international driving permit
 

CAn anyone tell me where I can get an IDP.... I'm on an Australian Licence and currently out of the country. I have dual Aussie/UK citizenship and currently in Europe heading to USA... Do i need to return to Australia to get this document, or can i get it within any participating country?

Cheers, Manta

?c?:taz:

I did Argentina to Alaska and was never asked for the IDP once. I'm not sure how relevant they are given most of the cops don't know what they're looking at. I always gave them good fakes of my normal driving licence, if there's a problem, you still have the original.

MR, my experience is very, very old but I was twice able to use an Australian licence, in combination with an Australian issued IDP, to get an IDP extension in the UK.

Don't bother getting an IDP if you are heading for NorthAmerica. There is a standard practice of accepting tourists' home country drivers license as equal to the local license for the duration the tourist is visiting in in all of the countries . You will have to show proof of insurance for any vehicle you may be operating in USA,Canada, -, that is the item you ought to focus your attention on.

Hi,

I am a UK citizen working as an expat in Kuwait.
and I think I have got myself into a bit of pickle
I didn't realise that one has to bring their ORIGINAL driving licence with them, together with their IDP.

At present I am travelling from Anchorage to LA and then across to NY. I have left my Kuwait driving licence in Kuwait thinking that the IDP would be sufficient.

I have asked my wife to email me a copy of my UK licence, and have since printed off a colour copy. I hesitate to cut them out and laminate them, impersonating a real licence.

Thus I have asked a friend to get an IDP made from UK, and bring it over with him when we meet up in LA on July 18th.

How likely am I to be stopped by police if I am mindful of the speed limits, and what actions could they potentially take against me? Confiscate paperwork? bike?

I have the Kuwait Carnet, Kuwait IDP, US insurance and breakdown cover etc from Progressive insurance Co.

Do you think that i should come clean and tell the cops I have forgotten my driving licence at home, or just claim that i have lost it along the way?

Sorry for sounding like a wuss.
H A

One option for getting your real UK license is to have your wife mail it to you at a location you intend to visit. Some US Post Office locations will accept letters and packages addressed to you at their "General Delivery" address, and hold them for 30 days.

Go here: USPS.Find a Business/Standard Search - United States Postal Service
...and find a post office that is on your route, maybe 2-3 weeks down the road. Call & ask if they accept General Delivery letters, if so, confirm the address & have your wife send your license there. You pick it up at the post office by presenting ID (er...hopefully your IDP & copy of your UK DL will suffice.)

Hope this helps, best of luck!
Sean

For £5.50 why wouldnt you get one ?? It's another official document to baffle the cops with if they get frisky.

I was asked for mine in Venezuela, but that was the only time. Better to have and not need than need and not have !!

Heavens Angel.

Get your wife to DHL your driving license! I would suggest getting in touch with the "Community" on the HUBB, find a place your going to in the next week. Email the community and find someone who'se address you can use to get you license sent to too.

I have no idea what the cops would do but I would expect they can arrest you or at least seriously hold you up. It is, after all ILLEGAL to ride in the USA WITHOUT you license on you -let alone without it in the country.

And from stories I've heard of cops in the US stopping bikers (espically foreign ones) I'm surprised you haven't been stopped yet.

And showing them Kuwuit documents is only going to make matters worse.

I'm sure this isn't what you want to here anmd it's only my advice but it's what i think you should do. With DHL (or the like) you can have your passport in 3 days. Until then I would print off and cut down you photocopy, and get it laminated. At least it might help.

Hi,

Sorry for hijacking this thread.
Thanks for all your advice. My friend is at present having a UK IDP made for me and will DHL it to me at a friends address in Seattle.

it's strange how i feel more nervous riding here in the US than i ever did in asia or the midle east, it's just the cops i guess.

H A

save the cost of the postage you dont want to be handing over a real licence. i handed over a laminated photo copy to the same cop as a guy was showing the real deal .the cop asked was it original .i said yes and all was good and i was on my way.out of your country nobody knows .

Just make sure you actually stop at STOP signs even if there is no one else there. I had a park ranger wanting to do me for going through 3 stop signs and speeding within the space of 1 mile in Arizona.

Good advice- and it can save your life. Every week here in Ontario we get news reports of motorcyclist and car drivers being killed because somebody " failed to heed a stop sign" .Often enough it was not the deceased person who did not stop, but dead is dead. Far too many people are running stop signs with the excuses that they are on familiar streets and there is never any other traffic anyway, so they get complacent and careless and just sail through. Whammm! Unlike Europe with the established rules of right-of -way and the large scale use of "yield" signs , North America is more apt to put in STOP signs , and four-way stop signs, and that means you really MUST STOP, look at the roads and proceed only when it is safe.
Sadly the situation seems to be deteriorating a s more and more people seem to think that THEY are important, that THEIR time is more valuable and that THEY don't need to drive in a safe , sensible manner, and they are more and more distracted by cell-phones and video games while driving.Motorcyclists are not excepted in this scenario, far too many I see ignore stop signs and do not even bother to check traffic- and some of these jokers actually are wearing fluorescent clothing to be more conspicuious for their "safety"!!