Well, it's an american test, so that explains the 94% I got...
Actually I have to confess that the hardest driving test I've passed was the US one, in 1993. I studied the (more or less thick) manual they give you at Virginia DOT for a week, and, believe me, you HAVE to study.
A friend from Venezuela took the test along me and he did not pass. I'll always remember the deep voice of the guy that went along with me for the road (practical) test in the US: "Stop means
stop", he said, when I approached a Stop sign at 5 kph, like everybody does in Bogotá. I remember well the "fire truck distance" rule: I was astonished when I found you have to be THREE BLOCKS AWAY from fire trucks! Who writes that kind of things? Yeah, I know, civil engineers...
For example, in most South american countries there are no four-way stops (where the car on your right has the right of way) You wonder: what happens when four cars approach the intersection at the same time? Do they stop forever or does somebody toss a coin?
At least they asked only about one road sign.
BTW, I wonder when Europe and America will use one set of road signs. There are signs that are easier to understand or more logic in Europe, like the speed limit, which comes in pairs, one to start and one to end the speed limit zone, while in the Americas you never know when you can speed up again.
Some signs are clearer (at least for me) in "American". Besides, for a New World inhabitant, there are hard to digest signs.
How many americans (north and shout) in the forum recognize this?
No parking
No stopping (yeah, I also didn't get this one the first time I saw it)
Keep to the right (and down?)
You have the right of way
YOU DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY (for the love of Pete, who designed this thing?)
In Europe, at least in some countries, one-way signs are
blue and really hard to see the first time, when you're used to b&w one-way signs.
In North America they use some signs where you need about two minutes to read the whole thing. I was catched once by a police after I turned right in a corner with a sign that said something like "No right turn between 7 am and 9 am and between 2 pm and 4 pm"
below a right-turn-allowed sign. The guy left me go with a warning (and a couple of laughs after I expressed my astonishment and we walked to the sign together: the letters were like 2 inches tall!).
The "Pelican and other birds" crossings in England are... well, let the britons say something, however, where most countries have zebra crossings, in England they had a complete zoo, from pandas to puffins to pegasus...
I guess most of the time the signs are there to confuse tourists and to make happy the local taxi industry. I remember that in Ireland some road signs are in Gaelic (to be enjoyed by english foreigners, I imagine
).
Some european motorways have white-on-green destination or information signs (like in America) while some have white-on-blue. Black-on-white destination signs are used in smaller
roads, while in America they're used when the
signs are small. However, they're white on yellow in Germany, for example and in England they are white on blue or white on green depending of the importance of the road.
I only ask: why?
Could You Pass a Driving Test?
, that being a D plus (I can't find the plus sign on my gf's spanish language laptop!). I certainly thought I'd do better, but it's been a while since I took it back in high school.
