Originally Posted by
philco
In Mexico city you can either take a test for a small fee or opt not take a test for a slightly bigger fee. The second route guarantees a licence first time. Small wonder it's a case of survival of the fittest on the roads!
I had heard about that, it was my back-up plan if I failed my test, just "buy" a driving licence when I arrived. There's no way I could have sitten behind the wheel of a car for the first time though, in Mexico City, not knowing the clutch from the brake, or my a**e from my elbow, and try to drive 20 miles to work. I would have been dead within a week. Or in a straight-jacket in a padded cell.
Your original post brought back many memories of those bloody green VW Beetle taxis, all 200,000 of them, oh the good old days.
I think that Italy is similar, at times you get a free driving licence when you buy a packet of biscuits.