I will miss the driver's license very much

Created: 01/01/2022, 01:01 PM

By: Wolfgang Krzizok

Wolfgang Krzizok will miss his gray rag very much.

© Private

The beloved gray rag.

What I was proud of when I passed my driving test in November 1976.

A few days after the exam, my mom drove me to the registration office on my 18th birthday - in my light blue VW Beetle, which had cost 300 marks and which my parents had given me when I came of age.

When I then held the coveted gray rag in my hands, I was overjoyed, and after I brought my mom home I drove to school with my Beetle - at that time there was still plenty of parking space at the grammar school.

That was exactly 45 years ago. I've changed my cars regularly in the meantime, but my gray rag has stayed the same. Over the decades I have of course been subjected to various traffic controls and have had to endure a number of breath alcohol tests. I also (of course) committed some administrative offenses for which I dutifully (albeit disgruntled) paid a fine. But my driver's license has never been revoked.

But now the time has come: I have to hand in my driver's license. However, I haven't done anything. The Conference of Transport Ministers has decided that all driving licenses must be exchanged for forgery-proof copies by 2033 at the latest. I, born in 1958, have to hand in my beloved gray rag by January 19, 2022 at the latest. I think that's pretty unfair because, for example, my mother - born in 1930 - doesn't have to hand in her driver's license until January 2033 at the latest, i.e. shortly before her 103rd birthday. Then I'll drive you to the district office to exchange your driver's license. We'll wait and see if she'll drive me home. I would trust her.

In any case, I find it very difficult to part with my driver's license - especially since I'm 17 years old in the photo and have black hair.

If I want to see an old, gray cloth after exchanging it, all I have to do now is look in the mirror.