Want to join in on the Members-Only roadtrip planning for 2022? I'll drop my research and ideas as I go over at patreon.com/jayswanson for my delightful Patrons! Become a Member today!
The 48 hours after the practical test is fairly recent. The reason is to protect the examiners from the rage of those who fail. It was a serious problem when they told the prospective driver s/he'd failed.
I didn't think that hearing about the French driver's license system could be so entertaining -- but you did that thing! You look great Jay, rested and well. Hope you enjoy the holidays
We really enjoyed the story telling/narration style of this video. You made it a lot of fun to watch with the little comments regarding the French system of obtaining a license.
I immediately reached for my volume button, to turn off the music I thought was playing on my computer, I almost fell off my chair! Thanks, Jay for playing the song! And of course huge congrats on getting the license! I worked as a coursier (scooter courier) in Paris for a company called Reels On Wheels delivering English language videos, oh so many years ago... 🔥🧨💪🏽🤠👍🏽🧨🔥
The question where the Vitesse or speed limit is the largest factor of lives lost, is because the specific mention of Autoroute. On highways speed is the largest factor and on normal roads and agglomeration alcohol is the largest factor. I was myself confused with this question, while revising for my Code De La Route, which I passed last week on my first try (it was just luck). But yeah saw your video for pure production quality, and info for the final driving test. Good luck mate.
I wasn't even this intrigued by getting my own license, but here I am, 30 minutes deep on your adventure. That was highly entertaining, Jay. I've said it before, but long-form storytelling Jay videos are the best videos. Congrats on getting your license.
Canadian living in London here. The moment I was eligible I swapped my Ontario licence for a UK one. Other than getting an automatic only licence, I don't regret it one bit... except that it's terrifying to drive here. Tons of weird signs, lane signs that don't match the markings on the road, etc. Every drive is an adventure!
@@JaySwanson Definitely a good point. To prepare myself I downloaded several theory test practice apps and repeatedly failed over irrelevant things (like questions about changing gears, mechanical questions, etc.). But I've got the signs down now, and I'm confident driving my usual routes, it's just when Google Maps decides to take me an alternate route that things get scary.
@Léopold van Aubel Sure, but that probably has a lot to do with drivers' reactions to perceived risk... and of course the drives are more territorial in North America.
I'm Canadian living in Scotland and I decided it's not for me. Driving in Glasgow is seriously messed. I've driven all over the world and this is the worst. Even as a passenger I can't even spot the traffic lights. Lol. Bus lanes....and stupid sign placements. Ppl parking on the road when there's only one lane. 🙄 pulling over to let the other car pass etc... I HATE it. Now I just Walk!! Haha. I miss Canadian driving.
Love this vlog. What a bureacratic fuddle this France is. I salute you for muddling thru it and persevering. And now you're officially a driver. Looking forward to your new adventures! We will happily ride along.
Toutes mes félicitations pour cette belle réussite !! L'épreuve la plus difficile finalement aura été de surmonter la lenteur administrative française... Prochaine destination pour les vacances = Massy !! (Ton copilote en Mini de la rue des belles feuilles) 😉
FYI they used to tell you right away if you passed, but after some 'violent reactions' of some candidates who I bet didn't pass, they changed the system to protect the inspector. In my case, the guy told my instructor, which I believe is a common thing because they all know each other, so I just had to work her a little to get my answer.
Haha, at least they cracked for you. Definitely don't think it's a good solution personally, but it's what we get to live with (and what's another 48hrs of unnecessary stress in France?😆)
Good for you. Honestly the signage would have had me stumped for sure and the whole process seems very intimidating. Which explains the horror stories you had been hearing. Your efforts and determination really paid off. Now you have the freedom to explore! Congratulations 👏
OMG! So glad you finally got it. Looking forward to Travels With Jay around France. Parallel parking almost did me in as well. You would think there would be fewer drivers after all the hoops you had to go through. But, no, c’est la vie.
LOL poor Lindsey 🤣 she looked like she was having flashbacks to getting her license the first time in the US! Can't wait to see all the new towns and villages you'll get to visit!
As a German living in the states the sign with the black cross that you call “free for all” makes me laugh. It’s a easy rule. If there is no stop or yield sign, the car of your right has the right away. Once you get used to that it makes sense. What i can’t get used to is all way stop signs in the USA. That’s a full blown Mexican stand off! How do you determine who was at the stop first if a crash happens and people cut in front of me a bunch of times. Or people sat around and confused the heck out of each other. I hope you enjoy driving in Europe my friend. Keep up the content. Happy to see you develop and hope you are doing well. Going to Paris with my wife in august!
Congratulations! The French red tape is LONG and STICKY! 🤣 48 hours? Crazy! At least they didn't constantly say, "Pas possible!" Ugh! I'm excited to see what new adventures you take us on. We rented a car in Avignon and drove around Provence to Arles. It was great getting to stop at little wineries, visit Les Beaux and all the windmills. Cool stuff you only see by car. ENJOY!!! 😊👍
I live in London, we have zip-car, which is great for people who want to occasionally use a car but don't want the expense/hassle of owning one. But youre right, there are still places you need a car to get to, sadly.
Jay. Congrats 🎉 on passing and getting your French Driver's license. What a nightmare to get it. I thought using our DMV and driving in NYC was a pain. Looking forward to your road trips !!!!
Congratulations on getting your 🇫🇷 license! Fortunately, I was able to use my CA license this past August and September when I drove to Charost and to Normandy. For some reason I didn't mind the roundabouts in France; I hate them here, maybe because none of us are used to them and I've seen many near misses. It was great to drive in the countryside. In Paris, EEK, UGH, CRAZY! I disagree about the bus. We loved them. In Paris we took the Metro only once (in 8 days) so we could hurry back to the hotel. We took the bus or walked so we could see the sights. I highly recommend the bus, at least for tourists.
P.S. The right of way thing is how it is here in Sweden too. . . .as far as I know, all of Scandinavia actually has what we call höger regel and the round abouts are the same. I'm in the same boat you've been in so I've only ever driven in Norway :p If somebody drives me to the border I can drive on the other side but Sweden is a no no. My Swedish DL is my next thing to tackle actually.
I have the same book code de la route 2020 :) Got my first driving license in Washington DC at the age of 16. Then exchanged it for an Algerian one at 18. And now, I have a French one. Without hassle :)
Congratulations Jay! I'm so happy for you! All the adventures we are gonna have 😁😁😁😍😍😍. Can I just say you are looking beautiful,all that self care and exercise you look incredible! Sending you much love 😘😘😘
Félicitations, Jay!🎉 A lesson in perseverance! The greater the obstacle, the greater the glory in overcoming it! Honestly, it sounds like the constant 48hr waiting period was the most trying!😆 Congrats again! Vroom, vroom!
my French license was stolen on vacation in Italy. When I returned home to Germany I told the government office ….and without proof of ever having a license, they gave me a German license . Even they knew how bad it would be to go thru French administration ! I already had to replace my French license once. I ended up having to say I lived with the pastor of the church I went to when I lived in France…but that is another story.
Congratulations Jay! You’ve definitely earned that. French bureaucracy! Aaaargh!! It’s definitely so much easier over here in the Uk. Loved the video. Great to see Mssrs Taylor and Assal too ! Here’s to some fab road trips next year! 👍
They stopped giving the result right after the driving test because in some "hot suburbs" some angry candidates who failed were becoming aggressive and some examiners got assaulted...
years ago inspectors used to tell you the result of the driving test and even gave you a "permis provisoire" (before getting the definitive one at prefecture) so you can drive right away after passed the test but because of agressions of inspectors when people failled, the result is now known days after. I got my driving license in 15 days : 2 days for learning "code" : nearly 1000 photos in 48h (5s to answer instead of 30s during test - dreaming about it when sleeping because it was so intensive), got 0 errors and the other days to learn practical driving , first on a circuit and after in real cities.
Merci bien! This tragic-comedy brings back some memories. There was the drive from Nice to Aix where I exited the autoroute, stopped at the stop sign at the end of the exit & was promptly rear ended. The diver of the other car was having a rage attack & wanted to know why I stopped. I pointed to the stop sign & he exploded while explainig to me that everybody knows to ignore the sign & forge ahead into the traffic on the road at the end of the exit. Round-abouts? Don't t even get me started. French bureaucracy? Don't get me started. And yet in spite of all that I LOVE France--most of the time ;->
I am a huge fan of Jay's and enjoy his videos very much. Do others that watch these videos upon the opening few seconds go to make a cup of coffee? Due to Jay's love of coffee, I have a Pavlovian response and a need for coffee whenever I watch.
I'm shocked at the amount of hurdles you have to jump to get a license there considering how bad the drivers are in Paris. I saw three accidents in just one week.
Wow. What a PITA!!!..... LOL Just a small taste of what REAL life in France can be like! ;-) Congrats on getting your license! Looking forward to road tripping with you!... maybe in 48 hours...
Thank YOu for the Christmas Sticker,I was SURPRISED Thank you. Thank You for this video. This is a VIP video for me. I am NOT certain which country I'm Moving to, France is still there. It's between France The Netherlands and Andorra. I haven't driven my whole life and I'm very tired of living like you've been living except I'm not in Paris. IDK where my life is going ...all in all I just have a PERMIT ...My LIFE IS IN LIMBO. I am just in baby language learning stage. Thank You.
That’s the best view of Mont St. Michel. Up close it’s tacky and busy and it loses its mystical look when you get closer. There’s even a plastic cow on the approach. Then most of the shops are obviously tourist tat. Oh, and if visiting in the summer use mosquito repellent when visiting. Even the car park hosts a whole mass of mozis.
Passed my driving licence in 2004 and it was the year we started to have to wait 48h for the results. Before that it used to be known on the spot, but too many people who failed the test got mad and hurt the exam officers, so now we have to wait 48h to know if you passed.
Lol. In August 2019, my last trip to France, I traveled by train to Mont-Saint-Michel from Paris via Granville and from there went to Normandy, Very enjoyable train trips and at that time, everyone had to take a bus to the Mont-Saint-Michel -- it wasn't possible to drive there. I guess that's another thing that has changed over the last 2 years. Good to know.
You do have to take a bus the last mile to Mont Saint Michel, but I don't think there's a train that gets you that close. All we saw were parking lots at least 😆
I've bought (and am driving) a car in france, with a US license (with the international license rider, which is a notarized paper addendum that you can get by stopping by an AAA in the US before you leave for france). I did have to have a residence here, however. My home insurance company was fine with it, too...but I am required to get my french license faster than I would otherwise have to.
Hello Jay, congratulation! I laughed a lot while watching this video, especially with the road signs. I'm 54 yrs old but, surprising as it may seem, I don't have the Drive license. I passed it 25 years ago. I got the code at the first time, making a single error. From my third driving lesson, the instructor took me through the humming point of the Place de l'Etoile at the top of the Champs Élysée. Surely that doesn't mean much to an American who doesn't know this roundabout. But those in the know can tell how creepy it can be for someone passing his third driving lesson. I had only driven three hours in my life before this ordeal. 😂 Yet, I did very well, the instructor told me. But, having missed the driving test, I gave up. I intended to try it again of course, but pushed back each time and the years went by. Yet even though it has been so long ago, I have correctly identified all the signs you have shown without any hesitation. Have a friendly day and .
Interesting. At 16:04 you show the warning sign with the cross roads, in Germany we place those at intersection where the right of way is not signed (so defaults to right-most first), where the crossroads might not be easy to spot, or when accidents have been more frequent there. Edit: Finished the video now. In Germany you even get handed your drivers license the moment your test is over, if you pass the age requirement and it has actually been already produced and shipped to the examiners office beforehand.
€720 to take a Driver's License test? Yikes! That's insane. I couldn't live in a place where I couldn't drive. Do they charge the same for people with disabilities? That's crazy! Thank you for sharing! Important stuff for many people. My grandson has wanted to study in France, so this is good to know!
Your confusion with the road signs made me laugh, I think a lot of them are standardised across Europe so things like No Through Road are very familiar. And roundabouts. At least you were familiar with driving on the right & LH drive cars. What puts me off driving a French car in France is that everything would be back to front. Have driven my GB car here - trickiest thing is remembering speeds are in kms, not miles, and looking at the speedometer correctly. But well done at passing (relatively) quickly & easily.
Driving on the opposite side of the road is always intimidating at first, and flipping seats too. I did for a while in South Africa, you'd be surprised how quickly you get used to it
I'm surprised that more US states don't have reciprocity agreement with France (I had to look it up) FLORIDA is listed? the last thing France needs is Floridians driving in their country. "Persons with valid driver's licenses, issued prior to their first entry into France as a resident, from the states of Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, New Hampshire, Kansas, Michigan, South Carolina and Kentucky may directly 'exchange' their state driver's licenses for French permits."
=hello 8 I just watch your video. The 48 hrs wait after passing the practical test is fairly new. Before they would give you the answer right away. But too many driving inspectors got violently beaten or harrassed after falling the test. So they had to put that in place to avoid violence. So that's why !!
It's ironic that I am allowed to drive in France with a US license, but the French have to jump through hoops. It should probably be the other way around. It wasn't until my fourth trip that I learned: no right on red, max speed on highways is 10% less the posted limit during wet conditions, etc. At the beginning of each trip I seem to forget about the reduce to 50 when entering a town until when one of those reminder signs pops up or the speed measuring sign flashes red with a frowny face. I had no idea the right priority could apply to round-abouts. No wonder ... For the most part I'm usually driving the smallest car possible, paying attention to my speed and the changing limit displayed on my dash with hands clenched on the steering wheel trying make sure my tires don't slip into the meter deep trench on the side of the road as a giant semi passes me head-on on a country road which feels more like someone's winding driveway. It's amazing I made it this far without an accident or ticket.
Most people: "Uergh, the French are ruuuuuude! 🙄" Me, going to Paris in 2018 with barely passable French skills: "YOU GET OUT OF IT WHAT YOU PUT INTO IT!" French people in Paris, Versailles, and Mont Saint Michel: *Chill af human beings.* Don't know who Puxan is/was but they're right! Also, your videos were great prep for my French trip! Surf Wisely.
Since you were in France did you expect it to be easy or make sense? Way to go and a great vlog. Looking forward to more car adventures around Europe. May I suggest a drive through downtown Napoli?
Bad news for you: since last year, you now have to pas a different writing test for your motocycle licence. And the driving tests (yes, plural) are insanely hard, especially the first one, the dreaded "Plateau". The second one, the "circu" is much easier.
Hmmmm, I rented an Audi which was the only automatic vehicle available in Paris, and drove all over France, for a whole month. And yes, Mont Saint-Michel was one of the visiting sights. Having my husband next to me helped with the signage. Other than that , I had no problems. Driving with US driver's license, that is. Thank goodness didn't have to deal with all that joy:/
I have passed the general theory test the first try. It took me about two months, going to a driving school 3 times a week and taking practice tests. Now comes the in the car driving test. My instructor yells at me because I don't stop for cars entering on the right. One time, the car, on the right, was about a half a block from the intersection and I thought I had time to pass. He Yelled "You have to stop!" Okay.
I like you and I know that youtube prefers longer videos but I'd prefer shorter ones, if possible for you: Mark Twain once said, “I didn’t have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one.”
Have you watched the recently released Gran Tour episode? It's all about French cars and driving in France. Quite funny. Not sure if this video is a segue to it or vice versa!
Great content and congrats on getting your French license bro, however I wonder how you get to drive a rather powerful vehicle like ds7 since new drivers can’t insure anything above 6 cv. I’m currently stuck with a weak Peugeot 508…