The long-awaited day is finally here after months of preparation and expensive driving lessons. It’s the day for your practical exam. Now, finally, you will be able to show the examiner everything you can do on the road. You are ready.
But wait. The weather forecast shows heavy snow and strong winds for the day of the exam. What will happen now? Will your exam be postponed? Will you be excused for not being able to handle such extreme conditions? Will you have to drive in another way than you were taught?
Yes, the exam will happen.
In Sweden, winter is considered as authentic as any other season, and examiners see no reason not to test your ability to drive in such conditions. That means that your exam will go ahead as planned, and you will have to show that you are a safe driver in Sweden, including days like this.
No, you can’t drive as usual
Snow, ice, blizzards, and darkness will hugely impact your and others’ safety when driving. You can’t drive as usual, but will need to adapt for the sake of your own and others’ safety.
At the same time, winter conditions are not unusual in the Nordics, meaning that it’s necessary to have such skills in order to drive and survive on the road. If you aren’t ready to take your driving exams in winter weather, are you ready to drive on your own in winter weather? In fact, if you pass your driving test on a snowy day, you can feel much safer to handle such conditions (because it will snow also when you have received your license), and in the long term, this is worth a lot
How to adapt your driving
To summarise, you have to slow down, but not so much that you create a danger for other road users. Unfortunately, there is no conversion table where you can learn the appropriate speed for a specific temperature, precipitation level, or snow depth. Instead, you will need to take the appropriate measures for the exact conditions you experience. Adapt your driving according to the following factors:
- Road conditions. Are you driving on a clean road surface, ice, black ice, snow, or fresh snow? How does this affect your ability to start, drive, brake, and turn your car? How does it affect other drivers’ ability to do the same?
- Falling snow. Is there no precipitation, rain, sleet, or snow? Is it heavy or light? Whatever falls from the sky will impact visibility. You may need longer to detect the perimeter of the road, other vehicles, or pedestrians.
- You never thought about it, but rain can be shiny. And so can ice and melting snow. How do reflections from wet surfaces distract your vision?
- Darkness. In Sweden, dusk falls early afternoon in winter, and driving in darkness involves more risk than driving in daylight. Your vision will be distracted by lights and their reflections, and pedestrians may appear invisible if they don’t carry retroreflectors.
How to prepare for a snowy practical exam
The best way to prepare for an exam in any weather condition is, naturally, to practise driving in all weather conditions. Make sure some of your lessons will take place in winter weather, and you will build up your confidence. Learn how to start your car in heavy snow, learn how to handle a slippery road surface, and get used to handling poor visibility in heavy precipitation. Also, observe how other drivers act and react to different situations, how much they slow down and what other precautions they take.
When attempting to get a license, it’s easy to focus only on the exam and the certification it may give you. But don’t forget to make sure that you learn everything you need to know in order to drive on an everyday basis in Sweden during all seasons.
Would you like to know more about how to prepare yourself and your car for Swedish winter? Grab a copy of our latest handbook, Driving in Sweden: The A–Z Guide, where we share all insights that come naturally to anyone brought up in Sweden, but it may take some time for anyone new to the country to get used to them.
