Pivobelly

Exactly, especially as there seems to be a requirement to have at least 32hrs of lessons!!

Diddion

Not sure whether 32 hours would be sufficient to achieve the Portuguese standards of driving.

macliam

Oh come on, it takes a lot of practice to ignore speed limits and tailgate..........

Diddion

What about overtaking on bends; indicator mis and non-use, how to ignore white lines, and so-on? There is a lot to learn.

macliam

I thought that was for the advanced motorists.......

Diddion

Thanks for the clarification!

mfesharne

It won't affect UK passport & licence holders because of the Brexit situation but FWIW the 90 days to exchange rule was changed on ot around the 15th of this month & people from non EU member states now have 2 years to exchange instead of just 90 days.

Cortiz

I just read that UK licenses in Spain must be exchanged by Jan. 31st, so good to know that Portuga isn't imposing such a pointless rule.

@mfesharne what are the "Simplex changes" of which you write?

mfesharne

Simplex is an ongoing Govt program designed to simplily bureaucracy. https://www.simplex.gov.pt/

Cortiz

That can only be a good thing.

mfesharne

I can only assume it's Simplex but there are a number of good improvements happening in recent months.

Las year, they changed the rules for citizenship through marriage & that can now be claimed after 3 years instead of the former 5 & if a child together then no language test or proof of links to community/culture required & this year they're due to debate dropping the language test for some other citizenship application categories.

Red Eric

Sheer pedantry here but the lessons wouldn't be required in the case of an experienced driver with an expired or otherwise unexchangeable licence. Only learner drivers have to be submitted for the test by a driving school.

Diddion

...but I am right about the test, I believe?

liveaboard

I took a driving test last week, driving a 5 ton agricultural tractor with trailer around town with the IMTT guy driving behind giving instructions through a walky talky.

It went ok.
I had to reverse the trailer around a corner and then straight back at a correct distance from the curb.

I think 95% of drivers here are just fine. Like everywhere I've ever driven [and that's quite a few places] there is a minority of reckless persons on the road.
I never drove in the UK, maybe there are no idiots there.

wellinever

yes of course there are idiots in the UK, but in my experience, no where near as many as there are in the Algarve.
Almost every day I end up with anxt when driving.