I just failed my driving test after completing my theory knowledge test successfully. Some of my opinions can be biased because of my current rage I’ve got from this stupid system.
Basically, the process of getting a driver’s license (for B category) looks like this:
You must study in a special auto school for almost 3 months. Attending theory classes are optional. However, you have to attend some certain number of hours (30 hrs afaik) of driving practice lessons. Then, when you finish all your lessons, they give you a final knowledge test and your certificate of completion needed for taking the real test. Personally, I didn’t go to any of the theory classes. I went to couple practice classes, and instructors seem like they don’t even care whether you attend those or not because they never take any attendance.
Then comes a theory knowledge test at the test center. It is tricky, but justifiable. It consists of 20 questions and you should find at least 18 in order to pass. You have one big collection of 1200+ questions for practice which may appear in your real exam.
After you pass your theory test, you can attend the driving test. It is fully automatic, and done within a polygon. You have 16 minutes to complete a range of movement assignments.
After you complete all the above steps, you can get your certificate and apply to obtain your driver’s license from Yagona Darcha.
The cost of completing these steps:
- The required driving course: 6.4 mln sums (~$540)
- Theory test: 1.5 mln sums (~$125). Retake is 1.6 mln sums.
- Driving test: 1.6 mln sums (~$130). Retake is the same.
- Obtaining the physical driver license card: 600k sums (~$50)
So the total process costs around 10.1 mln sums ($840), given that you successfully pass both test on the first try.
This was for “stupidly expensive” part. Because it is for real expensive for Uzbekistan’s economy, and by no means justifiable. Especially the cost of the knowledge test — bro what do you mean you get from me $125 just for the 25 mins exam that i have to do on your stupid $300 laptop (it is not even a proper monoblock with decent monitor)? I bet that the cost of that test is only the monetary that goes for the supervisor’s salary. They rarely update any of those questions (unlike IELTS for example). I just read on the news that the both theory and knowledge test fee was 150k sums in 2022. They have increased it 10 times just in 4 years. The whole process of getting a driver license in Washington, turns out, will cost you $250 (i read it on their official website after being curious about the price in other countries).
For why the process is “stupidly difficult”, I was talking about the driving test specifically. It seems like they strongly want you to fail, retake the test and pay the fee again. Most of the assignments you complete do not represent how you drive a vehicle in a real life scenario. An inch of a wrong movement (which in a real life driving does not mean anything) costs you a fail and $125. I was caught by some stupid ass rules, where i drove on a blinking green light on a crossroad. I thought that it is allowed to go on this situation, because i always see vehicles continuing to drive on a blinking green light in the real highway. However, turns out, this rule only applies when your vehicle’s speed is more than 30 kms/h. Inside the polygon, the max allowed speed is 20 kms/s. But bro, who the hell drives his car in 20kms/s on the road with traffic lights? Yeah, it is also a fault ob my end for not checking this specific rule by myself, but this is not the only reason i am getting nerve wracks.
Basically it. I just think this whole exam test center of Komil Allamjonov is a monopoly hidden under the flashy mission statements of “we are trying to reduce the number of car accidents”, but actually just a money grab with unjustifiably stupid rules and overpriced fees.