Part 6. Useful advice for those who want to pass the driving theory exam in Norway. “If I were an instructor…”

At first I wanted to write “how to choose an instructor?”, and then I thought “From whom to choose? Whoever they offer you on the courses, that is who you will have!” It turns out the saying “you don’t choose neighbours and relatives” can be supplemented … and driving instructors. I get the impression that starting practical driving, nobody thinks about what we are paying money for, and in Norway this is altogether “in a big way,” 1.5 hours of driving officially on the courses costs 140 euros.

Well all right, I am so mercenary, I figured that we pay for petrol (diesel), wear on the car and the instructor for risking his life sitting with a beginner and pressing the extra pedals under his (her) feet. And let me now write what an ideal instructor should be, point by point!

Point 1. Acquaintance with the car you will learn on. Point 2. Check the pupil, whether he is sitting correctly, comfortably in the car. Immediately show where the seat heating, ventilation is switched on. Point 3. Acquaint the pupil in detail with the route, try driving with GPS switched on. Point 4. Remind the pupil to switch on the turn signal, at least in the first lessons, and also the “right-hand rule.” In Norway it is especially applicable. Here there are very many minor narrow roads, both in the city and out of town, in the village. Point 5. In every lesson teach how to park the car correctly, at least 3 times per lesson. Point 6. Warn the pupil in advance about intersections, and also about the peculiarities of a left turn. Point 7. Draw the pupil’s attention to road signs, where you may stop and where it is forbidden, and explain “why.”

Anyway, whoever has read this, I hope has understood how one should learn to drive a car and ask one’s instructor more questions, otherwise it turns out the other way round, Norwegian instructors have a strange habit of asking pupils one and the same question at the end of every practical lesson: “how do you think, did you drive well today?” I, of course, am a cultured lady, but from such a question a counter-question immediately appears in me that is not very cultured, but I don’t say it out loud, and in the blog I can write: “well, and what the heck are you sitting here for then?”