To wonder why people 'don't drive'

[ZX81user]

..medical conditions aside.It is such a useful life skill.
I think it is part of a parent's responsibility to get their teen througj their test.

My commute to work every day is a 10 minute cycle route along a river and through a park, it's lovely. The cycle network takes me right into the city.

My total transportation costs average £4 a week - that's for bike repairs, new bikes every few years, plus trains when we go away and the odd taxi. I'm just wondering what your commute is like OP?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_and_ride

Park and ride (or incentive parking) facilities are parking lots with public transport connections that allow commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system (rapid transit, light rail, or commuter rail), or carpool for the remainder of the journey. The vehicle is left in the car park during the day and retrieved when the owner returns. Park and rides are generally located in the suburbs of metropolitan areas or on the outer edges of large cities. A park and ride that only offers parking for meeting a carpool and not connections to public transport may be called a park and pool.[1]

Park and ride is abbreviated as "P+R" on road signs in the UK, and is often styled as "Park & Ride" in marketing.

^^ I just ride + ride

Hmmm. I have been driving for many years and sadly the car is becoming an expensive necessity and am seriously thinking about getting rid of it. We're a very fit family; I hill hike about 1300 miles a year just for fun, not including other walking activities (work, etc.).

Costs around £3K per annum to run versus £550 per year on bus tickets...the saving of £2.5k would make a lot of difference!!

Living in a rural area, I am 3 miles from the bus stop. 40 mins walk or 20 min cycle ride. My second job is a walk-to in 5 mins and in my third job I have use of the company vehicle.

This thread has inspired me....

@EleanorHooverbelt

I grew up in and have lived almost my whole life in London. I have never needed to. Also, it's expensive and bad for the environment.

Oh I forgot to add that it seems that drivers are getting more dangerous? In one day during a 25min commute to work I saw two near head ons involving a juggernaut and a weaving Beamer and a massive wood lorry over taking car after car!

I haven't driven for the past year. I will get round to getting another car, but no big rush.

That is because, I live in London. 24 hour bus, rail, tube. DLR & London Overground. River Bus. Minicab app on my phone with plenty of cabs available. I'm also in a Car Club.

I can get anywhere I want to day and night.

If I lived outside London I absolutely would drive. So I don't get why don't "people" drive. "People" may not live where driving is a real necessity.

I know a lot of visually impaired people with extremely high level jobs (College lecturers, marketing strategists, head of the Charities Commission, senior accountants). Their inability to drive does not seem to have impaired their ability to get these jobs.

Oh and I forgot to add Prime Minister to the list of jobs you can do if you can’t see well enough to drive - though Gordon is actually not a personal acquaintance.

And we are both benefitting from my hipster bollocks

Ooh, I'd love to see some hipster bollocks! Only seen garden-variety ones, I'm afraid

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I grew up rurally, and couldn't wait to learn to drive at 17. My darling nan bought my first car and the independence it gave me was just amazing. As I still live in the same village, our DDs were the same and all learned to drive at 17. I can't imagine not being able to drive, it makes working and life in general so much easier, and DH and I happily share long journeys for holidays.

I'm also very aware that there are a lot of people on the road who really shouldn't be....... and I think there should be regular re-testing and spot checks on drivers. If people are nervous and can't tell left from right, I'm quite happy they aren't on the roads. It's not compulsory.

MistressDee, there are places outside London that are not remote country villages either. Just saying. I don't live in London. But I do live within 10 minutes of a railway station with an hourly service to the city centre, 5 minutes from a bus stop with a service every 15 minutes, and it wouldn't take me much more than an hour to walk the entire length of the city.

I don't drive because I get migraines and excessive daytime sleepiness due to GAD I've had a few lessons and legally I would be allowed to drive but I feel that I am a risk on the road.

@noeffingidea I am the same about lifts. I like to walk.

And you can't have applied for many decent jobs, if you have NEVER applied for one that requires driving as a skill

Yeah those 6 figure jobs in the city all demand a driving licence

I don't apply for jobs - I get headhunted for them Never been asked whether or not I have a licence

this has made me laugh out loud.

DH grew up in z2 London, and his family was on occasion so poor that there was no food on the table. So... his family weren't going to pay for him to learn a skill which was unnecessary where he lived.

I only took my test when I left London and discovered how appalling the public transport provision can be in other cities of the U.K.

We live in London now. DH gets public transport around or I drive him if I'm feeling nice.

Haven’t RTFT because the first three pages contained nothing that hasn’t already been said on this topic every time it comes up.

Apart from people who aren’t assertive enough to refuse lifts to people they don’t want to give lifts to, why does it even matter to you OP? No-one’s stopping you from driving when you want to.

It’s not compulsory so people can choose whether or not to drive. Why do you mind about it so much?

I only got my licence at 38 as before that I never needed it. I've always lived in cities (big and small) where either everything is in easy walking distance, like in my home city, or public transport is far preferable to driving, like in London. I only decided to learn to drive so I could easily take DS on remote-ish camping holidays.

Though of course what I always feared would happen did and I quickly put on about 12kg because I've gone from someone who'd walk tens of thousands of steps each day at a quick pace to someone who hops in the car far too often. Driving brings many advantages but so does having no choice but to walk and cycle.

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My DP has a genuine phobia of driving. I've got a car and love driving, he was learning very reluctantly due to parental pressure but it terrified him and he's refused to get back behind the wheel since. He doesn't need to drive, he walks to work and he doesn't ask for lifts anywhere. Even if he passed his test I know he wouldn't want insuring on my car and he would never drive it anyway. I don't see why it would bother anyone else, when it doesn't bother me.

I couldn't do my job without driving and the whole time I've been in criminal justice but driving would've made it near impossible. When they cut our essential car user allowance ten years ago, I pointed out to my line manager I was able to do three initial victim visits and risk assessments in a day with a car, to get to my first visit the following day would've been an eight and a half hour round trip involving trains, busses and taxis at their expense all of which amounted to a lot more than they paid me to use my car (plus the two hour appointment itself), and I was only doing a third of the work... Try getting to some of the UKs prisons by 7:30am by public transport, it isn't possible. Ok I could've worked in a different industry but you'll find a lot of public sector workers who operate long or unsocial hours just cannot rely on public transport. There's no telling the sargeant or the ward sister, sorry can't stay and deal with this incident the last bus is in ten minutes. We always hire a car on holiday unless it's a city break, we've seen some amazing things and driven to hardly visited areas of countries we've visited, I love the excitement and exploration of that. We've been lost in mountains and driven across deserts and met some incredible people. Driving for me is absolute freedom. I could live a life without driving but i wouldn't be able to do the things I have done and have gained so much from, personally and professionally.

I'm somewhat baffled

OP asked people who don't drive why they don't drive

Posters who don't drive explain why they don't need to and get on fine without driving

Posters who are piling in explaining why they couldn't survive without driving, and it simply wouldn't work for them to not have a car - what's the issue? People who get by fine without one clearly don't live in places where they need a car, or do jobs which require them to drive

You live somewhere rural and couldn't do without a car, or do a job that requires you to drive - great! You have a car and it's all dandy

Non drivers aren't suggesting you should be giving up your cars. It clearly works for your life.

Most people need a car. Not everyone does. This thread isn't asking drivers why they drive. That's the norm. It's asking non drivers why they don't.

Baffled why so many drivers seem to be so defensive!

Why do you need to get your teen through their test? When I was 17 I was busy taking exams then went to uni where you couldn’t have a car and my parents spare money put me through uni. I funded my lessons amd test after. I agree its useful but its certainly not a parents responsibilty!

I genuinely fear driving alone. I passed my test and couldn’t do much after.

I live in a capital city where to be fair, I’d get places same time, if not quicker, than in a car