Ontario Driver's Licence: "bring proof of your driving experience"?

[stephanos]

Hey there,

I just landed yesterday (yay!) and are in the process of getting settled. Now I wanted to exchange my German driver's licence with a local one. I remember researching this topic months ago and back then came to the conclusion that I'd need an International Driver's Licence, which I subsequently obtained.

Now I casually browsed https://www.ontario.ca/page/exchange-out-province-drivers-licence and see the requirement for "bring any original supporting documents that show proof of your driving experience". Without it, you are rated as a beginner (with all the drawbacks) with 1 year experience (I have 10 years).

To everyone who obtained an Ontario driver's licence (especially from Germany!):
Did you have some kind of 'proof'? What did you use? Was the International Driver's Licence sufficient?

Regards
Stephan

 

[xpressentry]

I have a UK driving license and we can download the driving record from the DVLA website. UK is still in the EU. You may want to check if Germany has something similar. I'm not sure if Germany is included in the reciprocal agreement for exchange of driving licenses. From the EU, I know UK and Austria are included.

 

[vensak]

Yes Germany has this agreement with Ontario. So he will need to check what to bring in order to Exchange his driving licence.
Too bad whole EU is not yet included.

 

[xpressentry]

Yes Germany has this agreement with Ontario. So he will need to check what to bring in order to Exchange his driving licence.
Too bad whole EU is not yet included.

I'm not surprised. People from some EU countries drive like maniacs unlike others where it's so difficult to pass a road test.

 

[vensak]

I'm not surprised. People from some EU countries drive like maniacs unlike others where it's so difficult to pass a road test.

That could be said also about some drivers from western Europe the moment they are out of their country and they do not fear that much that overspeeding will be transmitted to their country.

The driving culture is not about how difficult is it to pass driving test or not. It is more about habbits and also if you are used to drive in heavy traffic or not.

 

[xpressentry]

That could be said also about some drivers from western Europe the moment they are out of their country and they do not fear that much that overspeeding will be transmitted to their country.

The driving culture is not about how difficult is it to pass driving test or not. It is more about habbits and also if you are used to drive in heavy traffic or not.

I'm an Indian and had been driving in India for 10 years. I had to unlearn all my bad driving habits. I failed my road test because I didnt look in the mirror every 6 seconds. I dont think that could be a reason for failing a road test in any other European country. In India, I can get away with sticking my head out of the window to reverse. I could never dream of doing that here.

 

[vensak]

I'm an Indian and had been driving in India for 10 years. I had to unlearn all my bad driving habits. I failed my road test because I didnt look in the mirror every 6 seconds. I dont think that could be a reason for failing a road test in any other European country. In India, I can get away with sticking my head out of the window to reverse. I could never dream of doing that here.

And if I would tell you that many of those test rejections by driving test in Canada are just rejections per se. Some exam centers have rather high rejection rate (and no I do not believe that Toronto has all the bad drivers while Thunder bay has just the smart ones). Many times it is just to force you to repeat the test.

Of course, head out of the window is not a good habit. But there are situation where you can end up like that (also very rare.
However watching constantly in your back mirror is not needed. But for such test you need to overdo everything. Like more space for bike drivers, stopping by first sight of a pedestrian, obsessive mirror watching, using your direction change light a mile ahead, stopping by first hint of changing color on the traffic light and all those things you will not do once driving.