Studying for Swedish Drivers License

   Are you an expat who has lived here for over a year? Are you an expat from another country other than an EU country? Do you like to drive? Well...forget it! Swedish drivers license...it's easier to get a license to practice medicine! I read this from the web site American Womens Club of Stockholm...and this is a quote...Americans are considered to be unsafe drivers by Swedish standards! I assume that drivers from other countries are just a little better. My favorite question is-If you are at a flashing yellow light and a group of demonstrators walk in front of you, what should you do? I have yet to see this in practice, but the correct answer is to wait for them to cross, because pedestrians have the right of way.
   Let's go further on with the pedestrians having the right of way. As explained in my körkortsboken (drivers license book), in an uncontrolled pedestrian crossing, that you have a duty to give way, that you must never wave pedestrians on and that you must make eye contact to avoid misunderstanding. It seems that if you wave them on, you can give them a false sense of security and they may just cross the street without looking. Hmmm...yes....I often did that in the states! Therefore, make eye contact! Not sure if it is that moving your eyes from side to side as if to say " cross now, cross now". Or if it is that Spock thing, with raising your one eyebrow...I just can't do that, so I use my finger to push up the eyebrow. Or maybe it is a wink or two at the person standing there? I guess you could just stare at them until they become so intimidated that they just run and scream to the other side just to get away from you. It's that whole "Taxi Driver Syndrome"..."are you looking at me?" Now don't get me wrong, I think that it is great to give all pedestrians the right of way! It's just that I would like a little more assurance than trying to figure out that eye contact thing.
   In the mean time, I will go back to my studies and try to figure out...if I am driving downhill on a crowded street and a lorrie is driving up the hill...do I stop and give him the right of way if a car is parked on his side of the street, with an old man wanting to cross the road, as a bus wants to pull out, with a red and yellow round sign showing a red truck and a black car!


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