To think we should all ensure our daughters can drive a car

[Fiddledee]

So many posters saying they can't do x,y,z because they can't drive. Yes its expensive but I think alot more valuable than alot of other stuff we spend on our kids.

I will be marching my daughter to the learner driver school on the first day possible. Even if we couldn't afford it I would encourage her to learn asap after starting work and to save for it.

I just want to reduce the dependency of women on men driving them everywhere. We are not in the 1950s.

That may have been agreed. I would add that I've only lived in London for 9 months, not driving has never been an issue (professionally or personally) when I've lived across several Northern cities and towns (including one proper arse end of a town!).

I live ina small Northern village that has variable public transport, but I think laterally and walk or cycle the 4/5 miles or so to the train station when the buses are off (for eg. Sundays). I know not everyone could do this, but there again my next door neighbour drives to the corner shop and back everyday (2 mins walk max, you can see it from our street). It's not just geography, also personality/motivation perhaps?

Contrast with my sister who used to live in Norwich. My Gran, who had no other family close, lived in a village about 20 miles away There was 1 bus a day there, and 1 bus back. The bus took over 2 hrs to get there.

If my sister hadnt been able to drive, my Gran would have had to go into a home.

I agree Thebride that's a very difficult and heartbreaking story. I suppose one (long term) solution would be to increase public transport in more rural areas, which would have positive effects for many groups. I know they were trying to do this in a few targetted areas (Gelideg, S. Wales) as part of the social exclusion task force, but such initiaves are few and far between.

Another issue with public transport in some towns is that it's very "town centre" centric, so if you want to get to the town centre, you're sorted, but if you want to go anywhere else, you have to do multiple changes which can really add up. I guess that's hard to fix though because everyone has different places that they frequently go to. They can't please everyone.

I agree, it is hard to juggle changes on buses etc, but it's something I strangely enjoy . I quite like planning the timetable, packing snacks etc for me and the dcs (I have 4 and am 20 weeks pregnant). If you really scrutinise the timetable, and get the map out to see where some of the stops go, you'd be surprised how far out some routes take you. I also have 2 changes on my commute (2.5 hrs each way, but comparable with car travel due to traffic). I think because I have never driven/had a lift I just get on with it, whereas if I had driven and then had to change to the train/bus I would struggle. I do enjoy though reading a mag/doing work on the train, and look forward to the 20 mins connection wait where I can get a latte at the station's costa coffee . Again, it suits my personality, but might not be for everyone I agree.

Wow- 5 hrs a day commuting?? You, lady, are a saint!

Can anyone tell me how to get a train to tow a horsebox? [ hmm]

Loving the , " I live in London/AN..Other Big City" and don't drive" posts too.

Did you see in the paper that Welsh guy who tried to put his pony on a train. Denied. He'd bought it a ticket and everything. It looked really dejected. I nearly cried (seriously).

'Loving the , " I live in London/AN..Other Big City" and don't drive" posts too'

Why? What's wrong with that?

OK, what if, like me, they're not allowed to drive due to medical reasons? What then?

Why, let there?

It's hardly an act of great sacrifice not to run a car in London, is it??
If I lived in London I wouldn't have a car either!

I think this thread shows as long as you dont move somewhere awful like the country, cut off from civilisation then not driving is not a problem

forehead your attitude and intolerance is , mabey you can pay for my lessons and to run a car then, because we are in no position to. Your dcs learn that attitude from YOU who set their example. I have not seen non car drivers with the dreadful attitudes that some car drivers have on here, mabey that escalades to the road as well, too many aggressive intolerant drivers on the road.

Many posters cite expense as a reason for not being able to drive. In most cases that is an excuse as far as i am concerned. These same posters have children , which we all know is one of the biggest expenses one will ever have. I learned how to drive when i was eighteen, i was studying for my A levels and got myself a part time cleaning job in order to pay for my lesons. Of course i would have preferred to buy myself some lovely clothes, however, i was aware that learning to drive would be useful. If one can drive BUT chooses not to ,that is not a problem , however, when one cannot drive, i do feel that this is a problem.
My mother in law never learned to drive , despite being able to afford it . This began to impinge on my life as either myself or my dh had to ferry her around.
My parents are no longer together, but my mother has said that the one thing she thanks my father for,is encouraging her to have driving lessons, as it has made her life a lot easier.

We just had some visitors. The are older people and children left home. They live in the country and have just decided to move to a place with really good public transport after the experience of last winter when their two cars broke down and were cut off. They don't want to be cut off again. It shocked them how dependent they were on their car.

mabey you should educate your children about the different ways of getting about, and that not everyone drives a car, or they will be about how many people don't drive

On the contrary,Piglet, many of the non drivers on this thread have shown intolerance to car drivers.

No its not excuse forehead its life for many people, driving whether learning to drive or running a car is expensive if its a toss between being able to feed the family and not driving than feeding the family comes first. I do find that you are in a bubble and don't seem to know about the real world and about people's lives. Some people cannot drive for disability reasons, and some people just don't want to. Driving is a choice and its up to people to decide if they want to or not, it is a big responsibility and cars can kill and cause accidents, not everyone is comfortable with that and choose not to drive.

Forehead - When I was 18 all my money was going on rent and saving for my house deposit. Vast majority of people are moved out at 18 so arent spending their money on clothing, but living.

No they are trying to explain why they don't need to drive or can't and it seems as some car drivers and putting their hands on their ears and going la la la.

Sorry ' lessons'

and their choice should be respected.

That is not to say that I won't learn in the future, hopefully or circumstances will change and I will learn, but now we cannot afford for me to learn and dh needs his car for work, so would have to run another car, another expense that we can ill afford. It is how some car drivers are so dependent on the car, a bit of rain comes and they are all out in force clogging up the roads on the school run, despite me knowing that some of them live about 10 mins walk from school. I know one lady opposite me who used to pick her son up from school (1 min walk from school away) you can see the school from our house, yet she used to drive to collect him so as not to get her hair wet