Three times a week we went into Limoux to the driving school to do practice tests like they would be in the exam, and be frustrated beyond belief at the logic behind some of the answers. However, after a few times we feel we have come to understand how the French drive and think when driving. One interesting thing we found out is that smoking and eating while driving is 'interdit' - forbidden - because it means you must take your hands off the steering wheel to do it. Also, using the cellphone is interdit - every second car here you see someone talking on a cell phone or smoking a cigarette.... It doesn't help if you do the online tests and then find out that some of the answers are wrong, like this one (we chose the correct answers by the way):
Here are some sample questions - the question is read to you and then you have around 12 seconds to enter your answer, there may be more than one correct response to a question, and there is always at least one incorrect option amongst the options:
On 13th month, after the sign, I may:make a stop - yes.... A no....B
park - yes....A no....B
I may:- park before the sign......A
- park after the sign............B
- stop before of the sign.....C
- stop after the sign............D
On a new vehicle, the tyres installed on the front axle and also those installed on the rear axle must be:- of an indentical structure
yes......A no........B
- of an indentical type
yes.....C no........D
I am well positioned for:- turning right...................A
- continuing straight ahead....B
- turning left.....................C
- making a u-turn................D
Answers:
Q24 = A D Q3 = B C D Q19 = A C Q23 = C D
The test itself was another story. We did a practice exam at the school and then went down to Rue Blanquerie where we used to live. There is a huge building there, and we always wondered what was inside. Now we know - a lovely courtyard with lovely flowers and exotic plants and a big hall like the old NZ school halls with a stage and big windows. All the different driving schools turned up with their pupils who were all nervous (including us) and hoping to pass (ditto). Then you had to queue up for your turn, as they put the papers in a certain order so you have to go in by the order of the papers - sounds something like trouping the colour... Anyway, we were outside and Wouter thought this is a good thing because even though it was hot and sticky, sitting inside a hall with no air con for half an hour is awful before an exam. We felt better - slightly. Butterflies continued finding their way around my stomach and we wished each other luck. Handsets were given out and then the instructor said a lot of things which we neither heard nor understood due to lack of volume and speed of speech. But we managed to put in our security codes correctly before the exam started. The first few questions were all a blur as I realised this is it - we're really doing the test - all those weeks of reading, trying to do our internet tests (this is another story), going to classes, it's now or never. The end of the exam - phew, sigh, relief. Each person went up to the desk of the softly spoken man in exactly the same order as entering the room. The man tells you once you have given in your handset whether or not youv'e passed - in front of everyone. So there was another advantage to enter the hall almost last....... Poor people who didn't pass - no privacy to say BUGGER! Wouter's turn - PASS, a few more people, my turn - PASS. Excitement and happiness follow and we are both really pleased we passed. Of course now we are not allowed to drive until we have had our practical exam and (hopefully) passed that too.
We still think there is something wrong with a system which will allow the exchange of driving licences from countries such as Nigeria and Liberia, Vanuatu and other little dots of islands that not many people have heard of. But rules are rules, and NZ licences do not qualify to exchange for a French one. We could have gotten around it several ways - had we known in time what was required. One way was to go to Britain and become resident for 3 months, and then 3 months before the expiry of our international licence, apply for a British one, come back here and exchange it for a French (EU) one. Another way was to visit Vanuatu before leaving NZ and get a licence there. A straight swap would have been done in that case. Another way was to contact some guys over the 'net and "buy" an EU licence, but both of us didn't like the look of them - they reminded us of used car salesmen and we wondered how far our money would go if we attempted to buy another licence in cyberspace.
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