computer test, where there are 10 questions on various road related things. To pass the test one must get at least 7 questions right (out of the 10).

I was pretty confident that I would easily pass this test. I think I got the first 4 questions right, then the next 4 questions were a bit tricky (about some road signs). Next thing I know, the computer screen was showing "Failed". This was a big shock to me, never had I imagined that I would fail a written test, let alone a driver's test. I reapplied for my learner's license only after a month or so, this time I had gone through the book properly. The test went brilliantly, I got all of the questions correct & finally had the learner's license in my hand.

Only after 1.5 months of getting the learner's license, one is allowed to apply for the main driving license. In the meantime I had gathered information about what actually happens in this test. I was told that one was required to drive forwards & backwards in a "C" shape, there would be cones placed to make a "C" shape. Putting the seat belt was mandatory (to pass the test) & one was only allowed to use the mirrors (IRVM & ORVM) while reversing. I had only learnt to reverse by simply turning my head backwards , so reversing by looking only at the mirrors was new for me.

We had a Punto & a Omni at home, I decided to take the Omni as it was smaller & had better all round visibility. There was a problem with the Omni though, there was no LHS ORVM, the day before the test I fitted a LHS ORVM in our Omni. Next up was the main test, going forward was very easy, while reversing (without looking backwards) was a bit difficult. Nevertheless I completed the course without hitting any cones & I had finally completed my driving test. After one week I got the final license & was very happy. There was this small problem though, the license was only for LMV-NT, which isn't a problem as of now as I don't know to ride a 2 wheeler. But, if & when I decide to learn to ride a 2 wheeler, I will have to give one more test. As I didn't take help of any brokers, I only paid around Rs. 500 (in total) to get my driving license.

[kadanaJ]

Got my license in 2009. Had the driving school make arrangements for the RTO registration and formalities.

My driving instructor had prepared me well enough, and told me I would have to drive down a straight line. No mention of any H-test.

When I reached the office, an RTO official asked me the following questions.
- Name
- Age
- Which college

That's all. No test, no more questions. He approved my licence.

When I told my driving school instructor, he simply smiled sheepishly and told me I got lucky.

[charanreddy]

2006 - Tirupati RTO :

Vehicle : Maruti 800, super old rust bucket from driving school. The idling was suspiciously set at a higher level to avoid stalling.

Test: I was asked to do a 8 and then asked to drive back ~200 mtrs in reverse. Extensivley checked for signs, 1. Seatbelt, 2. Indicators, 3. Do I literally turn in my seat and look at the traffic behind before reversing. Breezed through though I was not very confident at first.

One very funny incident during the drive, there was some middle aged, senior Govt official, all tucked up and exuding confidence.. Got into a brand new Tata Indica and promptly did not turn at the first curve of 8, went straight on and landed in some bushes some 50 mtrs away, would have kept on going if he had not hit a boulder.. had to exit the vehicle with humbled ego

[simplyself]

Back in 1993, I had applied for a 2 wheeler license. There were no computer based tests back then. I signed some forms and got a learner's. After one month or so, I went for license. The MVI asked what my name was and issued a license. No test was taken.

I did not know how to ride a bike. Had there been a test, I would have failed.

After a couple of months I bought a bike and with the help of a friend learnt how to drive.

With 4 wheeler license, it was same story. I went to get a license, signed forms and was issued DL. I now had 2 licenses for 2 categories. I bought a used car, employed a driver and learnt how to drive. As for road signs and all, I knew what the signs are and how to behave on road.

Now, in 2017 I had to renew my license. As both the licenses have mistakes in my name, I was suggested to go for fresh single license. I applied for the slot, and I was declared pass for my learner's. I didn't see a computer, though.

I took car for getting permanent license. The MVI was least interested in observing me the second I slotted into first gear. When I went for 2 wheeler test immediately after this, he was surprised as to why I am giving the test. He already ticked the 2 wheeler box as well when I gave test for 4 wheeler.

For my daughter's DL, same thing happened for learner's. As she came for vacations and the expiry was nearing for the learner's, we booked a slot. I taught her how to ride a step thru. She passed it without a problem. The MVI asked to take 4 wheeler test as we had applied for both. I refused, stating she didn't know how to drive a car and she didn't have time to learn to drive a car as she was at college. He asked what she was studying and he thought for a moment and issued a 4 wheeler license as well. I assured him that she wouldn't be allowed to drive a car unless I am satisfied with her ability to do so, thanked him and left.

[PearlJam]

My license was nearing it's expiry date, and someone said that applying for a license directly from the RTO is now "damn" easy. So blindly trusting that casual statement, I landed up at the Jayanagar RTO. My worst fears came true - the place was chaotic and teeming with people, with boards all around saying Do not entertain touts. Went to the counter that dealt with licenses, and surprise of surprise (well, not really) the counter was empty.

Someone there said that the concerned person was on leave, so I should come again tomorrow. A tout (I came to know that he was a tout in about 2 minutes of interacting with him) immediately approached me, right under the above mentioned board. He mentioned that since my license was in the old booklet form (yeah, I'm not young), I need to go through the complete LL->DL procedure, as if applying for a new license. He quoted a huge sum for his "service".

Left the place, and found myself in this wretched place again the next day. The person at the counter said that I need to get a no-objection certificate from the original RTO, perform an address change, fill some other form, etc. It sounded so complicated (that is what these guys want), and he simply ignored me on my further questioning.

Frustrated, and realizing that I didn't want to waste half my life in an RTO, I went to a nearby Maruti driving school. Now, the main business of these guys is to "assist" you with licenses, driving school being secondary, and he confirmed that I need to go through the complete LL->DL procedure, since the old booklet was practically invalid, and no records would be found for them at the RTO. He quoted a reasonable figure, all included with bill, so immediately committed to it. He said that Koramangala RTO was better, since things moved "smoothly" there. It was also partly hooked up to the online world. Filled all the forms online along with him.

Now you might ask, if this was all online, why didn't I do it myself? Well, only the form filling, document proof uploading, and submission parts are online. For all practical purposes, you still need to go through the typical Government machinery for the rest of the procedure, as mentioned below.


Learner's license day
Landed up at the Koramangala RTO on the prescribed date. The guys from the driving school arrived soon with 3 other "students" like me. My "agent" paid the fees at the counter, took the receipt, went to some obscure and unnamed counter, opened a book, filled something in it, went into another room, opened another book, filled in something, went to a third counter, submitted the form there, and finally came out with some "receipt".

Realized that no way I could have done this myself. Saw people who had applied directly, struggling to get things done right in front of my eyes.

Also observed that various touts were freely going in/out of the so called restricted rooms - the line between touts and employees were more than blurred, and I wondered who was on the payroll of who.

After about an hour, we were breezed in to the computer room that was conducting the online test. Your score is known immediately, and was happy to score full marks here! Came out of the RTO, feeling a strange sense of life-time achievement on one step being completed.


Driving test day after about 45 days
Reached a leafy Koramangala neighborhood near a square shaped park at around 10.30am, where the driving test would be conducted. Saw about a hundred people from various driving schools already there, and 6 others from the Maruti driving school. Had to wait for almost 2 hours for the inspector to turn up. In the meantime, our friendly agent educated us on how to "behave". Warned us not to say things like "I am a doctor", etc (no offense to doctors!), to the inspector, since he will simply lose his cool on such arrogant statements, and will definitely fail you.

Our driving inspector was late by almost 2 hours, and finally landed up, self-important and all-important halo accompanying him.

Now, the Maruti school had arranged their own vehicle for the test. Since the inspector was late, he said that he will conduct tests of 5 cars at a time . The strategy was, he would be sitting in the lead vehicle with other students. Four more vehicles would come behind him. One person would drive one side of the park in each car, so at the end of the test, around 16-18 people would have finished their test! I doubt if he could even see the people who were driving in the other cars. Anyway, I think this strategy deserves the top Nobel prize.

My turn finally came, and here I was, a 20 years experienced driver, taking a Driving test on a car with almost a non-existent clutch. But things went smoothly, and once our test was over, our agent again drove us to the RTO. As is the norm here, he went into a room, brought a register, made us fill our names, went to another counter with that register, submitted it there, went to another counter, got some receipt, and submitted it to yet another counter.

And that was the end of a memorable day. The license promptly arrived in 2 months, and I felt a strange sense of achievement. Realized that getting a license builds your character, and teaches you a thing or two about life

[Utsav3010]

Contrary to most of the people having a walk in the park during their driving tests, mine was an experience in itself!
I gave my driving test in November 2015. I took my father's Zen Estilo, also the car on which I had learnt to drive. The right side ORVM had no glass, it was stolen by some thief. The policeman instructed me to go straight, take a U-Turn from Traffic Signal, then take another U-Turn, which would take me to the starting point itself! I did so, quite easily to be honest, and then, he told me to do a parallel park! I was quite taken aback and thought that the policeman is discriminating against me by asking me to do a parallel park. I did manage to do that, although it took me a couple of seconds to realise that I had not done a 'perfect' parallel park. The RTO guys did approve my license and it was no less than an achievement. RTO in contention here is Sheikh Sarai, South Delhi Zone.

Regards
Utsav

[verma_rahul]

Well, reading this thread, it reminds me of my own DL test which happened a couple of months back.
I had an existing DL, issued at my hometown, but was due to expire in another 1.5 years. IDP was one of the reason why I thought of applying for a new one, and not to mention, my old license was a booklet instead of a card and that was another reason of applying for a fresh license.
Heard about the professionalism at KR Puram (Bangalore) RTO, I decided to go for it myself, without any agents. LL was easy and I secured 90%.
For the DL, I cleared the 2-wheeler test but could not clear the 4-wheeler test. Why? Well, I did not know what is "Right-Reverse Parking". Well, who in India would really know what is Right-Reverse parking. With an experience of more than 2 decades (yeah, I started driving when I was not eligible to ) and having an experience of more than 2.5 lakh kilometers, I felt like an idiot on that day. Despite asking the inspector on what is RR Parking, he was not willing to explain it to me. Had he told me about it, I would have even climbed a mountain in my car and showed it to him.
Anyways, I had to appear for a re-test. This time again it was the same inspector and he happened to ask me why did I fail last time. On citing the reason and pointing it out that it was him last time too, he mentioned, "Don't worry, this time I'll give a simpler exercise", and asked me to do a Left-reverse parking. Well, I had approached google baba and had learnt about RR and LR parking on one of the international driving sites and could do it for him. I finally cleared the test.
Trust me, none of the Indian sites contained information on RR/LR parking and I am sure, many of Indian drivers wouldn't even know about it.
The other thing I noticed was, people who had come from driving schools were not present on the road where we (without agents) were giving our tests. They were being taken somewhere else for their tests.

[arijitkanrar]

Okay this probably is not as interesting as some of the other ones on this thread, but here goes.

I got my 4 wheeler license before my two wheeler one.

The 4 wheeler license was through a driving school back in Mangalore in 2008.
I don't remember giving a written test. Maybe the driving school guys gave it on my behalf
Used to pester my driving instructor to take me on Mangalore's steep roads to practice. He used to keep postponing but finally took me one day to a steep road in the rain. I was able to get the car moving on an up-slope. Later when I tried it for real on Dad's car I realized that guy was using his set of pedals to get the start right and it only gave me an impression of getting it right!
Anyway turned up for the driving test on a sloping ground with loose gravel. Was asked to make a figure of 8 and did that. Got scolded after that. Want to know why? Because I switched the car off after stopping and thus wasted the inspector's time as there were people waiting after me!
Anyway got the license in a few weeks.

My 2 wheeler license was in Bangalore through a driving school again. Was just as per the norm. Turn up on test day. Ride the motorcycle for a few meters. Take a U-turn and come back. Got license in a few weeks.


The best driving test experience was in Phoenix, Arizona.
Was taking the 6 hour driving lesson through a driving school. The instructor guy was a chilled-out chap. Told me I drive very well and I should have no problems clearing the test. Only scary moment during the lessons was when I tried to enter the freeway for the first time. Was not going fast enough when I tried to merge. My instructor first told me to speed up many times and when I wasn't going fast enough he got scared and asked me not to merge and slow down to take the next exit. This conflicting instructions caused the scary moment and then he proceeded to take me to an empty parking lot to make me try quick speed up and merge maneuvers. Was impressed with his approach. he even took me to the DMV where I was supposed to give my test after closing time and made me practice the 3 point turns.
Since we were supposed to bring our vehicle, I got another guy with his vehicle on the day of the test. He picked me up from my hotel and drove me to the DMV. This guy was far more sarcastic. While entering the DMV premises he took a fast right sweep and the rear right tire bounced over the kerb jolting us in the car. He looks at me and says "Now if you'd do that, you fail!" and I was like "You think?" .
He also told me which inspectors were the most strict and if I get any one of them I would have to be really careful.
My apprehensions were rising because I had heard many stories of how they used to fail applicants for the tiniest of mistakes.
Anyway got a lady inspector who took me through main streets, side streets and school zones. But surprisingly she was guiding me all the way through like pointing out the speed limits and if I was noticing the stop signs etc. She even warned me that there was a school zone ahead. Had a nice and comfortable test and while coming back to the DMV premises I had to enter the center lane and stop to take a left turn. While I entering the center lane, another car came in very fast from the opposite side and entered the center lane in front of me. I yanked the car right out of the center lane and that scared the inspector. I thought I would fail. But then she told me that I did the right thing to avoid an accident. I was given the license in a few minutes after that.
Later I got to know from the driving school guy that the same lady failed many others that day!

[hrman]

For me, I took my test in 2002. I went through the driving school. Diligently attended the 15 days of driving sessions. The car was a Santro. Also attended the one day theory class.

On the date of the exam, we were all ferried in a jeep to the Andheri RTO. Some formalities later, we were asked to wait under a tree for the actual driving test.
After an hour, our driving school instructor came to us and told "Agar kisine poocha, toh bata dena ki tum ne gaadhi chalayi" (If anyone asks, tell them that you had driven the vehicle).
That was it. The DL came to the school a few days later and I was licensed to drive an LMV on Indian roads. Not the best way to get a DL I agree.

[the_skyliner]

I remember an incident from Germany. It was my practical test for a "PKW" license. We had almost a 30 mins drive around the town and state highway before finally reaching the end point which was a parking lot. After stopping I switched off the ignition and just waited for the inspector to get down. But he didn't and said "you are forgetting something". I checked all the things like, hand brake engaged, ignition off, keys out and so on. So after finding nothing pending, I asked what does he mean. And he said that I did not turn the steering and ensure it is locked.

I found it rather stupid of him but no point in arguing as the inspector was rude enough and I thought he may fail me. However, got the license approved.

Stupid and rude officers are not only in India is what I experienced that time.