Driver's license

The introduction

Getting your driver’s license is not that hard in Georgia, if you ask me, I mean, I have seen and read and heard about getting your driver’s license in USA or in Latvia or Germany and it’s not that complicated here, I guess. Well, maybe it is for some people, but still, it’s not very hard and it’s pretty modified and made pretty simple, so that many people can go out there and try it out and get the driver’s license. And you have a couple of chances to get it, so now you can imagine what I’m saying. Well, to be honest, it shouldn’t be that simple, if you ask me. It’s like, people study those questions of the theory test without thinking about them and go and pass the theory test and there’s this practical test left, where you drive this Skoda car and you have 6 tasks to complete and then there you are with your driver’s license! You just have to study what to do where.

Many people don’t have any experience of driving a car and they study those things and go to the testing center and do those stuff there and get their driver’s license and then they just feel that they have all the power and, in fact, they don’t really know how to drive in towns or in the city and it’s just a disaster.

People just buy cars and get those driver’s license and drive those cars and they crash them and all the other things. Of course, that doesn’t spread on everyone, but I’m telling you, many people are just like that here in Georgia. And the parents let them do that, too, because they buy cars to their children, because they feel like they should buy them cars when they get into the university or get their driver’s license or something like that. They don’t really let their children appreciate their parents’ money and they don’t let them make mistakes and solve their problems on their own, so that the children always look up for their parents in any way they feel unsafe or if they have any problems and they anticipate their parents to solve those problems for them. Well, that’s pretty bad, if you ask me. And that’s how it is here and, I guess, always has been.

However, things are changing little by little, and, well, probably, it will change soon for good and some relationships will become better and wiser and stuff like that, you know. So, when you see an 18-year-old boy driving a car, and, mostly, it’s BMW or Mercedes, you should not forget that it’s his parents who bought him that car and it’s not his money that was paid for that car. So that he doesn’t really care if he crashes it or something, because that’s the mentality, I mean, he thinks that this car is his and he can do whatever he wants, however he doesn’t really think that his parents took a lot of effort and time to earn the money to buy him that car. Well, of course, not everyone thinks that way, but I know that many people do.

Anyways, it has been years that I’ve been thinking about getting my driver’s license, but sometimes I was too lazy to study those questions and rules and sometimes I just didn’t have time for that and stuff like that and I thought that I would start studying next day or next week and so the years passed and I still don’t have a driver’s license and now I decided to go ahead and go to the testing center and pass the exams and get my driver’s license, because it’s necessary already and sometimes I just really need to have it, because sometimes there’s this kind of an emergency situation and I can’t drive though the car is parked down there and no one is here to drive, so I’m just here without the driver’s license and we are obliged to get taxi or someone with a car or something like that for that occasion and it’s really horrible, of course, because you are bothering someone, when, in fact, you could just easily solve that problem of yours by having a driver’s license. So, I did study those rules and I know a little bit of driving and now I’m having these driving lessons for the practical exam. Well, to be honest, I just had this one lesson today. It was not that bad, if you ask me. I learned a few things about the practical examand how to do some tasks. The lesson lasted for one hour and it was pretty hot, if you want to know the truth, because it was 1 o’clock in the afternoon and now it’s summer and the sun was just spreading its rays on us like it wanted to burn us alive.

Schools in Tbilisi

To be honest, there are many auto schools in Tbilisi and in Georgia, in general. Wherever you walk in Tbilisi streets, you can see at least one sign that reads “auto-school” or something like that. Some have only theory courses and some have just practical stuff and some have both of them. You can see those signs especially in suburbs of Tbilisi, I mean, in those places, where there is a kind of a vast space for driving cars and stuff like that. There are also some offers for students. For example, we have these IDs which have signs of us being students and those are called the student cards and it’s been a couple of years now that these student cards have been invented here, so we are offered some sales on students with these cards and there are many sales on learning how to drive, too, and preparing for the examinations to get driver’s license and there are some schools which have those offers, many of them have 50% sale or something like that, so that it’s not that bad when you want to have driving lessons and if you are going to take those exams and get your driver’s license. Also, there’s this offer, that if you have this student card, I mean, your ID has a sign of you being a student, you can just pay 15 Laris for the examination fee and that’s it. while, usually people have to pay 40 Laris plus 15 Laris of participating or something like that.

In general, studying for the driver’s license examinations cost from 80 Laris to 100 and more, it depends on which school you are going to, I mean, you can even find some cheaper ones and I don’t really know the difference between them besides the amount you pay, perhaps the cheaper ones just make you study those questions without any additional information and maybe those ones that are more expensive give you some explanations about those rules and why some things are like that and some things are not, I can’t say that exactly, but that’s my guess. Those courses offer you both theory and practical lessons, but usually if you just want to have driving lessons, they cost 20 Laris an hour mostly. You can even search them on Facebook and there are many accounts and pages of auto-schools in Tbilisi and you can contact them and they are pretty responsive to messages and you can register on some courses or whatever you want, so that everything is just as simple as possible and you can always choose any of those schools and get rates and everything.

Well, I usually move around Varketili, so I know that there are many schools there, because there are many signs saying that they are preparing for driver’s license examinations. Some just have theory courses, some have practical stuff, but most of them have both, of course, because that’s what many people want _ to study both theory and driving at the same time and go and get their driver’s license. So that everything is just simple that way. Those people really know their stuff, I mean, they know what is going on during the examinations and they teach you what to do where and all the other things, you know, and then you go to Rustavi or someplace else and pass your examination. Well, I said Rustavi, because it’s near Tbilisi and most of the people go there, it’s like half an hour drive or so and then there you are near auto market and there’s this service of automobiles and stuff like that, I mean, there you can find everything about automobiles, I guess, because everyone just goes there and there you can get your car’s numbers and buy or sell a car or get some information about your car or get your car’s documents or things like that. So, you may say, that car services are in Rustaviand whenever you need something, you should go there. And there’s this driver’s license examination center, too, where people go to take those exams and get the driver’s license.

You know, there are people who take those examinations not just a couple of times, but too many times and still fail. That’s just crazy. They go and fail and then go again and fail again, however, they just don’t quit and take the exams again and again. Well, it’s been recently decided that the format of the examination would have to change and they changed that driving part mostly. I mean, there was this guy who would sit next to you and if you did something wrong while driving, he would just tell you to stop the car and get out. Well, not like that, but approximately like that. I mean, he would tell you that you failed and you could come back a week later or something like that and take the exam again and those guys just did their job pretty badly, I mean, they would fail some people just because they didn’t like them or something like that and people were really scared about that and they knew, that they would probably not pass the driving exam the first time because of those guys sitting next to them and deciding whether that person passed the exam or not. That was just really horrible, if you ask me. One should not use their advantage over someone, especially during examination.

The exam

Anyways, now about the exam.

Well, first of all, you should know what you need to take an exam. There are some categories of taking it, I mean, there are people taking the exam, there are underaged people taking exam and then there are students taking exam. So, usually people need their ID to take the exam, of course. Then they need to pay the examination fee, which is 40 Laris plus 15 Laris for normal people wanting to take the exam. For students who have ID with the sign “student” on them, it’s just 15 Laris to take the exam.

Well, technically, you pay for the theory exam and if you pass the theory, then you can go and take the driving exam. If you fail in the theory, then you have to pay the money again to take the theory exam again and so on and so forth. When you go to the driving exam, they check your status and see whether you have passed your theory test or failed and only after that you can take your driving exam. And if you have failed in the theory exam, then you can’t take the driving exam, obviously. And, well, if you passed your theory exam, then you can take the driving exam and if you fail in that, you can come back in 7 days and if you fail then, too, you can come back in another 7 days and so on and so forth during the following 30 days. After that, you need to take the theory exam again and pay the fee again and, well, do all the things again, of course. So, it’s just a great adventure, you know, if you fail.

There are somewhere about 1000 questions to study for the examination and there are rules and signs and everything to know for the theory test, of course. Some people just study those tests and go and take the exam and pass it and everything and some study it by heart, I mean, they study those rules and signs and explanations and don’t just remember that there’s this answer in that question and that’s all. My brother knew every little detail about those rules and signs and he just asked his teacher all those questions about why there was this answer to that question and why not the other and he just couldn’t study those things until he knew why something was like that and not the other way. That’s how people should study those things, and not by just looking at those pictures and remembering where which answer is correct and just going on the examination and taking those tests.

Well, you should put a great effort in remembering those questions, too, if you want to know the truth. However, it’s just stupid _ remembering all those questions just to go and take an exam and pass it and then don’t remember anything at all, I mean, those rules and signs are for driving correctly and stuff like that and when you don’t know them, how can you drive a car? You should know, what the signs are telling you, so that you won’t do anything stupid and stuff like that, you know. That’s that simple. However, people just want to have a driver’s license and they do not think about anything else, and that’s why many accidents happen, if you ask me, and that’s why people get killed on the roads and stuff like that. You should really know those signs and rules, so that when you encounter them, you will know what to do and what to expect, you know.

So, there are 31 tasks divided and there are questions in each of them and, so that, there are about 1000 questions in all, if you want to know the truth. Some are about the rules and some about the signs and where some cars have to go first and which ones should go the second and stuff like that.

Then there’s this virtual exam and you can check yourself and do that test and see whether you can pass the theory or not. There are 30 questions on the theory exam and you can have maximum of 3 mistakes, if you want to pass the exam. Otherwise, you won’t pass it and you will have to take it again.

Now about the practical exam.

You have some tasks to complete and when you complete all of them well, that means that you have passed the exam, of course. First of all, you have to get your car in a virtual room and not to crash it on anything. That’s the first task. Then you go and make “zig-zag” as they call it: there are 5 things put into the ground and you just have to go through them and not smash them, you know. Then you go to that dead-end and after that you have to go on that 8-shaped thing and after that comes the uphill, where you have to stop the car and then start again and then there’s this light signal and then you go and do parallel parking. After doing all those things, your examination is over. You have 100 points at start and you lose some points in every wrong action. There’s this computer sensor in the car, which senses everything and if you do something wrong, it gets your points and stuff like that. It also tells you when you have done one task and when to move to another one. You should not lose more than 39 points, or else, you won’t pass the exam and you get kicked out of the car. Well, you don’t really get kicked out of the car, as they used to do, when there were not those computer sensors some time earlier and there were those instructors sitting next to you and with just one mistake they used to kick you out of the car. People used to tell about their practical exams and how they didn’t pass and what happened and stuff like that and it was kind of hilarious sometimes, because some policeman just kicked people out of the car because of a small detail that these people didn’t do correctly, you know. Well, nowadays, that’s not a problem, because the sensor decides everything. And the instructor gives you details about the examination at first, when you get into the car and then he/she is just silent and doesn’t tell you anything else. Well, he/she maybe tell you to stop and wait for another participant to finish his/her task, or tell you where to do your task and that’s it. and that’s kind of good, if you ask me, because you shouldn’t be bothered by someone, when there’s a computer deciding everything about your examination while you do those tasks.

The things you need

Well, there are some things that you need to have when going to the examination center and taking the exam. First of all, you need to have a health document, it’s called Forma IV 100 and it basically says, that you are healthy and you don’t have some eye problems and stuff like that. You go some place, where they can give you that document and you get checked on things, such as eye and stuff like that, you know. And it’s not free, if you want to know the truth. It usually costs 25 Laris almost everywhere. However, there’s this place in Todua clinic on Station Square and there they give you that document only for 16 Laris and that’s where I got mine. And if you go to Rustavi and you want to get that document there, you should pay 30 Laris there.

Then, you need your ID card and then, when you get to the examination center, you should have some money to pay for taking the exam. I mean, for students it’s just 15 Laris and for other people it’s 40 Laris plus 15 Laris of taking the exam.

Well, that’s all you need for your exam and you can go there and take the exam with just these documents.

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