For those who ever wondered about the driver's license process in Germany.....as a German, it's a fairly long and intensive driving course. You can figure a thousand Euro (1,200 US dollars), with several months of an occasional class....then the written and practical test.
I noticed today in Focus (the German news magazine)....a piece which chatted about this young 18-year old German lad, who had stepped in and presented his paperwork (completed) at the Rhineland Westphalia local license office, and walked out with a brand new license.
It was approximately an hour later (after picking up the license), that cops pick up the story of the young German lad.
He'd been caught doing 95 kph in a 50 kph city zone.
They read off the riot act to him. They were seizing his license....giving him two points in Flensburg....facing a four-week ban on driving....and a 200-Euro fine (roughly $250 US dollars).
In addition (this is the sad part of the story).....he will only get the license back once he shows that he's been to a local driver trainer, and taken a refresher course (figure at least 150 Euro for that) and at least two to three Saturdays wasted on refresher training.
Serious about driving violations? Yes. The Germans have a high expectation level on how you drive, and the competency required for city and autobahn behavior. I worked with an American contractor who'd done some pretty stupid stuff, and the cops came by his house one evening to announce such-and-such ticket had occurred (a photo situation) with him in an extremely high violation speed. The time-period required? A loss of 90 days. The amusing thing is that the next day....he got into his car and drove to the base/work, without the license in his possession, and sat down to ask me about the implications (he intended to drive each day to work....without the license). I spent two minutes going through the lecture and how big the fine would be if they stopped for any reason. He didn't care to hear that lecture.
This kid? I doubt that he gets the license back for at least four months.
No comments:
Post a Comment