In 'your favs disappointing you' news...

[aquaecolore.livejournal.com]

Marco Reus fined 540,000 euros for driving without a license for 3 years





source : bild article sadly behind paywall but posted in a tumblr post


e: apparently he also received five speeding tickets during that time, but no-one ever noticed he didn't have a license o_O

e2: someone from reddit translated a quote from the man himself:

He took driving lessons when he was 18 but never took a driving test. He just decided to drive without a licence. "Sadly I decided to take this route. I can't even comprehend the reasons myself. Now I know: I was too naive and it was stupid. I have learnt my lesson. It will never happen again."

e3: can't believe it took me so long to remember his nickname is Rolls Reus.



yeah. i am disappoint :/

Comments

[kaiserschmarrn.livejournal.com]

The new licenses issued after the 19 January 2013 actually have an expiration date! And all the old ones have to be renewed until the 18 January 2033 as well although they have no expiration date. It only means getting a new document though, not taking the tests again.

cool, similar to England then

[jazzypom.livejournal.com]

We have to renew ours once every ten years. However, if you suffer from depression, or your eye prescription gets bad, you have to give up your licence.

RE: cool, similar to England then

[kaiserschmarrn.livejournal.com]

That sounds sensible. The new rule in Germany is that a renewal is necessary every 15 years. We've had several accidents with older people who weren't really fit anymore for driving so I hope this weeds them out (terrible as it sounds). Until now, you could only hope that the relatives took away the car or something like that.

Re: cool, similar to England then

[eva]

I think they just renew the physical license; there aren't any tests for older people (there would be massive protests, I'd imagine).

RE: Re: cool, similar to England then

[kaiserschmarrn.livejournal.com]

My hope is that older people who are unfit for driving will simply not be able to apply for a new document as well lol

Re: RE: cool, similar to England then

[jazzypom.livejournal.com]

Well, opticians over here are obliged to contact the DVLA if your eyes are bad. A friend of mine got her licence taken away for a while because she has terrible eyesight, and until she found someone who was able to build her a prescription (as in, new glasses) she was unable to drive. For depression and such, you do have to give up your licence.

RE: Re: RE: cool, similar to England then

[kaiserschmarrn.livejournal.com]

We have to take an eye test when we get our license and if you fail the test, it will be written into the license that you are required to drive with glasses etc (unless your eyesight is so bad that they ban you from driving - I don't know if this happens, I don't think people with that bad of an eyesight even try to get a license here). Glasses are, unfortunately, one of the few things not covered by healthcare unless you're basically almost blind in which case I also don't think you're going to be driving. Since the license is so expensive anyway, it doesn't matter much though to throw in a couple of glasses if needed.

Re: RE: Re: RE: cool, similar to England then

[jazzypom.livejournal.com]

Yeah, same here. I got my eyes tested before I even got behind the wheel to learn, and discovered I needed glasses for vision and driving. But it's one of these things where, every time you get your eyes checked, if your eyes get pretty bad, the opitician supposedly has to flag it.

Yeah, the licence is expensive over here too. I think I paid £50 for theory, £70 for practical (and I did it on a weekday to save money), not to mention two hours a day three days a week for three months. It was wicked expensive. For the first two years, they are pretty strict with your licence. Six points in the first two years, it's taken away from you! Then you have to do everything again (theory, practical, etc). For the first two years, I refused to drive (drove on the weekends to keep my hand in, but that's it).

SMH at Reus though. He's not poor, and could afford to do the licence, and his schedule isn't so full that he just... couldn't do it.

His car seems to be a stick shift too, so it shows some sort of skill.

Oh well, at least he has the confidence on the road when it comes to getting the damned thing! That's what really failed me the first time. I refused to go on a roundabout! (I still hate the damned things, but I'm a lot better now).

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: cool, similar to England then

[marsyke.livejournal.com]

Lol I failed at parking my car which is such a cliché thing to do.
That's pretty expensive! I paid 15 and 40 euros! But I think it got more expensive recently.

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: cool, similar to England then

[kaiserschmarrn.livejournal.com]

I think I paid 60 € for the theory test and 180 € for the practical test and 30 € or 40 € for each driving lesson (I think the special lessons were more expensive). So yeah it amounts to a good 1000-2000 € and if you fail the practical test like I did, you have to take 4 driving lessons before you can take the next so it was like another 300 €. By that point I had only 32 cents left of my savings but my parents helped out :D

And they are more strict with driving beginners here as well though the rule goes 2 years or until you're 21 years. I'm not sure. At least in that time, you weren't allowed to drive with an alcohol level above 0 for example while for the rest of the drivers, they're allowed to drive with 0.5. I don't drive a whole lot since I now live in the city so I'm a notorious weekend driver. That's why I don't really know this stuff, I drive with a lot of attention and make sure never to get into an accident/speed/drive under the influence of alcohol etc.

About the stick shift though, that's the norm in Germany. You barely see automated cars. And if you do your license with an automated car, you're not allowed to drive stick so most people (everyone I have ever known) gets their license with a stick shift, even if they'll later drive an automated. But automated cars are seen as something for the elderly.

And his confidence might as well be recklessness ;) People shouldn't be afraid to drive because that also makes them more prone to mistakes but being cautious is always a good thing. One of the first things you learn in German driving schools is to not only adhere to the traffic laws but to anticipate other people making mistakes.

Re: Re: RE: Re: RE: cool, similar to England then

[jazzypom.livejournal.com]

About the stick shift though, that's the norm in Germany. You barely see automated cars. And if you do your license with an automated car, you're not allowed to drive stick so most people (everyone I have ever known) gets their license with a stick shift, even if they'll later drive an automated. But automated cars are seen as something for the elderly.

Same here! My parents were really huffy about automatics and how people who learnt on automatics couldn't drive (like I said, huffy) so we all learnt on a stick shift. Also, to drive in different categories (if you want to say, drive a transit), you needed to do stick. So it's a habit I got into and never stopped. When I came England, I opted for stick shift. I don't think I've ever driven an automatic.

To be fair to Reus, he hasn't been in an accident, just speeding (and driving without a licence! Reckless! ._.).

Yeah, I hear you. I drive on weekends to keep my hand in, otherwise, nope. If I lived in London like my friends, I don't know if I'd have gotten a driving licence at all.

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: cool, similar to England then

[eva]

A young man in my driving classes took the automatic car test. He had some learning disability or something of the sort and would have been unable to handle both concentrating on road events and rules and coordinating the driving action. He's the only person I know to take that test, too. I've never driven an automatic car, and been driven in one only a few times by, indeed, old people. My father is 70 now, and I suspect he'd stop driving before considering an automatic.

Re: cool, similar to England then

[lady-teazle.livejournal.com]

Most cars in America are automatic transmission. Knowing how to drive a stick shift is a dying art here!

But I married someone with a Belgian family, and since he had a car with a stick shift, I learned to drive it and still do.

Re: cool, similar to England then

[barkley.livejournal.com]

Yeah, luckily my dad taught me how to drive a stick shift as we had one for the first year I was driving before we went all automatic all the time.

And that was mumble years ago! So then I move to the German branch of my company and picked out my car from the options (about 3 our of 30 of them were automatic.) and I show up to work and HR says, "OK, your car is on order, but it won't be here for three weeks. Until then, you can drive one of the cars in the pool It's stick, is that ok?" Oh what fun those first few weeks were.

FTR, it is possible from about 30 of the 50 US states to do a straight up trade for a German drivers license. So I have one thing that Marco Reus doesn't! And at quite the bargain.

Re: cool, similar to England then

[eva]

Depression?

Lovely, just the way to make sure people don't get treatment and raise the stigma a bit more. (And yes, I suppose they want to keep people from committing suicide driving. But if I'd faced getting my mobility taken away, I doubt I'd have gone to the doctor when things were bad and probably would be dead now, and most certainly not by car accident.)

Re: cool, similar to England then

[jazzypom.livejournal.com]

From what I gather, it has to be stifling bad depression? There are degrees to it, iirc. Most places in England have decent public transport. I know I held off getting a licence for years (until I really had to) because I could hop on and off trains, buses and such.

RE: Re: cool, similar to England then

[ms-geekette.livejournal.com]

If you have stifling bad depression, you aren't gonna want to drive. You aren't going to want to leave the house or even get out of bed. You'd be more likely to off yourself in a garage with your car via carbon monoxide. :-P

As someone who suffers from depression, I'm glad I don't live in the UK if that's how they treat people with mental illness. :-/ You have to imagine people don't get treatment for it if they aren't allowed to drive and need to for their job or whatever. Or if they happen to live in a place where the public transportation system isn't as great.

(I know you're just the messenger, not a creator of the policy.)