to bevery disappointed that only 63% of women can DRIVE!! ffs

[JunoWatt]

its like saudi arabia here
ONLY JUST OVER HALF OF US! GET A LICENCE LADIES

I am so glad I am not the only 31 year old woman who would love to drive but can't (yet) I wish I had done it earlier, but didn't pick up lessons as I was living abroad. I had a few lessons last year and it was just errmmm really bad!! :(
However, like stangirl, I live in London and wouldn't drive here even if I could! (DH rarely drives here either now as he gets tube to work etc)

On the other hand OP, there are many women who don't drive but may be able to do many other things that you can't. I am now a SAHM and loving it because I spent my younger years living and working abroad and seeing lots of things you may not have seen here in the UK driving around in your car. (just an example,other women have done too and lots of other things) Yes, it may be liberating but there are other things to life than learning to drive.

Like Woah above, I just couldnt afford to either when I was younger as I was at university and got little help from my parents. I know lots of parents pay for lessons and cars etc but we are 5 children in my family and we had to work if we wanted anything like that. I wonder if you paid for all your own lessons/road tax/car/petrol etc, or if you had help with it?

I passed my test 18 years ago, but have hardly ever driven. I manage quite well on public transport and walking ost of the time. DH has to have the car for work, so we would need two cars which is an expense we don't need.

Good point Bruffin, It is expensive to run two cars and also I am glad that I 'have' to walk many places as I at least helps me keep a wee bit fitter. If I knew I could jump in the car everywhere I think I would be more lazy like that.

People who live in London and have a car is something I definitely do not understand. Its a good decade since we left London and DW used to get a car allowance with work. She asked for the money instead as sh couldn't drive and we used it to pay for taxis and our tube passes and train tickets we came no where near using up the money.

I can't drive either, for me it's not really an issue as dp drives and as he has the car daily for work I wouldn't have a car available and certainly couldn't afford to run two cars on our budget.

Neither of my grandmothers can drive nor my siblings, my sister as she has a motorcycle instead and my brother as he lives and works in a city so uses public transport.

I would like to have passed my test when I was younger as back up but the cost of driving lessons is too high for me to try at the moment.

montmatre, it is because i have listened to it half my adult life, people think they have the right to make you feel bad for something you have no control over and make snide digs..its just not on. i get a bit bored usually on aibu of people throwing the ooh you are so judgemental thing at you but in this case it really is and op should stop making silly posts...unless this is directly affecting her in some way i see no reason why she should think less of people that cant drive. percentage of women being less than men is probably down to the fact that they are more likely to have had children and not be as available to get lessons or because boys in general are treated differently in adolescence its seen as more important to get a lad driving than a girl, its absolutely nothing to do with our nervous dispositions or femininity!! actually to be honest with you it is other women that are the worst for saying 'why dont you drive, i cant believe you dont drive' they must think they are somehow better than you.

I can't drive. Well, I think I can(!!) but there's just a small matter of me passing my test to sort out.

When I got to 17 my parents couldn't afford for me to have driving lessons and my dad refused to let me practice in his car - I wonder now if I had been a boy would he have had the same attitude?

I had kids quite young too and over the years driving lessons had to take second place to things like food, rent, bills etc...

Luckily I live in a big city with public transport, and I am within walking distance to my job. DP drives, he works quite far from our home so needs the car for that. At the weekends if I want to go somewhere, or take the kids to places without DP I just get the bus...I don't sit around waiting for him to drive me somewhere

tomhardyismydh
Liberating beholding boo hoo hoo poor me, I cant drive. surely I have no existence, WTF.

I couldn't give a tinker's fart if people drive or not.

But let us bust this ridiculous 'only fat lazy people drive' myth shall we? I have a car but I also have a brain and very often I opt NOT to take the car and walk instead. I enjoy walking (especially in cities) and walk about 20 miles a week.
Car ownership and the ability to walk around are not mutually exclusive.

I lived in London for decades but still needed a car because we weren't on a tube or decent bus line.
And just because you live in London doesn't mean you are imprisoned there FFS.
Or maybe it does if you don't have a car?
We got away every weekend - Yorkshire, Cornwall, over to France - anywhere we fancied - just jumped in the car with kids and dogs and away we went.

Clearly for some it is a case of what you ain't had you'll never miss.

But for those who want to drive and who haven't learnt yet or who are disuaded by the cost - keep at it - don't give up. It pays back huge dividends in the end.
Next year my son and I are off to do the Pacific highway from Frisco to Seattle in a 1964 Lincoln Convertible. (happy fucker emoticon)

I've got to say I'm with OP on this. I think it's kind of avoiding taking responsibility for yourself, just vaguely imagining that someone else (i.e. a man) will always be around to do it for you

That's really offensive MotherofPearl.

I've hardly ever been driven by a man, my DP has driven me a grand total of 3 times in a 4 year relationship. A couple of friends Dads occasionally drove me to the swimming pool or bowling alley as a teenager. BIL has driven me once and DP's Dad a few times, in fact MIL has driven me more than him.

My Dad can't drive and has managed to reach the grand old age of 71 without dropping dead as a result. My Mum is the driver in my family.

I have 2 brothers, one is 38 and only learnt to drive at 36. The other is 42 and has never driven. His DW used to drive until they moved abroad and used public transport as it was much cheaper.

I never assume someone else will be around to drive me places. In 2 years in London I have only used a taxi once. I get around by train, bus, tube and, shock horror - foot!

I am sick to death of people criticising me for not driving - it's no-one else's business whether or not I can drive. I'm not badgering anyone for lifts and I get around very easily on public transport.

I think too many people drive who frankly shouldn't. I would be a danger on the roads, therefore I don't go on the roads. Those who do go on the roads should be fucking grateful that some people like me choose not to drive and therefore not to kill them in a car crash should an accident happen.

I don't exactly recollect being stuck in the house for those 15 years of my marriage that we didn't have a car. We were out every weekend. We just chose destinations that were accessible by a combination of public transport and walking- and the fitter we got the wider the choice.

A friend of mine (male) once said driving was vulgar, and for the lower classes. Its so much more liberating to have a chaffeur

riven dd goes gliding with Air Cadets - it is free.

I realise how poncey that post looked - oh look at meeee, taking my daughter to fly a plane in the Cotswolds.

I am distinctly non-ponce, I am at pains to point out

hilda - "Its so much more liberating to have a chaffeur."

Now that I can agree with. If I won the lottery I would have a chauffeur (and a big expensive Bentley or Rolls obviously).

I can't drive. Never had the urge to. I walk a lot with DD who also loves to walk, its my form of exercise. I lost my baby weight in no time being out with the pram every day, and it was winter.
DP drives, has a huge estate he needs for work so if i could drive, I'd never be able to. And we can't afford to run two cars.
I grew up in a large city and then moved to London. My parents never had a car.
I agree with Minty - people (mainly my friends TBH - DP doesn't care) looking down on me. I'm quite happy to get the bus and don't need lifts thank you.
I'd be a danger on the roads too - difficulty with left and right and can never find my way round.
Plus, I don't have to engage in that competitive stuff about cars, so when friends say 'ohhh I've got a new i can lok truly blank and say it means sod all to me.

Why drive when you can have a Chauffeur? :)

Makes negotiating Oxford so much easier not to mention lunch in London with my friends and the odd spot of shopping. Everyone should aim for one, preferably a hot one who can fetch and carry too. If you don't need the car one day he can help organise the groundsmen and do odd jobs around the home.

I can drive, but have never taken a test, and don't feel the need to. Despite living in both urban and rural areas over the course of my adult life, I've always managed perfectly well with walking and public transport. To me, getting a car would be an unnecessary expense; if I was going to spend that kind of money on a form of transport I'd buy a horse.

Ah Hilda, just seen you've beaten me to it with your Chauffeur remark. Perhaps we can meet in Mayfair for coffee and our men can idle by the kerb?

I must say I am truly heartened by this thread and how many fellow non drivers there are. I would liketo think that the ridiculous fashion that you MUST drive in order to be a responsible adult or a good parent seems to be going by the wayside.

Perhaps the tide is turning. In the past a driving test was much simpler and much cheaper, even by today's comparison. These days you're talking a couple of thousand to start from scratch. Driving is becoming a luxury and I for one hope that we can now realise that non drivers are as valid, as clever and as responsible as drivers, they are simple voting with their feet.

Whether the reason is medical, financial, environmental or just plain not interested, I hope that we are gradually putting to bed the idea that non drivers are not lazy, feckless, 1950s housewives, incomeptent, or spongers who expect lifts everywhere.

Us non drivers are doing fine and we are growing in number (cue background music I Vow to Thee My Country).

In case you are wondering why this thread has been emotive it's possibly because non drivers are sick of being pitied or sick of seeing raised eyebrows or sick of being accused of expecting the rest of the world to ferry us about because we can't be bothered to learn ourselves.

If you drive, great, fine, good. But that doesn't mean I am not as good as you.

FWIW my BIL is French and has been driving for years. When he drove in the UK he found it terrifying- he had never seen such over crowded or dangerous roads and hated every minute.

Back in my box now, as you were....

I applaud Nesta too.

Me too.

Vote Nesta for Mumsnet Queen!

Does it matter?

Too many cars on the roads anyway...and in London you really don't need a car to get around. Hubs drives....and that's fine with me....but I commute to work using public transport.

and....I walk loads...which keeps me healthier...I like to think!

lolol at 'I vow to thee my country'