Gotta Light?

by Marie Lundgren

Like most Americans, I started driving with a permit when I was fifteen years old. At sixteen I got my license and the road belonged to me. I'm horrible with directions and finding new locations, but for the most part I really like driving. When I moved to Sweden six years ago I was allowed to drive on my American license for just one year before I would have to pass the test for a Swedish driver's license. I didn't foresee any problems because by that time I'd been driving for thirteen years. I was an old pro... or so I thought.

You see, West Coast USA is pretty much paved without any round-abouts. We Americans like to know exactly whose turn it is to go at an intersection. We like traffic lights. Red. Yellow. Green. Very straightforward and easy to understand. Swedes on the other hand seemed to thrive on confusion. They had thousands of round-abouts. I was under the impression from reliable, high-brow films such as "National Lampoon's European Vacation" that those existed only in France. Silly, silly me.

Round-abouts were very daunting for me. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason as to who went first. And throw a two lane round-about in the works and I was utterly confused. My darling husband did try to explain the process to me, but in my increasing panic his mumbled attempts at educating me just sounded like the adults in a Charlie Brown cartoon: wah wah waah wa wa waah wah. My anxiety increased. Cars started honking. I started sweating. Finally I thought I had watched long enough that I understood the system. Again, silly, silly me. I summoned a bit of confidence and pulled out to make a right turn only to hear honking and screeching tires all around. I also got a few hand gestures that seem to translate the same in all cultures.

I think my confidence was shattered at that point. I had thought I knew how to drive, but the rules in Sweden seemed bizarre. The signs were all different and I couldn't just automatically understand them, I had to really think about them. It all frustrated me and made me feel dumb. I had a couple more bad experiences before I just decided not to drive anymore. We lived in town and the public transportation ran all the time so there really was no need for me to drive. Or at least that's what I told myself to make me feel better.

Time went by. My friends all started a study group to study for their Swedish licenses. They asked me to join but the mere thought of driving threw me into a pattern of nightmares from which I would awake screaming and crying, so I declined. Then last year my husband and I bought a house out in the country. It was evident that to have any kind of a social life I was going to have to get a license. I enrolled in a driving school with a friend and we took some one-on-one driving lessons. It was just what I needed. To have someone I wasn't emotionally attached to explain things to me was brilliant. I immediately understood the round-about rules and it no longer looked quite so random and confusing. It restored my confidence and suddenly it all seemed easy again.

The test was no easy thing to pass, but I eventually did pass it and now I can drive wherever and whenever I want. And I can turn in round-abouts because now I understand the erratic flow. I have a piece of advice for round-about novices, though: if you find yourself in Sweden pulling up to a two-lane round-about, turn around, find a parking spot, and take the bus instead. It will save you a big headache!