Over the Edge: Finnish Driver's License

MotorWeek's Steven Chupnick goes Over the Edge to find out just how challenging it is to obtain a driver's license in Finland.

[@paanikki]

I have been driving for 23 years in Finland. I have been randomly pulled over for 6-7 times. I don't feel over-controlled by the state because of that. I am happy to be stopped every once in a while, if it means the intoxicated (or dangerous in some other way) drivers are taken off traffic BEFORE killing anyone. Besides, getting stopped by an easygoing finnish police officer is not the humiliating experience you may encounter when dealing with american law enforcement. The whole mindset on interaction between society and the individual is very different here. We don't see the society solely as a burden and a controller which limits our freedom. Yes, we have much higher personal taxes in Finland. But we don't have to pay for the ridiculously expensive health insurance or the college fund for our children either. We don't have many private schools because every school gives high quality education. And we have very few high-end private hospitals because the best medical expertise is in public central hospitals. Yes, we may have more administrative control on companies. We also have very good state support system for new entrepneurs, and lower corporate tax than US. Yes, we have a general conscription. No, our government does not send our sons and daughters to war for their political or economical interests.

[@0hn0haha]

Smaller homogeneous societies are proven to have more societal involvement and interaction. That's why we don't have this in the US.

[@dmitriychudinov3032]

And that's great! 👍

[@timothymiller5425]

Brainwashed commie.

[@TopiasSalakka]

@@timothymiller5425 no u

[@JoaKimzen]

@@timothymiller5425 holy shit

[@Alvaricokemaureira]

so... that's why finland has so many rally champions

[@sirloin9348]

"If you want to win, you hire a fin" is the saying used in F1

[@brianx2504]

The united states needs driver training like this. SO many absolutely stupid drivers that cause accidents even in good conditions. You dont even want to know whats its like in the winter.

[@Mikey84]

Brian X IMHO Sweden would be a better example for traffic culture than Finland

[@scanjett]

nope

[@IMN0TFUNNY]

limited why not?

[@russellfrancis813]

I'm with you. US drivers are terrible lol

[@TheNismo777]

When I started my driving school & got first time behind the wheel (first driving lesson) teacher told me that I might be his best student ever after the driving. (never been driving before) I just somehow knew what to do & how to drive like I would been driving 30 years. Nowdays I'm a pro driver. :]

[@1deepmud]

In Alaska we have all those conditions, and our driver's license is a joke. You can take a test (where the most difficult and feared part is parking the car - I'm not joking) in a automatic, and you can drive anything you want once you have a license. You can drive a 45 foot long motorhome towing a 35 foot ocean going boat, anywhere you want, on the first day you have a license. There are often 100 car crashes on the first snow of the winter in our largest city, Anchorage. Often more.

[@zulharriansyahsyamsul3970]

this why this country produces so many f1 and rally driver champions

[@harropizza]

They work though. Finland has one of the lowest levels of drink driving in the world yet their drinking age is 3 years lower than the USA's and they consume more alcohol per capita than most of the world (including the US).

[@Mooselover1011]

They teach people to be race car drivers. A good idea in my book. A good driver is a fast driver. Or at least able to be one.

[@somberlight]

we got Curves, darkness, problematic visibility, blind corners, sudden dips, hills, snow and ice - with or without gravel and so on. if you can think of it, we got it somewhere. i suppose it's kind of given our driver ed has to be a bit thorough for any of us to have any hope, lol.

[@dootdoot1867]

imstill notusingmyname Canada is the same... Rather large county with nearly every climate that exists on this planet... We don't even get tested on highway driving. Driving education here is almost strictly dependent on the parents. Makes for some scary driving situations, not because of the conditions but because of inexperienced motorists.

[@audinos4827]

Perrrrrrrrkele!

[@Tuppoo94]

Wow. I just took my driving test a month ago. There wasn't much snow on that day, but the car had a manual gearbox. I had to drive around for like an hour and then reverse park the car. It wasn't too bad, actually. I didn't stall once, but stalling once or twice doesn't fail the test. But I definitely don't get to drive a motorhome. I can drive anything up to a 3500 kg van with a 750 kg trailer, so the maximum weight of the combination is 4250 kg or 9370 lbs.

[@ominousplatypus380]

0:30 It's actually more like "traffic safety center"

[@stevenmoosa9338]

I heard her say the word three times and was not able to get it right lol , and I am a linguist !

[@Gnomereginam]

+tuzmo Haha, it's like traffic safety center, just trafficsafetycenter.

[@ceynirashid1429]

It’s not easy task to get the permanent licens in Finland i already paid 3700€ and failed 2 test😭 yet have the hope to do the third test this friday☝️

[@lindaeaton5676]

Thanks, for your informations, it's very usefull for me..

[@Tuppoo94]

I'm a driver-in-training in Finland, and it snows at least once per week. The roads are full of snow, visibility is blocked by snow in many places, road markings, sometimes even road signs, aren't clearly visible, it's slippery and the car I'm using has a manual transmission. By default we are taught driving with manual cars because they are more challenging. After you've mastered them you can drive any car you want.

[@unclelink]

Should be standard around the driving world.

[@ziggystardust1973]

I paid nearly 4000€ for my german drivers license, cause my instructor had the opinion I wasn't ready. He was propably right, but it still sucked

[@mrtiny7707]

Or they just want more money from you lol.

[@ziggystardust1973]

Mr Tiny Maybe that too, but he seemed like a really nice person. Had an awesome taste in music, too

[@mrtiny7707]

I know but still. Sometime they failed you with very very small mistake so that you will have to do it again, and of course more money for them.

[@lolsaXx]

I'm from the uk but live in finland now. I want to get my driving licence here but it's so expensive! At least I'll probably be a better driver than I would have, learning in the uk.

[@TOWexpert1]

Differences include the things like the snowy/slippery stuff.L Not all 50 states have to worry about that sort of thing, but the states that train for that. The higher per person drinking average, combined with a lower drinking age would necessitate the checkpoints. I've been in Finland for a year so I know the light conditions. The sun didn't come up until 9 from Nov. till the end of March. Different conditions require different training is all I'm saying.

[@AWDfreak]

Finland seems like such an awesome based off of this video!

[@onearthonelegion]

Did they mention that you have to pay something like 2,500 USD for the driving school to get your license? Then theres other costs, like the license itself (60 USD) etc. And that's just for the normal passenger car. If you wan't to drive motorbike it cost's you extra.

[@AWDfreak]

@AWDfreak Awesome country Finland is.

[@DJBassBoomBottom]

Makes sence since the country is wet, freezing cold, and full of tight rural roads.

[@bigphat200]

@orbits2 I don't know what state u live in but here on the east coast it is like the blind leading the blind.

[@connorsmith1295]

I’d be drifting around that track just havin all the fun in the world

[@zoolkhan]

when i visited your country (i am from finland) i didnt not see especially bad driving. I even managed to blend into the traffic. Go to singpore.. THAT is crazy.

[@VNExperience]

I'll see your Singapore and raise you Saigon. Another Finn here, been living in Southeast Asia since 2014 and Saigon has to be the craziest place to drive. It doesn't matter how good a driver you are, you have to be on the lookout for others all the time. Driving on sidewalks and signaling right while turning left...

[@Cadeauu]

I got my driving license in august. In February I'm able to go the second part of the driving school. Greetings from Finland! PS. To get a driving license u have to have money.... Like a lot...

[@johnkauppi7078]

I am an Aussi Finn,out in the countryside ,where I live,rarely ever see a police car.Maybe in town.The distances here are too vast to have regular highway patrols.Perhaps one patrol a day on a 200 km stretch.

[@latidejaf7476]

holy crap what a coincidence. i was at vantaan liikenneturvallisuuskeskus today :D

[@audinos4827]

The Russians could use them too.

[@Lunaholic94]

haha i was driving there at winter, it was fun!

[@Matias-yf6tz]

im 18 and i cant get driver license because it cost 3000€ (3800$)

[@colj001]

shit, i thought Australia was bad. my condolences.

[@i_dodge_trees]

That's just mental. Costs about 80 bucks here in BC Canada

[@hoangp9170]

+Napoléon Bonaparte theory lessons in 1 month, driving lessons can only be taken after having passed the theory exam. driving lessons will take around 2 months. so i would say around 3 months if you are fast.

[@scanjett]

And truck license costs around 10k€ with all license BS things you need to drive for the living. but i got mine back in the days for cheap 1k price

[@kideus]

I've been here for decades and the light conditions you described don't sound familiar at all. Where in Finland have you been? If that is true, it would only be possible in the far north and the great majority lives in the south where light conditions are as I described. Higher drinking average and lower drinking age have nothing to do with driving school. I know the US is a vast country with varying climate, but there is more to our whole system than just preparing for snow.

[@TehMehKehIen]

Hey, nice to see Heikki "Kovelun".

[@Heikki_Finland]

If you want to get a driving licence in Finland, it's easier in any smaller city than that. Muualla ei ole edes raitiovaunuja liikenteen seassa.

[@olavinto]

When I did my night time driving which was part of the second phase I had already driven actively for almost two years with my first phase license with thousands of kilometers behind me (easily way over 50K kilometers). I had to do the night time test with a simulator like that and my god it was a shitty experience. The "simulator" offered zero feedback, and while it was also manual, which was what I had driven all the time (and still like to drive a couple of decades later), I almost failed it because I was so used to reacting to the the car and environment that without that authentic feedback it was absolutely horrible. Wheel, pedals and shifter were just horrible, the clutch was useless, you didn't really hear the rpm at all or any wheel sounds, the seat did not shake nor could you feel acceleration on any level. Nothing, absolutely nothing felt right. Even gaming wheels had provided better feedback for a while than those contraptions do (or did back then anyway and the one in this clip looks like the same system that I used). In a car lights, shifting, swerwing, whatever had already ben completely subconscious for a long time but in that thing I had trouble even with changing between low/high beams because absolutely nothing felt like I was in an actual car, let alone driving one. Even the graphics were that same crap as is seen in this video (they are probably still using that same shit to this day). That is still my worst driving experience and I have driven out twice during the winter and have had two tire fails at about 100 km/speed. And I have now driven over two decades, many cars and at least 300K kilometers. Just saying that it was a horrible experience.

[@Shadow977]

I don't completely agree on the strict traffic surveillance because in my home town you are lucky to see a police car once a week

[@SlowSlowSloth]

What? I don't recall getting a drivers license in sweden is a 2 year process.

[@Lunaholic94]

from where? it did cost for me about 1250€

[@Leijona321]

And when did you get your license..?

[@juliancai7613]

It’s not only in Finland, average American driver won’t pass strict driving exam in EU countries

[@randomdude9851]

I have paid 2000 euros so far and still i have one more thing to do until i get my final driving license. This is just so ridicilous, they think that increasing the price will reduce car accidents. At my opinion they think like that, it feels like that

[@nandysupriya]

It may all be compromised if you have already a drivers license. Simply transfer it to a Finnish. Ofcourse that does not mean that you will a qualified driver but it will mean that you are eligible to drive

[@TheQneb]

It's easier because lower traffic. The handling part is the same how ever

[@Streptokokki]

The downside of this is that it costs a lot. And by a lot I mean 2000 to 3000 euros, which is 2700-4000 dollars. And the price keeps going up with more legislation added to the mix.

[@joonalehtinen5922]

"vantaan liikenneturvallisuuskeskus" B R U H

[@TimJoseph08031990]

Currently in America, there are laws now where 16 and 17 year olds cannot drive after 10 P.M., have more than one passenger that is a teenager, and of course driving wrecklessly in any way, including using the cellphone while driving. Becuase teens are more likely to street race with other motorists, curfews have been placed, since parents either don't know where their teens are or allow them to drive late at night. It's also the fact that teens lie about being home on time.

[@tyttiMK]

In Finland some 16 or 17-year-olds already live independently because they attend a school in another town.

[@Leijona321]

@@tyttiMK Very rare

[@blazelmtdedtn]

love it all aside from the random cop stops.

[@tyttiMK]

Why? They don't harm anyone else besides those who drive drunk.

[@ImForwardlook]

@@tyttiMK Random stopping of citizens is communism. Stopping citizens without a reason should be illegal.

[@tyttiMK]

@@ImForwardlook LOL! Obviously you don't know what communism is! :D And no, it shouldn't be illegal, and it's a good thing that it isn't.

[@ImForwardlook]

@@tyttiMK Believe me, a Finn knows a few things about communism. And you seem to lack knowledge about individual rights completely. No one should ever be stopped without a reason, that is what happens in communist dictatorships, not in civilized countries.

[@tyttiMK]

@@ImForwardlook LOL! No, you REALLY don't know much about communism if you think so.

[@chapel976]

thank you, yes. America needs better licensing requirements

[@zulharriansyahsyamsul3970]

if america use Finland rules, may be they can produce more racing driver like Finland, they had 3 f1 world champions

[@xluumu]

@@zulharriansyahsyamsul3970 I believe Americans have more NASCAR champions than the Finns 🤔😁

[@orbits2]

@igeekone Driving in the United States is a right. Without drivers the United States would slip into a depression. A United States driver circa 1968

[@TOWexpert1]

the states that have that train for it*

[@zoolkhan]

..did you type you have laws against driving WRECKLESSLY ? :-) best regards from finland. Oh, and we have wrecks in the ditches too - dspite all those measures, somehow idiots manage to forget what they have learned.

[@orbits2]

@DraGunred No we do not by the farthest stretch of the imagination. Drivers are uptight as it is now.

[@yeswekey]

Folks, Indian here. Got mine for 500 rupees (~8 EUR). Driving in Finland for past 1 year without any problem (in all weather conditions, so far 11000kms). Was bit slow driver for first few months. But now I'm good. However, to get to this level, I had to drive a lot and practice. I got 83000kms experience in India in 5 years. My fuel expenditure would be equal to what I'd pay in Finland to get a proper drivers license. So don't feel bad guys :)

[@kenbhan9413]

driver in the US here... got my license on my 16th birthday (legal age) and now a film/tv actor & stunt driver... learned a lot of tricks from Finnish (rally car) drivers. QUESTION: To complete the test in Finland, you must be able to navigate/execute a full 360 degree spin in ice/rain conditions. Right? I believe this is one of the many maneuvers you must master to get a Finnish Driver's License? someone please confirm... I Drift BMWs-started at age 15 www.BadBMW.com for some car videos... :)

You don't have to execute 360 spin, but there is ice/wet track where you learn to brake and evade obstruction. Then you train with steep turns etc. All of those things you do few times with way too much speed which will lead to some sort of spin, though not necessarily 360. The idea is to show how you lose traction in different situations so you have some experience in recovery/emergency situation.

[@Leijona321]

@@jukkaliimatta4211 First time for us atleast they didnt want us to maintain the control so we see what it feels like to lose the control. Other times we had to try to stay in control.

[@jgagmgi]

Liikenneturvallisuuskeskus = TrafficSafetyCenter

[@icefox1983]

exactly what US needs. too many can't drive for sh*t

[@eldsprutandedrake]

It´s kinda similar in Sweden too, except you can start to learn how to drive when you´re 16, provided that someone who has passed a special course sits next to you. And when you are 18 you can get the license, we also have the skid pit and things like that. And the you have your license "loaned" for i think 3 years, any minor traffic violation during that time and it gets revoked and you have to do every test again... Still doesn´t stop most of the population from driving like idiots though.

[@youraveragejdmenthusiast430]

With 90's 00's BMW, Mercedes doing speeding law violations that's what Iv'e seen

[@SimonBauer7]

and i thought the german driving test was not easy.

[@user-nq3qf6pt6p]

여전히 어이없고 웃기다. 그러나 핀란드에서 저 운전수업을 반드시 수료할 것이다.

[@madamada219]

"drivers training center" lol thats not driving school thats trafficsafety center

[@park8854]

안녕하세요 한국에서 왔습니다

[@user-nq3qf6pt6p]

난 운전면허 있는데 핀란드에선 무면허 수준이겠어

[@orbits2]

@rotaryjesus Drivers in the United States no how to drive just fine

[@tor3647]

I mean you get driving license as 17 if you ask them and you need to have a good reason or like 1h 30min way to school to get as 17 D;

[@-umbra-1590]

2:58 They should just have you drive from the house to Teimo's without dying lol. Just kidding, this is awesome, I wish they had this in the states. Here we just do written exams in high school, drive 3 nights with an instructor, and then go to the DMV and take a driving test where u basically just drive down the road 3 point turn and come back. So many dumb drivers here.

[@russellfrancis813]

Don't forget the case of beer.

[@Xerdoz]

Things have changed a bit. Now you can basically start driving when you're 15 but the car is limited to 60 km/h and forbidden on motorways etc. Of course you have to take a test before you can drive those and there are other rules regarding the vehicles but basically you can get a car and drive in when you're 15.

[@Jefrma]

Xerdoz you talking about mopoautot? They're not cars in the same sense as a regular car. Far from it

[@CoolTomu]

Ei niitä poliiseja peräkylillä niin paljoa ookkaan.

[@TOWexpert1]

This wouldn't work in the United States because of the differences involved. This would include that we don't live in the dark for 8/12 of the year, it snows in only about half the states (and they have training for snow driving), and per average they have higher drinking per person. Also, all the training in the world can't save you from something, or someone, that is beyond your control.

[@tyttiMK]

You don't really know how the sunlight works, do you? Also Americans use way more drugs than Finns, and one is not allowed to drive while on drugs, either.

[@wercakkie]

she was my driving school teacher!

[@TOWexpert1]

Seinäjoki

[@user-nq3qf6pt6p]

ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[@zoolkhan]

haha.. funny. i am a finn, and of course i have a valid license. - who would have thought we would end up in american TV with our boring driving school.... liikene turvalisuus keskus -> traffic safety central. Its basically three words stuck togher. Not half as complicated or mysterious as the dude made it to appear.

[@kideus]

Yes, but with proper training there will be less beyond your control. And I didn't understand your comment about drinking. Also, why wouldn't the minimum age of 18 work in the US? Why wouldn't very diverse training work? Why wouldn't practicing in wet and slippery conditions work? Why wouldn't a longer process with multiple stages before obtaining a permanent licence work? And I'd like to add that 8/12 in the dark is exaggeration, on average we have 12 hours or more of daylight for 7 months.

[@igeekone]

It would be nice if it were stricter to get license in the states. There are far too many people who shouldn't be driving. Remember, driving is a privilege not a right.

[@haccapeliitta]

2500 euros for driving license.

[@zoolkhan]

true. youre the only drives buying your gianormous fuelhungry cars.

[@geppegep]

first view and comment

[@TheSteveRibeiro]

whooo fist view!!!!!!

[@Tracer2k]

well when only the rich are on the road means less people on the road equals less accidents, it seems that the assholes are trying to do just that. im glad i got mine "only" for 1600€ back in 2003

[@secutorclaudius]

mmm, no it is not a right when your license can be suspended or taken away forever. i learned how to drive in europe in a car with a stick and no power anything. everyday i have to watch out for stupid moves. maybe you are a good driver, but look around. people don't even know how to park a car. just a week ago i saw a woman find the only light pole in an empty parking lot to smack into. true story.

[@bp968]

As a rally fan I love Finland, but the main thing I noticed in the video was the random stops and breath tests and other nonsense. Sorry but no, I am never going to approve of that level of nanny state interference. We already have to much of it with random traffic stops and what not. Punish people for doing something wrong, not for simply living. As for the actual training to get a license? Absolutely. The problem that happens in the states is you *need* a car to get anywhere in most of the country while most of Europe has good public transportation. Finland is also tiny in comparison, making public transport a bit easier. It also becomes a problem of cost. That level of training costs a lot of money and you'd be gating poor people out of having a license and that would never fly in the USA.

[@somberlight]

nah, that's complete balls. reality is vastly different to what is presented here. last time i was stopped was twice in 2010. it's not an "every time" -occurrence, more like a seasonal thing when large masses are expected to be on the move. pre-christmas party season? yep, you'll see them. new years eve? yep, active aswell. but if you're driving like the rest of them and are a bit boring with your driving habits, the time between the stops is most likely counted in years. we as a nation have an interesting attitude towards drinking, but when it comes to driving - it's actually very sensible here. our dumb shit, the "nanny state interference" as you put it is completely elsewhere.

[@pawccefawce3438]

Well I'm a Finn and I've driven almost a million kilometers during the last ten years and I've been pulled over by police three times, of whitch breath tested once, so it really hasn't been much of an inconvenience nor have I felt supervised. Rather glad for having less drunks on the roads.

[@feuerfuxxblabla]

Why not do random breath test.. If you´re wasted behind a wheel you´re a loose gun.

[@somberlight]

to our defense, thats a budgetary fuckup. theyre not exactly inefficient, they're just given too big area to handle. thats bad. tl;dr = the actual blame is on governmental direction, imo

[@bp968]

I believe it's a fundamental difference between urban and rural areas. A good example is Montana in the United States. The people in Montana don't expect or want strong police presence, they only want the ability to protect themselves and their families. Many urban people expect to export their way of life and that it works in all areas and it doesn't. . Of course this is a different subject then police drunk checkpoints. To an American checkpoints are never ok. We always expect probable cause to pull someone over.. It helps to limit police power which we can see by watching the news recently is starting to get out of control.

[@CoolTomu]

Ei niitä poliiseja peräkylillä niin paljoa ookkaan.