To think you that are not truely independent until you can drive!

[angelicstar]

Ok - I admit to being a bit of a zealot about driving as I've just passed my test in my 30's and am a total convert!!

But honestly I have never felt so free. I finally feel like I don't have to rely on anyone (usually got lifts from DH/Dad/Friends etc). I'm not at the mercy of public transport and never have to get soaking wet walking in the rain again.

I wish someone had made me do this years ago and I would really encourage anyone thinking about learning to drive to do so - it has made such a difference to me (and if I can pass anyone can!)

I think I'd get more "fun" from touch typing than driving. It's something I do if it is the most sensible way to get from A to B, that's all.

You need a car with more poke, Trills.

Trills touch typing is great. Jenai* ooh yes, I've really annoyed the DC by hooting at least six times today!! DH needs a car with more poke for me to enjoy driving

Well I passed my test in a small northern town in 1995. I moved to London two weeks later. Since then I have never owned a car. I first lived in Lancaster Gate then I moved to Maida Vale in 1997 where I bought my first house. Buses are so plentiful where I live. I can understand your point. If you lived where I live you can certainly have your independence without the need for a car. But, if I still lived in my northern town, yes, I would feel the need for a car because buses to the town centre run at a frequency of 1 to 2 an hour. And I just love London nightbuses. Fantastic.

YABU.

Want to drive, can't. Can't see well enough. With enough forward planning I get where I need to be, by public transport, or my own two feet.

I don't particularly enjoy the bus, but hey, it's the best I've got seeing as I can't be truly independent

YABU. And idiotic.

And it's 'truly' not 'truely'. Your money would have been better spent on spelling lessons not driving lessons.

btw Poulay, way upthread, but there's only one country where women aren't allowed to drive and that's Saudi.

YANBU
Real independence is having a stonking big estate car that takes 7 people. No more waiting at home for deliveries. I've collected my fridge freezer, tumble drier and washing machine in mine, plus enormous chest of drawers, settee, double bunk bed, mattresses etc. Fence Panels I sling on the roof rack.

curiousgeorgie Actually, I CAN drive and do so regularly. I've been driving for years. But I don't then make blanket statements that people "are not truly independent until you can drive" either.

Yes, she was excited about passing. Couldn't she have just said so then? Because anyone with half a brain that's been here any length of time knows this is a bit of a bunfight subject on MN. And the way she was talking in the OP about wishing someone had made her drive years ago is much like the zealots that come on here and go on and on about people who don't drive and how lazy and ridiculous they are. Which is all about respecting valid choices.

I do see why driving is useful but god; I hate roads. Nasty, congested, dangerous, smelly and polluting. But then I am a pedestrian. If I drove I wouldn't see it in the same way.I have to walk across town this morning which is a 20 minute walk. It would be more convenient if i drove there but I am getting excersise. It's a bummer if it rains though. I don't see how walking everywhere is lazy.

I have been learning to drive forever and I am nearly there. I havn't found it easy.

I would also like to add that I have travelled the world without once driving to any destiantion and have actually been to some very inaccesible places in the Himalayas on foot which you couldn't reach even with a 4 wheel drive. Two week treks were nothing out there. There is a sense of freedom that comes with hiking too you know.

But people that drive can also hike! It's not an alternative, it's an extra choice.

There is no such thing as true independance. We are all dependant on many things.

but, curiousgeorgiethe same posters who are saying that driving gives you more independence are the same ones saying they would be lost without their car!

I think there's a car in/dependence curve. If you've never had a car, you make choices that enable you to get around. Then you get a car and you're free. Then you start to make choices about where you live based on your car, or where you shop. A few years down the line you're dependent and it crept up on you

Franzi, exactly!

when we moved here, we took into consideration the public transport/links into town. but you do that whether you drive or not. we all have criteria to fulfill. for some its the local schools, for others its the size of the garden.

That's a brilliant observation, Franz.