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.

Incidentally, I once managed to arrange an Ocado delivery to a campsite (sadly Sainsbury's refused).

(There were a lot of people involved and it was cheaper and probably environmentally better than lots of people bringing extra cars with bits of shopping)

I totally agree, Chipped.

Trains are a FORTUNE, too

We live in a rural area and save up so both can learn to drive as soon as.

As the partner of a non-driver I think not being able to drive is hugely limiting.

As the partner of a non-driver I think not being able to drive is hugely limiting.

I don't like the sound of minimalist camping-I am sure I would need loads more stuff. Sleeping bags and camping stoves etc? Never been camping.

We don't travel light as a family TBH. Never have done-car has a big boot, we can take half the house if need be.
I like to take everything on holiday. Even the PS4 comes with us, and anything else the boys want to throw in. Body boards, the dinghy, fishing gear etc. DH always takes his own pillow if we are in the UK.

We could go away on the train with a teeny case each but that's not how we holiday.

never thought of that, parallax.

I think it is likely that supermarkets will start closing down in near decades, and most shopping will be home delivered, very much fewer food miles involved, so will keep food prices lower when petrol prices really go through the roof.

we have lived for several generations in a culture which has unlimited access to transport by car, but this will not be the case in the future.

It depends on the circumstances. Personally I would hate not to be able to drive as it gives me so much freedom to get around and do things. If people are happy to sacrifice that, or live in the centre of London fair enough.
But people who live in places with crap public transport and are constantly expecting friends to collect them or to go out of their way to drop them home or a colleague to always be available to bring them in and out of work can be a total PITA.

If I had never learned I wouldn't know any different. I would love to know where I would have ended up though.

Not with this DH that's for sure.

I agree that it does put people at a disadvantage. I had to turn someone down for a job I was recruiting for because he would not have been able to get there. I think he thought that he would get himself a car when he had been in the job for a month or so but had no idea how he was going to get there for that month or so.

Not sure that home delivery is going to replace supermarkets. DH works for the home delivery section of a major supermarket and they have seen the levels of demand decline. I think there is a constant demand but that is only a proportion of the customers. It seems to have settled down at a lower level than it was at a couple of years ago.

Our stove is smaller than a shoe, it is solid fuel, we often light it, then build a fire over it, if we are in an area which allows open fires. Sleeping bags pack down very small. It was certainly a relief when I stopped needing to carry spares in case of accidents! Inflatable mats, 3/4 length, clothes, torches, travel board games, ground sheet, lightweight cutlery and crockery, aluminium pan, inflatable cushions for sitting on rather than bed. that's about all we need! We can move round from campsite to campsite easily, and are thinking about exploring Ireland this summer, at least three or four different sites, in several different counties.

I don't know that never driving is what I have chosen, it was chosen for me by dyspraxia. But it has rarely been an impediment. Like I said, being unable to transport a canoe is literally the only thing that springs to mind, in the whole of our family life.

I think we should do 'teen swap' for a holiday AEl, see what they think.
I can't imagine my two trying to travel light.

I passed my test when I was 17, and when I bought my first car at 26, the insurance was much more reasonable than if I had passed it just that year. I'd used family members cars up to that point, and had even had refresher lessons at one point when I'd had a biggish gap.

It was much easier to learn at 17, as you are a sponge at that age. My sister did it in her early 30s, and was a emotional mess most of the time, and still is not very confident now..

As a non driver for so many years It was awful and my life would be very very different If I could drive.

I will be throwing money at DC lessons until they pass.

I am 43 and have never been able to drive, due to visual impairment. Although I have planned my life around being close to amenities/public transport, I do find it very restrictive and would dearly love to be able to drive, especially now with young DC. I'll be first in line to buy a Google driverless car when they come out!

I will definitely be paying for driving lessons for my DC when they're old enough.

Although I have already planned (and DH agrees) that we will pay for them to do advanced driving training (which apparently considerably reduces accident rates) before they're allowed to drive out and about. And there'll be restrictions at first (not driving a carload of drunk friends late at night etc.)

This is interesting. I can't drive for medical reasons and there have been times when it has meant I could not take a job that was otherwise perfect.

On the other hand, most of my driving friends view anything more than a fifteen minute walk as "not possible - way too far!" - which in my opinion is also a pretty big (albeit attitudinal) disadvantage.

Gnomedeplume, I don't really mean imminently, but maybe a few decades down the line, 30 or 40 years from now.

I think it is a life skill, much like swimming and riding a bike. Once you've learned it, you can choose not to utilize it, but you will always be able to change your mind if you so wish, if your circumstances change etc. If you havent learnt, you have no choice.

In fact OH often says that meeting me was the best thing that ever happened to him and I'm sure a large part of that's down to the fact I drive

I also think that if there is a culture of not driving in a family then youngsters in that family are unlikely to learn either.

Actually I'd advise learning at 21. That way you're not the taxi to drunk (or just) mates during college or university

This was way up steam and I haven't read the whole thread

Don't confuse having a license with having license and a car. I had my licence at 17 but didn't get my first car until 24 .

Parallex80 and co thanks for the tips on delivery, we are going to a campsite in Ayr in July and I was planning to go to the supermarket there and get a taxi back as its 4 miles, but I will investigate delivery options!

Surely learning to drive will be obsolete soon anyway, as someone has already mentioned Google cars can drive themselves, are safer than driven cars, and are being trialled in California this year. So even if not having a license is a disadvantage at the moment, within ten years it will make no difference.

I still have to stress there are advantages to a car free life. I was recently diagnosed with a neurological condition which means I cannot drive. If we were car dependent it would have had a massive impact, as we would have had to move, move schools, and somehow cope in an untenable situation until we had changed our whole lives to accomodate the loss of a vehicle we had become reliant on.

Driving is a privilege, not a right, it can be taken away if you don't drive safely or if you become ill and can't drive safely. That is why building your life round the assumption that you will always be able to drive is taking a risk until automated cars are commercially available. (Ten years or less I am told).

Sparklingbrook I will swap you for 3 under 2 if you like

As a 28 year old with 5 kids under 7,who lives in a rural location, AND home educates them, i say yanbu!

I wish i had learnt at 17,but my parents would never of offered to pay for it and i never earned enough money to do it myself,i tried last year and failed,this year i got a new instructor and swapped to automatic and hopefully be passed within the next 2 or 3 months.

I think when ours are older i would pay for lessons and a car when they are old enough.I think its important.

I absolutely, 100% agree that not being able to drive is a huge disadvantage. I can't drive, and it is too prohibitively expensive to learn. I'd make it first priority, but there is literally nothing more we can sacrifice to make it possible.

I have a two hour round trip on the bus top collect dc from school - it would take 15 mins each way in a car.

So many jobs require a driving licence.

There are birthday parties I can't take my children to on a Sunday because there are no buses and it's too far to walk.

I spend a huge amount of time in the Winter standing at bus stops in the pouring rain, with freezing cold children, which is unfair on them, and hanging around waiting for buses.

It restricts where we can live.

It inconveniences dh as the only driver in the family.

Bus farexs are hideously expensive where we live, restricting how often I can go out with the children, and what activities I can take them to.

I could go on. If I'd learnt to drive when I was much younger (I did try but wasn't very good, and didn't have anyone willing to practice with me between lessons), my life would be completely different. It gets less convenient, and less easy to find the money the older you get, as you have other commitments and expenses.