A friend of mine had told me his story of getting his Dutch. His story was a long one, perhaps because he was not good at driving cars with proper road signs. Perhaps he has driven more cycles than cars in his life in India (and the same here in Holland) and hence may be on the extreme side. But then, these people have greeting cards that congratulate the person who has passed his/her driving test and has been awarded a license to drive. The person celebrates this long-awaited moment with his friends and family, so its not a mean achievement.
The author summarizes the problems very concisely and precisely
Just what makes it so difficult? Cost, language barrier, cost, cultural confusion, and cost.
The process starts with clearing the theory test. Even though the test is in English, the book having the possible set of 1500 questions is only available in Dutch.
Once you clear the test, you need to find a good driving school
Ask the price per hour. This should be 32-36 euros, which seems like an exorbitant price - because it is.
If you do not speak good Dutch already, there are suggestions of how to find a good instructor.
If you're still a novice in Dutch, don't let foolish pride stand in your way and accept a driving instructor who has no knowledge of your native language or at least of English.
Once you have taken the set of driving lessons (could be anything from 10 hours to 50 hours, particularly if you have never driven a car), you can opt for a practice test, but...
You can opt for a practice test before the official road exam. But this will cost you about 120 euros.
The author feels that the test is now easy...
Having survived the excruciating driving lessons, the road test will be a breeze.
...but my friend took the exam four times, having failed thrice. Well, his case could be an extreme, but he showed me why its really difficult. We were on our bikes when he was describing this, and a car was coming from our left. Instinclively, we stopped our bikes (or slowed them considerably by applying the brakes). But since we were on the car's right, we had priority and the car had to stop. Our Indian instincts forces us to apply the brakes where none were required. My friend said that if we did this in a car during the driving test, the examiner would deduct a point for this 'mistake'. A couple of more points and you have flunked the test. Maybe coming froma country where traffic rules are made to be broken, it becomes difficult to (sub-consciously) realize that others will obey the rules and makes it difficult to pass the test.
So now, if you do fail this test...
If, however, you fail this (practical) exam, brace yourself for countless driving lessons, a theory exam (58 euros) and another more discriminating road exam (120-180 euros).
At eh edn of all this pain...
Isn't that seven-speed bike looking more and more attractive?
Complicated to get a dutch driver's license - UT Nieuws - weekblad van de Universiteit Twente
NS Railways in Netherlands has touch screen ticket vending machines installed at every railway station. This is how they work. Great use of Flash to teach you how to use the machine.
