To think not being able to drive puts you at a disadvantage?

[Sparklingbrook]

Just been chatting to a friend. Her daughter is 17 and although they can afford for her to have lessons, and she is able to she isn't going to bother learning to drive.

I was thinking about all the things I wouldn't have been able to do if I couldn't drive. For a start DS1 wouldn't be at the school he is, and the jobs I had I couldn't have got to by public transport.

I know she could learn in the future but surely it's easier to do it when young and a bit fearless?

I know it's none of my business too, but I hope my two DSs will be able to learn when the time comes.

I learnt in my final year of uni so I had options for work. It was better then as I wouldn't have got any practice while I was at uni anyway so wouldn't have had any real post-test experience.
At 17 I would rather get the bus so I could drink

I learned to drive at 18, I hated not being able to before hand, having one child already by then I wanted to be able to just piss off out and not have to worry about bus times or getting a lift, now 20 with two kids I really really couldn't imagine being without my car, my insurance was high for the first year (£2200 to be precise) but it's only £300 after a year of driving now

I gave up on the idea of nursing when I discovered that I would be required to travel all over the county, sometimes even out of county, at all hours during training. The thought of standing at a deserted train station or bus stop at 2am freaked me out. If I'd been able to drive I might be a nurse by now.

Self driving cars sound horrifying! What if it malfunctioned while you were on a really precarious patch of road, or driving over a bridge?

It depends on where you live probably, where I live, the buses arent the best, so driving helps me alot.

I suppose it depends where you live, if you live in a big city then there seem to be loads of people who never drive but if you live where I do then you need to drive

I started learning at 18 but I've had to put it on hiatus as I've just had a baby. I will pick it back up again - I love driving and picked it up very quickly. I don't see why you have to learn at 17. One of my aunts never learned and she's never found it an obstacle to working.

I never learned at 17, I was nearly 23 when I passed my test.

I can drive, at least theoretically (passed the test in 1988) but I don't. I am another one of those people who is just crap at driving and hates it -I found it simultaneously boring and terrifying.

I don't feel it's restricted my life in any way. I have no desire to live in some six-fingered backwater with no public transport, for instance. I like walking, and travelling on trains and buses (though not fond of coaches even though they are cheap). I like being able to have a drink if I want one, not to have to fuss about finding somewhere to park, not being tied to having to go back to wherever a car has been parked if I want to go and do something else, and years of lugging camping gear and trade stock to various markets via public transport has given me pretty good upper body strength as well.

500smiles you go to a work conference and they don't pay you T&S or your hotel price? You have to pay for everything yourself?

I learnt to drive late and although it is a fabulous thing and an asset to my life overall, I think people are too dependent on driving and if they have been driving all their adult life cab be very blind to the fact it's not always brilliant! I still choose very often (as in daily) to make 30-minute walks with 2 children to playgroup as I think the exercise is important, we chat or do errands on the way and often plain find it easier than driving. Sometimes other parents drive past me and say "you walk ALL THAT WAY?" as if I have trekked there instead of strolling a mile on a nice day. Perceptions of distance and effort can be very skewed.

I would encourage people to learn to drive but getting around without a car isn't that hard and is often preferable.

[[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-27587558 In the year to June 2013, more than 23,500 people were killed or seriously injured in road traffic accidents in the UK, according to government figures.
Ron Medford, previously the deputy director of the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and now the safety director for the self-driving car team at Google, believes that number could be drastically reduced by removing the chance of driver error]]

I gave up my car a few years ago, there's nowhere I need to get to that I cant reach by walking or taking the train.
Time spent in a car is wasted time in my book where as walking is always benficial

No matter how useful driving is, no one can deny that it's one of the biggest threats to the environment that we use on a day to day basis. That's why I didn't drive till I was 33. Would have been useful before though.

I walk between 3-5 miles a day for fun/wellbeing.

"Blueshoes you might think that's a waste of time but only because your car has got you so used to the idea that you could get there almost instantly. Why is 30 min or even an hour walking a waste of time when 30 min or an hour driving wouldn't be? Just because you get further away in a car? You might still only be visiting one friend or dropping a child off at one playdate."

30 min walking when you can drive that same distance in 5 mins is a waste of 25 minutes where you and dcs have other things to do. Walking may be enjoyable and I walk a lot generally and in my commute to work, but not when you have No Choice and have to do the same activity repetitively over a much longer period of time.

I would not drive 30 minutes for a playdate. Sorry, that's crazy. But I will drive 5 minute for a playdate otherwise I would not do the playdate and dd will be deprived.

Your world becomes so much smaller and slower and less productive if you don't have a car. But to each their own.

I first learnt to drive at 17 and became so stressed I gave up. Started again aged 24 and passed last August.

I live in a rural area and there are three buses into our local town. Nothing before 9.30. We are within walking distance of a train station though so when I was at uni (up to 21) it was a doddle. My first job was on my DP's way to work so that wasn't a problem either.

The crunch came when DP had appendicitis and was unable to drive for 6 weeks following the op. Total nightmare. I just got fed up of relying on other people.

Since then I've changed jobs and so has DP so I HAVE to be able to drive. My work is 45 minutes away and public transport won't work. DP goes 20 minutes in the other direction. Oh and he broke his ankle and was in pot for 6 weeks. It'd have been hell getting to work without him.

I love driving and always wonder how I managed. It gives me so much more freedom and is such a plus in an emergency. Best thing I ever did.

It does a bit but it doesn't make your life impossible. For some of us, we just cannot do it, so we don't have any choice but to build a life around not driving. And you never really miss something you don't have.

I think that sums it up really Floozey. If I hadn't learnt to drive I would just have a different life and wouldn't even think about it.

Plus you never know what's round the corner, and at any point a driver can become a non driver overnight.

My dd turned 17 in January and passed her test at the end of March. She couldn't wait to learn and was very motivated to get on with it. We paid for 15 lessons and I took her out a lot to practice. I agree with those that say it is a life skill.

I also learned at 17. It would have been very difficult to train in the profession that I did without being able to drive.

No, usual, I did put in the OP that my friend could. I hope we can in 2 year's time or that DS1 has a Saturday job at the very least to chip in a bit.
He could ask for money for his 17th birthday or a block of lessons or something.

Blimey. Just looked at the driving test fee. Between £62 and £75 depending on when you take it.

I guess there's a fee for the theory test too?