Singaporeans really have the short end of the stick. When they want to obtain a piece of paper, called the Driving License, to be able to drive a car here they need to go through a long process of theory tests, practice lessons and finally a practical test. The lessons are not cheap now with the 7% GST. Each lesson is now close to $80 (SGD) for a student enrolled in a public-driving school. Mind you, it's per lesson. Each practical test, which encompasses a circuit and on-road test, is more than $150 (SGD). The first time you didn't pass the practical test, you basically have to cough out another substantial amount of cash to book for the next test date (i.e. if you are still keen to have your license). Of course, it's getting harder and harder these days to get a license.

I do know of people who come from other countries who just convert their foreign licenses and drive on our roads here. Compare their driving test criteria and ours, I think our criteria for passing are much more stringent.
The objective of our stringent criteria is to control the number of cars on the road and also to make sure our drivers are taught to the highest level of safety awareness before they are allow to drive on the roads in Singapore which are good.
However, do those who came here with foreign licenses which are later converted to local ones, go through a strict criteria before they obtained their foreign licenses? I think not. But, are they allow to drive on Singapore roads? The answer is yes.

So, why not make those holding foreign licenses also go through our practical tests? I'm quite certain that many of them will not even get their local licenses on the first try.

pffft… give any Qualifed Driver another rd of TP.. cfm will fail also.. AND passing in TP doesnt mean u wont be a kuku out on the road urself

my license is take photo session leh. then come bak sg convert. no stress on |TP

there are people who passed the local driving test and yet can hardly drive.

Originally posted by packjust:

Singaporeans really have the short end of the stick. When they want to obtain a piece of paper, called the Driving License, to be able to drive a car here they need to go through a long process of theory tests, practice lessons and finally a practical test. The lessons are not cheap now with the 7% GST. Each lesson is now close to $80 (SGD) for a student enrolled in a public-driving school. Mind you, it's per lesson. Each practical test, which encompasses a circuit and on-road test, is more than $150 (SGD). The first time you didn't pass the practical test, you basically have to cough out another substantial amount of cash to book for the next test date (i.e. if you are still keen to have your license). Of course, it's getting harder and harder these days to get a license.

I do know of people who come from other countries who just convert their foreign licenses and drive on our roads here. Compare their driving test criteria and ours, I think our criteria for passing are much more stringent.
The objective of our stringent criteria is to control the number of cars on the road and also to make sure our drivers are taught to the highest level of safety awareness before they are allow to drive on the roads in Singapore which are good.
However, do those who came here with foreign licenses which are later converted to local ones, go through a strict criteria before they obtained their foreign licenses? I think not. But, are they allow to drive on Singapore roads? The answer is yes.

So, why not make those holding foreign licenses also go through our practical tests? I'm quite certain that many of them will not even get their local licenses on the first try.

People who are able to convert their driver's license in singapore already should have at least 2 yrs of driving experience before they can convert. Even if you ask someone who has been driving for 10 yrs now to re-take their practical, they might not pass also, becos over that period of time they already form their habit of driving (whether good or bad) and not by the book which you learn in the driving school.

Also the price incease in driving lesson is subjective, no one force you to learn how to drive. In singapore, where public transport is so efficient, you do not even need to drive.

Originally posted by packjust:

Singaporeans really have the short end of the stick. When they want to obtain a piece of paper, called the Driving License, to be able to drive a car here they need to go through a long process of theory tests, practice lessons and finally a practical test. The lessons are not cheap now with the 7% GST. Each lesson is now close to $80 (SGD) for a student enrolled in a public-driving school. Mind you, it's per lesson. Each practical test, which encompasses a circuit and on-road test, is more than $150 (SGD). The first time you didn't pass the practical test, you basically have to cough out another substantial amount of cash to book for the next test date (i.e. if you are still keen to have your license). Of course, it's getting harder and harder these days to get a license.

I do know of people who come from other countries who just convert their foreign licenses and drive on our roads here. Compare their driving test criteria and ours, I think our criteria for passing are much more stringent.
The objective of our stringent criteria is to control the number of cars on the road and also to make sure our drivers are taught to the highest level of safety awareness before they are allow to drive on the roads in Singapore which are good.
However, do those who came here with foreign licenses which are later converted to local ones, go through a strict criteria before they obtained their foreign licenses? I think not. But, are they allow to drive on Singapore roads? The answer is yes.

So, why not make those holding foreign licenses also go through our practical tests? I'm quite certain that many of them will not even get their local licenses on the first try.

It all comes down to MONEY...
Whatever you want to achieve or have, the government will make from your needs....

A foreigners comes here, he/she contributes to the economy, which is also Tax collectable from government.. so of course they make it EASY for them to simply convert their driving licenses...

It's money... and nothing about fairness...

YOu get what you vote for....

Originally posted by substance:

People who are able to convert their driver's license in singapore already should have at least 2 yrs of driving experience before they can convert. Even if you ask someone who has been driving for 10 yrs now to re-take their practical, they might not pass also, becos over that period of time they already form their habit of driving (whether good or bad) and not by the book which you learn in the driving school.

Also the price incease in driving lesson is subjective, no one force you to learn how to drive. In singapore, where public transport is so efficient, you do not even need to drive.

I believe the requirement now is that the holder of the license must have it for at least 6 months before he can convert.

my malaysian friend spend RM900 and got a license.

technically speaking, he needs to pass BTT or about $11 to get the licence liao.

easy

The driving test is now $150?
I remember i only paid less than 30 for my TP about a year ago..

this is a practical issue, if we retest all foreign drivers, there will be a queue, very restrictive and not good for boosting economy.

singaporeans aren't really in the position to complain

i was horrified when i first started driving in sg. The drivers here don't pay attention to basic road safety.

It's a cause and effect thing. If your first inclination after passing the test is to disregard all the rules, the test will be made stricter. The quality of driving here is reflected by how strict it is.

Originally posted by HeXy:

The driving test is now $150?
I remember i only paid less than 30 for my TP about a year ago..

$20 only goes to TP
the rest goes to the school. SSDC charges $100 for the car rental and $28 for 30mins warmup.

so its $148 bef GST

it was never about stringent criteria or not.

it's how the system works within the school itself. they have criteria as in how they pass students each practical stage, most of them are just repetition and not really neccessary though.

basically, it's just to make $ out of everyone's first driving licence nowadays.

Malaysia. cheap license.

Originally posted by 105090:

$20 only goes to TP
the rest goes to the school. SSDC charges $100 for the car rental and $28 for 30mins warmup.

so its $148 bef GST

Oh i see.. I took private, the the rental fee is 100 also..

Wow ... you are such a small person.

People like you make Singapore look real good.

Sour grapes.

well it doesn't matter...consider us being really fortunate in Singapore, just follow the rules and you'll be fine...

as for the license, just be a good and responsible driver when on the road.

Originally posted by packjust:

Singaporeans really have the short end of the stick. When they want to obtain a piece of paper, called the Driving License, to be able to drive a car here they need to go through a long process of theory tests, practice lessons and finally a practical test. The lessons are not cheap now with the 7% GST. Each lesson is now close to $80 (SGD) for a student enrolled in a public-driving school. Mind you, it's per lesson. Each practical test, which encompasses a circuit and on-road test, is more than $150 (SGD). The first time you didn't pass the practical test, you basically have to cough out another substantial amount of cash to book for the next test date (i.e. if you are still keen to have your license). Of course, it's getting harder and harder these days to get a license.

I do know of people who come from other countries who just convert their foreign licenses and drive on our roads here. Compare their driving test criteria and ours, I think our criteria for passing are much more stringent.
The objective of our stringent criteria is to control the number of cars on the road and also to make sure our drivers are taught to the highest level of safety awareness before they are allow to drive on the roads in Singapore which are good.
However, do those who came here with foreign licenses which are later converted to local ones, go through a strict criteria before they obtained their foreign licenses? I think not. But, are they allow to drive on Singapore roads? The answer is yes.

So, why not make those holding foreign licenses also go through our practical tests? I'm quite certain that many of them will not even get their local licenses on the first try.

I think Singaporeans can convert license in other country by taking a theory test also? So what will they think of us?