Observing Sweden Driver’s License – Step 3

The Slippery Road Test 

Last week I passed the slippery road test. I turned out to be far easier than I expected. I’d thought the diagram below was saying you you had to do the slalom both forward and backwards. It was only forward. Very easy. No one failed. There were 14 of us, all younger than myself, of course, late teens and early twenties.

Then came the icy road test. There was a track, or course, about a half a mile around. One half of it was smooth finished concrete with sprinklers along its edge that kept the surface very slick. We were to drive around the track at 50 miles an hour, then slam on the brakes when we came to a pair of marker poles. I slid for about 80 yards. Some of the students spun out, but I had no problem. We went through this five times at different speeds, the last time with an artificial moose we had to get around. 

When avoiding a moose, go around its back side, not the front – good advice.

The most interesting part came after the road test. We were taken inside to a series of displays. One was a car that had hit a moose. Its passengers were killed.
There was also a seat belt test. One for impact . . .

And the other for rollover. That’s me in the driver’s seat. Fun!

As much as all this has been a pain in the butt (and expensive – about $250 for this part) I think it’s an excellent program for young people learning to drive.

I still have the written test and the actual driving test to complete – more time and money, but I’m getting there.