There comes a time in every expat’s life
when he needs to stop driving around on his British driving license and get a Florida one. Technically, I think I should have done this
much earlier, but hey…
Basically, you can drive here for a time on
your British license, but the insurance is ridiculously high. Plus a Florida driving
license is used a lot for ID purposes.
Cycling
I have also been cycling around quite a bit too. We live way out on the edge
of town and since the public transport here is virtually non-existent and my
wife often has the car, there aren’t really any other options. It takes me about 25 minutes there and back by
bike to the gas station for basics like milk, and 40 minutes to the
off-license/liquor store and back for booze! It isn’t much fun cycling on a main road (what
would be called a “dual carriageway” in the UK) with
cars and trucks racing past at 60 mph.
There are also other hazards too, such as
the dead animals by the side of the road – armadillos, raccoons, even deer... My main concern is encountering a living snake while cycling,
however, which hasn’t happened so far, though there have been dead ones – see
pic (extra kudos if you can identify the type of snake!).
I am told that as Gainesville is a
liberal, college town, the cycle lanes/paths are particularly good, by American
standards. They are fairly similar to UK
facilities, I’d say – which in some ways is a disappointment, as there is generally
lots of space here, so it wouldn't be so difficult to build a separate cycle lane
here which is physically separated from the car traffic, rather than just a
white line painted near the edge. I tend
to want everywhere to be like Holland, however, as far as cycling facilities go.
My Florida Driving License
Each state has their own rules, procedures
and laws for driving vehicles. After spending
ages trying to work out the procedure for getting my Florida driving license
and spending 45 minutes on the telephone to an advisor (40 minutes waiting in
the queue, 5 minutes talking to the advisor), I arrived at the driving place to
find that the procedure was actually different to what the website implied and
the advisor told me.
Anyway, there’s two parts to the test I’ve
got to take – a written element and a “road test”. I took the written test on the spot which was
split into General Knowledge and Road Signs.
I needed at least 15/20 and scored 18/20 and 19/20 respectively, so that
was good. I’ve not booked the road test
yet, as our car has a dodgy rear light, which needs fixing.
But I’m looking forward to it.
(I will write up a full account of my
driving tests on my visa site: My K1 Fiance Visa Experience, when I eventually
get my license.)
