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Driving in Oulu Part Two: The Journey Begins |
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By Michelle Nicolson
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Saturday, 07 February 2009 |
 Checking for police cars before setting off
After shopping I run the Ford back to pick up my husband and son, and immediately manage to stall three times at the traffic lights on the main road. The woman behind me, her face glowering, waits until the third stall then decides to overtake. She pulls into the next lane, shaking her head at the idiot holding her up and shoots off to make up for lost time.
Husband reassures me on the way home once we've changed places at the wheel, as I'm still nervous after the incident. Having explained what happens he says, "Not to worry, we all have those kinds of things of after passing our tests."
Whatever comfort I'd derived from this evaporates as we arrive home to find a police car waiting for us. The woman at the lights has reported me to police as what she thinks is a drunk driver. My spouse, once again driving, takes the breathalyser test – to his obvious delight.
I consider this. Having passed my test at not such an entirely typical age (not 18), I mustn't have appeared like a typical 'just-passed' driver. This hasn't occurred to me. In the UK, new drivers can swap their red learner plates for green to let other drivers know they are inexperienced. A similar system here might have helped with the disgruntled woman, I think, watching my partner close his eyes and parp into the cylinder.
Not that this is the first time my spouse has dealt with the Finnish police. Normally an extremely law-abiding citizen, he managed to drive for years in Scotland without being stopped or breathalysed – which all changed when we moved to Finland.
The first incident was on a family outing to Kuusamo. Not long after we arrive here, we set out in the new car. My husband is stopped by police shortly before we reach the destination. The officer's glee at having caught us speeding soon diminishes realising they've stopped a family of foreigners with no Finnish and who speak English with a strong Glasgow accent.
The extremely confused conversation that follows is proceeded by my husband getting into the police car to receive his fine. At this point my daughter, about four years old, starts crying hysterically. Convinced that daddy is being taken to jail, she is inconsolable and in a show of support her baby brother joins in too.
The police have us back on our way as soon as possible.
My husband is lucky in that his speeding was less than twenty kilometres per hour over the speed limit. Under Finnish law speeders doing twenty or more receive a fine calculated as a percentage of your annual income, incurring a fairly hefty fine for those in gainful employment.
Several years later the second incident occurs. My husband again sets off on a Sunday to take my daughter to a birthday. He pays no attention to the police car behind him until its lights start flashing. He pulls in as instructed. He hasn't been speeding or drinking, so what could be the problem?
Alas the police have run his registration number through the computer, which revealed he was driving without a valid licence. We checked at the police station on first arriving in Oulu to make sure that the UK licence was valid. There were no problems, and it's permissible to drive in Finland with a European license – at least for a year, after which you should replace it with a Finnish one. We planned to stay for a year and a half, so this didn't come up in the conversation.
Considering at this point we have been living in Oulu for six years, perhaps the police have a point. Husband is told to proceed immediately to the police station and get it changed, with payment, filling in of forms, and passing a routine medical. Thankfully quick and easy, he is soon driving again, legally.
My daughter, older and wiser, is almost blasé about her father's latest run-in with the Finnish law. Her main concern is how late she will be for the party.
There only now remains for me to tell you about the second part of the Finnish driving test, something I would not have to do at home and yet another stressful situation for someone with an aversion to any kind of test. With the end of my two year limit approaching, I call my old instructor Kirsi and ask if we can set it up, can’t think why she sounded nervous!
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