What car do you drive?, I'm just curious.

Germans do mostly everything better LOL but yeah..Not to mention running out of gas on the Autobahn is illeagal too..The ADAC is rapidly ready to respond should this happen but I don't know if the polizei accompany them to give out a ticket for this offense.

Open-road driving is tested during the licence tests, but we never cover those distances. We do have driving schools and tutors and I guess lessons can be as long as you want, but they're not compulsory . The Restricted Licence Practical Test takes 45 minutes, even though it was recently made more strict. I only had to do about 5 minutes on the open road, which is ridiculous, really, considering how much of New Zealand is open road.

Over here the maximum speed limit is 100 km/h (practically a crawl, eh? ), although most kiwi drivers do 105 to 110 and then complain when they get ticketed. The police only have a 4 km/h tolerance. Increasing the speed limit isn't a good idea on most State Highways, because the roads are often windy and made of tar seal. Asphalt is only used in and around built-up areas; and even then only in certain places.

You could actually even earn some 'points' in the national register. When your account is full, your license will be revoked. Makes sense. Running out of fuel is a rather stupid thing to happen (unless something's broken). I've even got a spare canister in my trunk, but never needed it and probably never will.

Interesting. Not all of this stuff is part of the practical test, but an instructor should not let you apply for the test if you're really not good enough in either of the areas - Autobahn, country roads or city driving including relatively precise parking. And the right of way.

Not just practically. Wasting all that potential of your new ride I am even going to get speed index V winter tires this year so I do not have drive slower than necessary (we do not get Canadian winters, usually). Exceeding the speed limit by roughly 10 kph is expected over here, too

We have a demerit points system too. If you get 100 within 2 years, you lose your licence for 3 months. After that, you have to apply for a new one. Penalties can be rather pathetic here. It seems like the more dangerous something is, the less you get fined for it. Parking in a disabled-only space: $150. Speeding: $120-ish. Driving while using a phone: $80. Most traffic offences earn 20 to 35 points. What's the police's attitude to speeding in your country?

We don't get Canadian winters either, but the roads can get icy. Trouble is, you can't get the flash studded tyres that you get in Europe.

The rules regarding studded tires (had to look that one up to make sure they are what we call 'Spikes') are not as uniform across Europe as you might think. In Germany, they were banned way before I was born with few exceptions.

The attitude towards speeding is somewhat ambivalent. Kind of often, you get the impression that speed traps are being used as a means of generating income for counties. Especially the static speed traps are pretty rare in rather rich Bavaria and much more common in some other federal states.

On the other side, fines are pretty low in comparison to other European countries as far as I am aware. Up to an exceeding of ca. 20 kph (after the tolerance of at least 3 kph has been subtracted) you pay 30 Euros or less. Then comes a serious bump with fines doubling, points being earned and immediate, temporal loss of your license becoming more and more likely. You'll lose it one to three months, beyond that you'll have to pass the so called 'idiot test' and as far as I can tell it's pretty unlikely you'll ever be allowed to drive a car again. Doesn't stop some people from doing so, though.

So, like I said, exceeding the limit by ca. 10 kph is common practice, not too rarely even more. Though speedos tend to display around 5 kph than you're actually doing, minus the 3 kph or so tolerance and offences can quickly become negligible unless you really exaggerate things.

Edit: just gave my car a spin today, after I had my tires changed to proper ones so I could finally see where the horsepower gets me. 222 kph. Subtract 5 for inaccuracy. 217 kph. Nice

It must be nice to live in a country where you don't lose your licence for that .

Over here, the police put speed camera vans (or patrol cars) at the bottom of a hill or on a long straight; i.e. places where nobody crashes but where they're likely to get people doing 5+ km/h over the limit . For some reason, high-crash-risk zones never get the same treatment; they just get signs saying "Slow Down: High Crash Rate" .

At least these tactics are shared between NZ and Germany

Here it's common to go 5 MPH over the limit, Like in 55 zones everyone goes 60, Police is fine with this but 10 over and they might stop you, At the very least they will start to follow you around to see what you're up to for going 10 over.

Now I'm curious. What can one be up to with 10 mph over? A street race? A getaway?

The faster you go, the bigger the mess. That's the message that the NZ Transport Agency tries to get across with their TV ads. They have a point. At least it's better than the "Speed Kills" message.

In your countries, do the police pull you over for things like following too closely, not indicating and driving erratically? Here they usually don't; unless you're speeding as well. Often, the police drive as badly as everyone else.

You may earn a ticket for following too closely, but it's not too common. I think you're most likely to be pulled over for (suspected) DUI. And excessive speeding, of course.

Driving tests here are a huge joke...it's sad. Our tests last about 15 minutes.

From what I can recall, this was my route to get my full license loool

https://goo.gl/maps/MQ8yHaFXtD72

LOL we had a drive ed teacher . This girl did not see the stop sign .He made here get out of the car and say sorry to the stop sign .He was a cool dude . He loved the Wilson .He had me and my bro and then my sisters and he loved my sisters . We went to go see him and he was in a leg cast and a arm cast . But he was still doing drive ed . We did find out that he did die he was a heavy man .

Are there any mandatory elements the test must contain? Here you'll have to park the car up to three times with limited corrections allowed, find a spot where you can safely turn the other way etc. and there's big attention on the right of way. The test lasts 45 minutes. Which can feel much longer

Your route on the other hand looks rather... relaxed?

Are there any mandatory elements the test must contain? Here you'll have to park the car up to three times with limited corrections allowed, find a spot where you can safely turn the other way etc. and there's big attention on the right of way. The test lasts 45 minutes. Which can feel much longer

Your route on the other hand looks rather... relaxed?

It's all basic stuff... parallel parking, 3-point turn, emergency stop (which is just safely pulling over and putting on 4-way flashers LOL).

My highway portion was just the examiner telling me to do a couple lane changes!!

Our roads aren't safe. Dash cameras have become really popular here over the past few years. Here's some guy I captured driving up the wrong side of the road last month

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJESnvhfdWY