– It is much easier to only have two pedals, says 18-year-old Nicolaj Remme Sørensen. He has been driving on his own and in his own car for over half a year already. But now he is back at driving school. He has a driver’s license for an automatic car, but his job only has cars with a manual gearbox. – I thought it was completely phased out, so it wasn’t how I imagined it would go, he says. He has had a total of ten hours of practice to master the jab. There are still some things that linger. Nicolaj still hasn’t got the gear completely into his fingers, but now it’s starting to work. Photo: Anders Haualand / news He can’t quite avoid choking the engine once during his last driving hour. But he quickly recovers. – There are some people you sit with, where you can’t feel that they are shifting. That is the goal, he says. More than half choose an automatic transmission This summer, the proportion who took the automatic ticket for the first time overtook those who took it with a manual transmission. – There has been a tremendous development in the last five years, but it is in the last two years that it has really accelerated, says Harald Sehl, district manager of Wright traffic school in Drammen, Asker and Tønsberg. Harald Sehl, district manager of Wright traffic school. Photo: Anders Haualand / news Of the 15 cars Wright uses in Sehl’s district, only three cars are manual. And in a few years these too may disappear. – In five years, we as a traffic school will probably be without manual cars, he says. – It works very quickly. – Yes, it is quite fast. But we have to follow the developments in society, and the car park is going that way. What kind of driver’s license do you have? Only for automatic Both parts Don’t have a driver’s license Show result Want a simpler solution for manual Today over 96 percent of newly registered passenger cars in Norway are automatic cars. Twelve years ago, the proportion was down to 32 per cent. This is shown by figures from the Road Traffic Information Council. We are replacing our cars with automatic cars, and the part of the car fleet that is manual is just getting older and older. – As a driving school, we cannot buy used manual cars that have become too old. They are not traffic safe enough, says Sehl. With the current regulations, a new drive is required if you want to get a driver’s license with a manual transmission. Even if you have the ticket with an automatic. Nicolaj needs a driver’s license with a manual transmission to use the cars at work. Photo: Anders Haualand / news If the driving schools can no longer offer manual transmission training, it may become more difficult for future drivers to obtain a driver’s license to drive, for example, vintage cars. – A course in manual, rather than a drive-up, is a solution we have proposed. That would have made it easier for the students, and saved the driving schools a lot of resources, says Sehl. Must follow the trends in Europe But there will probably be no change in the law anytime soon. It is the EU regulations that require a practical test to get a driver’s license with a manual transmission. – Norway is in a special position in Europe when it comes to how widespread it is with automatic vehicles, says Dag Terje Langnes, section manager for road user training in the Norwegian Road Administration. Dag Terje Langnes, section manager for road user training in the Norwegian Road Administration. Photo: Andrea Melby/news Although the trends in Norway point towards a normalization of automatic cars, we are dependent on the rest of Europe following the same development before there is an opening for a change in the law. Langnes still believes that there will be an opportunity to learn manual gear shifting even if several driving schools choose to drop training. – Even if several driving schools choose to drop it, there will probably be some who continue to offer manual training. We also think that manual shifting is a skill that can be learned on your own with practice driving in private. – Didn’t have a manual car When Nicolaj got his driver’s license with an automatic, it was the access to a car to practice drive with at home that was decisive for which driver’s license he got. – We didn’t have a manual car. It would have made practice driving at home very cumbersome, so automatic only became easier. Now he has just had his last driving lesson with a manual transmission. The next time he takes the gear lever, it’s time to drive off. – The automatic ticket went on the first try, so I think this will go well. Nicolaj gets to hear some of his latest learning points from the driving instructor before he starts driving in a month’s time. Photo: Anders Haualand / news
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Nicolaj (18) takes the note for the second time in a year
