My first morning waking up in Norway, Katy and I were discussing the plan for the day and she said "Joe was thinking of a driving lesson after dinner tonight". Immediately my pulse began racing and my mind was flooded with the simple words of "Oh God, Oh God, Oh God". A refrain that became intermixed with the thought "Please don't let me crash their car" from the moment I turned the key in the ignition to the second I pulled back into the driveway and put the car in park. More than three weeks later, I must say that it really isn't too much harder to drive here. They do drive on the same side of the road as Americans, something that gave me a huge sigh of relief. There are though a few things that are tricky and make paying attention extremely important.
- Speed limits and distances are all in kilometers rather than miles. In Norway the allowed speeds
tend to be fairly low. So far the highest speed allowed that I've seen is 90 kph (or 55 mph) and that was on the highway. In the city it's more commonly somewhere between 30-50 kph (18-31 mph). This has proved a bit tricky for me since I have a bit of a lead foot so far I've managed to restrain my speeding desires.
- For the most part speed limits are clearly marked, but there is also something called the "no speed zone". Most speed limits markers have a white back round with a red circle around the edge and the number written in black; however, if you pass a limit sign that's has no red circle and the number is grayed out with black lines through then you've entered such a zone. This doesn't give you license to drive as fast as you please, rather it means if you are driving in an unpopulated area you can go 80 kph, and if you are in a neighborhood or town you an go 50 kph. Frankly, I think it'd be easier to just post those as the speed limit, but it works for the people here. - Drinking and driving is absolutely not allowed, and the law is no driving for 12 hours after you've had one drink. The penalty for getting caught is the revocation of your license so most people take that rule pretty seriously.
- Using your phone while driving is also definitely not OK. After being here a year, my friends say they never see anyone on their phone while actively driving, but it is common to drive by a car that's pulled on the side of the road so the owner can talk (I've seen this too). Like the drinking and driving, strict compliance is demanded for this.
- Toll roads are everywhere. There are no actual toll stations for drivers to pay though, rather every car is equipped with a reader (like an E-ZPASS) that is scanned by the "toll station" machine. Whenever one drives by one of these the toll fee is deducted from the car owners pre-loaded account.
- Norwegians absolutely LOVE roundabouts. With the exception of highways I think it's possible for a person to circle through five or six of these within a mile. There is even a bicycle roundabout in Stavanger (it goes up over the main road) that's how much they love them.
- Main roads, again highways excepted, also have a decent number of speed bumps on them interspersed among the roundabouts.
- The layout of the fjords and small islands make it difficult for direct roadways along the coast. . To get around this obstacle the Norwegians have developed an extensive ferry system that allows drivers to board with their cars, travel over the water, and then drive right off onto the needed road. They also have a series of underwater tunnels for areas where the ferry system doesn't work. Not going to lie it's a bit disconcerting driving in one of those. There are also quite a few mountain areas throughout the country that are known for rock avalanches and Norway has learned to dodge this danger by blasting lots of tunnels straight through the mountain. Some are short and others quite long. I drove through one today that was almost 4 km long and took over four minutes to drive through.
- In the city there are special bus and taxi lanes and driving in them is a big NoNo. The only exception are people driving electric cars, which are a lot more prevalent here than in the US.
- Norway (and I think much of Europe) is also a fan of very narrow two way roads. Sometimes you very slowly down a road barely wide enough for your car, tall rock walls on either side, praying another car doesn't come round the corner heading in the other direction. It can quite a harrowing experience! get lucky and a simple narrow road is all you have to deal with. Other times you find yourself driving
- And then there are the Priority roads, something which my brain has grappled with and just can't quite come to terms with. In the US when a car is getting ready to turn right onto a road of moving traffic the driver will stop and make sure no car is coming and they are free to go. Makes sense right? Well that's not how they do it here. Instead, if I am driving down a road and I see a car turning into my lane from a street to my right I have to stop and let them go. It is easy to tell the difference between a local and a tourist here because a tourist will usually at least slow down, a local doesn't even look. BUT, then there the Priority roads. If I'm driving down one of these roads then I don't have to stop for anyone turning onto the street in front of me, they have to stop and wait for me. I can tell I'm on a priority road if I pass a sign with a yellow diamond on it, and drivers from the opposing streets know they have to yield if white triangles are painted onto the road. Makes no sense to me.
Those are the basics of Norwegian driving. As long as I pay close attention most days aren't too bad. The cars Norwegians drive are just that, cars. Other than maintenance vehicles and vans for business, it is rare to see anything bigger than a car, an I've only seen two - maybe three - pickup trucks. Any emergency vehicle - police car, ambulance, fire truck - is easily spotted as they are all bright yellow. I honestly haven't paid much attention to the types of cars, but I do know that Mercedes, Audis, and BMW's a common sight. I personally am grateful for the Honda Inspire Hybrid my friends have, the gas mileage on that thing is amazing!!
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