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

haha at candy.

If we all "HAD" to drive or NOT drive it would be like Saudi... Here we have a choice... perhaps men feel it is EXPECTED of them to drive too? I have a licence tho... and have just switched to an Automatic and feel like I am cheating at driving... cos it is SO MUCH EASIER. lol ;-)

These are the statistics

And if you're not beholden to anyone OP, I hope you do all your repairs, mechanics and tyre changing yourself?

ah...so me contemplating getting rid of my car would horrify you then???

I hate driving. Its bad for the environment, bad for my bank balance and bad for my sanity.

I would dearly love to bike/use PT much more than I do now.

What so wrong with that???

JunoWatt:
"ou arent beholden to anyone"

Do you know what? Even without that mythical, magical document that is a driving licence I am not beholden to anyone either. I am an adult who can find bus stops, read timetables, book trains and get taxis. Noone elses input required.

I think it's more annoying that some women can drive but choose to let their husbands do it all, or drive in such a ridiculously nervous fashion that they are a danger to other road users and give all female drivers a bad reputation.

there is so much of the country and simply isn't accessible by public transport. beautiful beaches, mountains etc.

agree - driving is a liberating skill to have, even if you only use it occasionally.

I grew up in London and never learned. I moved to a smaller town just before I had DS and not being able to drive / being beholden to DP is a right pain in the harris. Am saving up madly for lessons. I will take a basic mechanics course too, when I can afford it.

I drive, I learned last March. I hate it. My husband is always trying to push me to use the car more, I think he feels the same way you do op! I use the car to do the weekly shop but other than that DH needs a crow bar to make me get in. He says it will make me be more independant and also "grow as a person" if I pushed myself to use it more. The fact is, I can walk, get a train, get a bus etc. I don't want to endure countless trips of terror and self doubt with my children in the back seat when, actualy I do not have to.
Tbh, I don't feel like spending a thousand pounds on lessons and passing my test has improved my life at all. In fact it has compliacted it but the endless "dicussions" dh and I have about my using the bloody car more!

I always knew I'd learn to drive. It's so useful to have a licence even if you don't have to run a car of your own. But there are a generation of women (mainly in their 70s and 80s now) who fell foul of the assumption that men did all the driving. My dp runs a community transport organisation and many of his passengers are women of that age whose husbands died first and left them without the means to get around independently. But those attitudes no longer apply so I'm quite sure that the statistics will alter when that generation are no longer around. Not that I'd encourage everyone who has a licence to get a car because there are more sustainable alternatives to personal car ownership.

Juno, wasn't meant as just a 'wind-up' (honest!), DH is a police driver (does all that la di da procession driving & everyfunk) so he's obviously going to be better than me.
Didn't stop him stalling the car the other day though

Gosh, thats low. I would have thought that even if you don't want to own a car, its one of those skills its a good idea to acquire at some point in life. And not wanting to drive is fine, as long as you don't expect everyone else to give you lifts everywhere you can't get to by public transport.

Granted I only have a license for automatics, because those are the only cars I have ever had, but I will get my manual license some time and would quite like to get my 7.5 tonne license too. I have however passed the trailer towing test!

Curly - BelovedCunt is right (and has exceptional taste in US comedy ) I can't get to a far flung bit of coast or remote beauty spot on public transport. I rely on someone else to drive me there. Boring.

"there is so much of the country and simply isn't accessible by public transport. beautiful beaches, mountains etc."

Ah but surely that's where your feet come in? Beautiful mountains are not generally accessible by car either you know. Buy a good pair of walking boots, get a bus pass and the country is your oyster.

I don't think you read the statistic properly Juno what is important is that for the youngest age range men and women are par.

it was 69% of men in 70s and 29% of women

you should be happy that is a huge improvement!

BTH I don't really want the over 60s to get a licence, I wonder for too many years how to withdraw my GP's ones before they kill someone.

I have one, in fact I've had a driving license for nearly ten years, passed first time (genius!) and you know how useful it has been?

Not. Very.

1. In all that time I've lived in cities with decent public transport systems
2. It's ridiculously expensive to own, or even just hire, a car. You have insurance, petrol, congestion charge (london based), parking ... and then there's the cost of the actual car itself. Which is huge.
3. When sat on public transport, I can read, daydream, generally faff about - all of which are discouraged when driving. You have to concentrate the whole time otherwise you might kill yourself/someone else.

Biggest waste of money evah getting that license.

I can drive, my DH can't. However it is not liberating it is a pain in the arse. I do all the driving when we go anywhere by car (not often) don't drink etc. When my DS has hospital appointments its always me that takes him, takes time off work etc as it is very marginally quicker for me to drive than for DH to take the bus. DS is too small for even the smallest bike seat yet - when he grows that will change!

I occasionally drive for work, but it was easier when I didn't have a car and could legitimately say no I'll get the train. Having a car costs a fortune. I can afford it so I keep it. Mainly its parked outside my house.

Since I upgraded my bike, that has given me so much mroe liberation

People should do what they want to, driving is not a necessary or even often desirable skill depending where you live.

My DP doesn't drive either. And I have managed to do supply work perfectly well without a car.

Driving lessons and maintaining are car are expensive. Women earn on average £100 a week less than men. Go figure.

I hate driving, it scares the shit out of me so I do it as little as possible and if I had my way I wouldn't do it at all.

I recently missed out on a v. g. job because I couldn't drive. The public transport in my town is expensive, inconvenient and generally shit :(

Give me the £500 I need to take an intensive course and I will gladly increase the percentage!! Driving isn't cheap either to learn or keep a car. I would love to drive as we live in a village with very infrequent buses, no school or preschool, 3 prechool age children and a husband who does shifts. Not sure what we are going to do September as oldest starts school and nearest school is 3 miles away.

(Well, median, not average, but you get the idea).