Dotterelly

Thanks Everyone! Advice like this is so helpful - the government pages feel like they're all written in another language most of the time!

Anyone know whether it's easier to pass a driving test in the UK or in the US? I've struggled with passing in the UK (I live in London so driving is horrible), and I was thinking at this point it might be better to wait till I'm in the US and learn to drive there, but some of my family think it would be better to get a UK driving licence before going to America.

Pulaski

.... The standard of driving in the US is atrocious, I believe in fair part because the driving test is very basic - rarely more than about ten minutes and seems to hinge on whether you stopped at STOP signs and red lights, and avoided running over more than one pedestrian.

IMO you will be a better driver if you have learned good driving techniques sufficient to pass the test in the UK, but honestly you don't need to, and after moving to the US you would have to learn a few different things, not least driving on the other side of the road, and moving the gear lever with your right hand.* The foot pedals are in the same order left - right. ..... And, unless you move to NJ, you would also have to take a US road test.

* In the US there is only one test, not a different one for manual and automatic cars, you take one test and get a license. .... In other words you can take your test in an automatic and then immediately go and drive a manual. That said, manual cars are getting harder and harder to find. .... Except at my house!

Dotterelly

Yeah, my main issue with passing a driving test in the UK is that I'm Dyspraxic - it means that it takes much longer to get stuff to stick in my muscle memory and I often have to use brain power to do movements other people can do without thinking (when I'm tired I have to really concentrate just to walk in a straight line). I can drive a manual car well enough, and I can deal with the english road rules, but trying to do both at once on a narrow London street with cars parked both sides and pedestrians all over the place uses all my energy. I've failed 5 driving tests, each with only one major and a small number of minors. I feel competent to drive, but the extra stress of the exam is just too much. Passing in America where the roads are much wider and the test is easier in an automatic car so I don't have to use half my concentration controlling the gears is really appealing.

BenK91

If anything I'd say you need to concentrate here more than you would in London!

17/18 year olds driving around in big SUV's and trucks, lorry drivers that quite literally give zero shit's about anyone within a 5 mile radius of them etc etc.

Just because the roads here are wide and straight, doesn't mean people are capable of keeping it within the white lines as I see every day on my commute.

Dotterelly

Ha, I feel like I'll just treat any lorries like I treat the big tankers going in and out of Southampton when sailing in the Solent - give them the widest berth possible!

Pulaski

Yeah, despite the wide roads, driving off the side of the road, or into on-coming traffic is scarily common. There is a recurring news report that I first noticed shortly after moving hete, and I still see/hear it regularly in the news, like every couple of weeks: the driver either (1) drove into on-coming traffic or (2) off the side of the road, they then either (1) hit a tree, or (2) over-corrected, came back onto the road and either (1) drove into on-coming traffic or (2) off the other side of the road, and hit a tree. The result is always the same - the driver died. .... Last week the report was of exactly such an incident where someone drove off the side of the interstate, in the middle of a sunny afternoon, and hit a tree!

A former colleague, who was a cop in Florida, reported that it is exactly the same there, except people drive into ditches, rivers, ponds, and lakes, instead of hitting trees.

Dotterelly

My younger sister was in a car accident when the car she was a passenger in went too fast round a bend and hit a tree. She had a lap belt on and it drove into her gut and damaged her internal organs. The roads around where my partner lives in Iowa didn't seem so bad, but he isn't in a big town or anything.

Pulaski

AFAIK roads don't have bends in Iowa!

iarnell

Then get attacked by gators?

BritInParis

Once drove from Des Moines up into Minnesota cross country. Flat as a pancake and not a curve in sight. Just endless fields of wheat and amusing statues outside each little identikit town relating to its name.

BenK91

Damn. I thought nothing could be worse than driving across Wyoming with it's 2-3 bends

Dotterelly

Oh man, some of my boyfriend's family live in a place called Lakeview. All their signage has sailing boats but no one sails on their lake, it's all just powerboats, and as a semi sailor that makes me amused and kinda sad.

But yeah, Iowa seemed pretty straightforward so far as roads are concerned, the entire state is one big grid of roads and fields. That said, I know my boyfriend has come off the road a couple of times due to slippery conditions in the winter.

BritInParis

Wyoming is the Monaco Grand Prix circuit in comparison

To answer the OP's actual question I would concur with her relatives and opine that if she can obtain her full GB driving licence before she goes to the US (to live?) then that would be preferable.

Karlosthecackle

I actually thought the driving test at Lego Land in Windsor was harder than the one in PA!

petitefrancaise

coffee on the keyboard! Thanks!