Here is my French driver's license horror story. I was an American expat living in Paris for 2 years. Fortunately, I had a Texas driver's license which is apparently one of a few states with reciprocal privileges, so all I had to do was exchange my Texas license for a French one, no class, no test. However, it took me 5 trips down to the French DMV, each time taking a number and waiting an hour. Each time, the clerk would find something else wrong with my application, even though my company had a French attorney assisting me, and I usually had a note from the previous clerk saying all I needed was one thing. Finally, all I needed was a copy of my Texas driving history. Texas does not provide a certified copy since you are able to download a copy from the website. Of course, France did not accept this. So, I wrote Texas DMV and asked them to mail me a certified copy. They sent me basically the same download. France did not accept it, but said the cover letter was certification enough, if I had it translated. Taking a number and an hour later at the US embassy, I had my translated document, which France finally accepted and issued my a license in exchange for my Texas license.
Then, 2 weeks later, I get a letter from the French DMV. They were not going to accept the letter and said I needed to come down and turn in the license they had issued me and bring in a properly certified driving record from Texas.
I gave up. I did not comply with this letter and kept the French driver's license. Fortunately, I was never pulled over and did not have any problems. When I left the country, I went back to exchange my French driver's license for my Texas one. I got a nasty scolding from the clerk, but I just played the dumb American and she eventually gave me my Texas license back.
I have to say, the absurd bureaucracy in France was not limited to the DMV, and I have more horror stories about the government regulations and bureaucracy there.
I don't mean to turn this into an argument over the quality of Texas' driving test, just point out that I, too, hold a Texas license and it is my first license. The driving test consisted of approximately two hours of driving near my local DPS office. I had to go through different types of intersections, parallel park, merge onto the freeway, make legal U-turns, signal appropriately (which is to say, all of the time, and is a skill that apparently didn't stick with most of my fellow drivers), stop at the appropriate spot, and so on.
My original point was that if you gave the DPS clerk a French license, you didn't have to do any of that because Texas considers it a license transfer.
Disclaimer: I am from France and now, I am living in the U.S. since 2 years.
This article rings true. Driving in the U.S. is 100 times easier than back in France. The driving test is easy, if there is one! (I lived in Austin, Texas doesn't have anything OR at least doesn't have almost anything that looks like a driving test from a french perpective.)
I've spent something like 3,400 Euros to get my permit back in France, and I've waited maybe 9 months. It's true they are not giving away easily spots for the tests and it's also true that they try to get you doing as much as hours as possible.
The driver test is super hard and expensive in France. Never got it for this reason even after spending 1k euro on it. Came to the US and got the driver license in a week for like 200$ including lessons lol
Oh man, the whole driving school process in France is so dumb and painful. It is layers of bureaucracy upon layers of bureaucracy. It is the worst in Paris, where you are going to have to wait longer and pay more to get a license. I have an increasing number of friends in their late 20s/early 30s who live in large French cities and don't even have a license - they live and work in the city, so it's not a problem for them.
When they do need to visit family in the more rural areas, they either take the train, or use a carpooling service (the most popular one is blablacar.com, which has been taking off like crazy in the recent years. The vast majority of French people I talk to when I go back home have heard of it- one of the few innovative French startups).
In France, I spent a year and half and about 1500 euros in driving lessons related stuff and didn't get my license. When I first moved to the US (southern state), it cost me something like 30 bucks and 30 minutes of my time. The test consisted of driving around the block, and parking the car (only snag: the inspector by my side, a rather overweight lady, told me that I'd lose points the further away I parked from the DMV's front door. I thought she was joking, but she wasn't).
The conservative French people say that more expensive, stricter, longer times for obtaining a driver license leads to safer roads; but if you compare US driving fatalities to French ones, there's not much of a difference- and people in the US drive way more than they do in France.
Like many other aspects of French culture, it's ridiculous how deeply legislated it is, and how the only ones benefitting from it are the ones making the rules. I find certain aspects of the US driving culture a little too much on the other extreme of the spectrum (learner's permit at 14? the driving test being just a drive around the block? the written test being a multiple choice questionnaire with the answers available on YouTube?), but France is worse by far, and it's hurting young professionals (my brother is without a college degree, and when he was unemployed he found that most jobs in rural areas require a car- but getting a license takes forever and is expensive. So that was a few months where he could do little but wait to get his driving license).
(another french here).
I sadly agree on everything said here...
I would like to add that in my opinion, the main problem in France is that everything related to driving is now turned into a business.
Usually the driving test is less about driving and more about how long they can keep you in the DMV to charge you money. There is not a lot of preparation to the driving test itself in order to fail the test the first time (so they can charge you after that). I've also seen verbal agreements between driving inspectors and DMV's (I guess this is easier to do on the country side).
Why wouldn't the police accept a legal document that is valid for the state you received your drivers license in?
Police in Texas also will happily accept a drivers license from out of the country in whatever form that happens to be. Same way I can travel around Europe with my US drivers license...
Compared to what? I've seen much simpler driver's licenses from other countries. Up until recently (2013 maybe) the French driver's license was literally a piece of pink paper with a picture glued to it.
I guess this is true in many countries (no tests for french driving license holders). I'm french, and didn't have to take a paper test, or a driving test when I got my license in Japan. Which is kind of ridiculous considering they don't even check you know how rules differ between the countries, and there are more than a few differences, the most basic one being default speed limits in the absence of indication.
Anyways, I actually didn't get my french driving license before I was planning to move to Japan, and the reason I did get it is because getting a driving license in Japan is even more expensive than it is in France.
Fwiw, I got my french driving license on the first try after 23 hours of lessons and didn't have any of the problems mentioned. In fact, I had all my paper test preparation with a web site that my driving school was contracting, so besides the freelance instructors, I don't see much innovation in that ornikar thing.
It’s kinda funny because I was horrified when I had to retake my driving license in California, coming from France where the driving test is actually hard, at how ridiculously easy it was.
Me and a bunch of friends failed the test the first time, and then I had to wait 6 months to pass it again. If you try to pass it without going through a school it’s the same wait time.
The booklet is also pretty big, and the trial tests are pretty hard with hard questions.
In the US I just went there and passed it on the spot. Super easy. No way anyone with half a brain could fail it. The code book is so small, there are barely any rules compared to France. Worse than that you’re barely supervised. Some lady yelled “no phones allowed” to a girl passing the test on the computer with her family around her lol.
Then I just drove with my gf who already had the driver license (legal in the US). Took 2 hours of lessons. 2 weeks later I was passing the driving test. Super easy as well.
Texas most certainly has a driving test (I know, I took it when I was 16 years old). If you gave the Department of Public Safety a France-issued license, Texas deemed you to already know how to drive so it did not require you to take the state test:
"Individuals who hold a valid, unexpired driver license from another U.S. state or U.S. territory, or from Canada, France, South Korea, Germany or Taiwan (the countries Texas has license reciprocity agreements with), do not have to take the knowledge or driving tests."
The US is far too lenient with giving out drivers' licenses.
In many European countries prospective drivers must pass difficult exams and tests. Meanwhile, in the US, if you answer a few easy trivia questions correctly and can drive a car around the block, you pass.
I've got a British driving license and an American driving license. The British driving license was hard work. The American driving license involved little more than proving I could make the car go forwards and that I had a pulse.
There's really a 40% failure rate? That's insane given how easy it is to pass the test.
I am a French dev and I plan to move to the Silicon Valley for various reasons but the driver licence is not one of them.
It is the first time I read such things about french driving exams and I can't remember having to answer inane questions like the car vs tank one.
Reminds me of something I read on HN the other day, I'm not sure if it's true but one commenter said he got a driver's license without ever actually demonstrating he can drive.
If it's true then it's outrageous that this can happen in the US.
Then, 2 weeks later, I get a letter from the French DMV. They were not going to accept the letter and said I needed to come down and turn in the license they had issued me and bring in a properly certified driving record from Texas.
I gave up. I did not comply with this letter and kept the French driver's license. Fortunately, I was never pulled over and did not have any problems. When I left the country, I went back to exchange my French driver's license for my Texas one. I got a nasty scolding from the clerk, but I just played the dumb American and she eventually gave me my Texas license back.
I have to say, the absurd bureaucracy in France was not limited to the DMV, and I have more horror stories about the government regulations and bureaucracy there.
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