Sunday Afternoon Drive

While I was growing up taking a "Sunday afternoon drive" was not uncommon, the roads were peaceful the view was pleasant and it was something to do.  A road trip can be a very fun and adventurous thing in general I like driving.

Since moving to Singapore however, my view of driving has changed.  I will say the driving and traffic is better than some places we have been, Istanbul Turkey for example was really crazy, while I would say that driving in Singapore is just crazy.

Why?  Well for one we are driving from the right hand side of the car and driving on the left hand side of the road, while we are getting use to this it is very strange at first.

 Singapore is a relatively small island with a lot of people and little space.  To help solve crowding problems every thing is built up and down, high rise buildings with four levels of basement is not uncommon.

The more people you have the more cars you have on the roads, therefore more parking spaces are needed.  To solve this problem the parking spaces are just big enough for your car to fit.  I am not kidding, there is a mere 6 inches on either side of your car before the next car or post.  The parking is so tight that: you have to back into your space as your turn radius going foreword is not tight enough for your car to fit, all side mirrors fold in with the push of a button and if you do not fold them in they are likely to hit the mirrors on the car next to you.  Space is just that tight.

So as you can imagine coming from the U.S. where you can whip right into a parking space front facing having plenty of room to open your doors and never thinking about pulling in your mirror in order to fit the car into the parking space, we had and have a bit of anxiety when it comes to parking in Singapore.

Speaking of parking the "car park" or as we would say parking structure ramps are also very very tight, there is a rainbow of paint colors on the concrete lining the ramp from cars misjudging how much space they do not have.  We are very careful in car parks not to scrape our car and yet twice now we have had to pay for car repairs due to parking ramps that are to tight.  There are some buildings that we just simply will not park in as we have learned that the ramp is too small for our comfort.

Driving is a similar experience.  The lanes are tight and the motor bikes driving between lanes are many, people stop for no apparent reason, and there are multiple buses and taxis making frequent stops.  Bike riders have no choice but to ride in the traffic, there are no shoulders and frequently the lane is lined with a concrete barrier leaving zero room for maneuvering.

Why am I recording this?  Well we had to take a drivers written test this week to get a Singapore drivers licence as our U.S. license is only good for one year and we will live here for two years.  There are many new rules, regulations and signs we had to learn.  We were warned that the test is hard, the questions are tricky and it is not uncommon for foreigners to have to take the test several times before passing it.  You can take the test as many times as necessary for a fee of $50.00 they don't mind as long as you pay.

The test taking opportunity only happens every couple of months and it was not an easy process.  We found out when we got there that we would need a photo copy plus the originals of three different documents, we did not have a photo copy with us only the originals.  There is no copy machine in the driving school!!  It is a three story government building with no copy machine.

We know to ask the locals so we were told of a copy machine a few blocks away in a government housing complex that we went to.  We also needed a passport size photo as they do not take your picture for your licence for you.  Luckily there was a girl in the school taking pictures for "a small fee" so we opted for that.

The test was 50 questions on a touch screen computer system heavily monitored with both a room monitor who was distracting and closed circuit TV.  In order to pass you must have a grade of 90% or greater.  The guy in front of us in line to check in was a business man from the U.K. who was renewing his license, he said the first time it took him three times to pass the test.  That made us a little nervous as he told us the English on the test was not that great so read the questions very carefully.

As we took the test we both felt it was not that bad, we both passed and in a month should receive our license in the mail.  That's right they do not just process it and hand it to you, you must wait and look for it to come via the postal system.