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.

We used to go camping in the Forest. Carried equipment on our backs. Chose holiday cottages so they were accessible. Carried less stuff around with us. Which was actually quite nice.

Of course not having a car limits what holidays you can do. So does not having a private yacht. But there are still plenty of holidays you can have.

Come to think of it, not being used to walking also limits what holidays you can do. Which again, of course, is only a problem if you want to do those holidays.

Not having a PhD also limits the kind of job you can do. But that doesn't mean everybody feels limited by it, just because I would.

So what we spend on a car living rurally is more or less cancelled out by living in a town or city where the cost of living is generally higher?

When I was 18 (23 years ago) the driving lessons were £20 per hour or 6 for £100. My parents bought me 6 for Xmas and 6 for my birthday and thought that 12 hours in the car would be enough to pass (dad refused to take me out in the car). They were wrong! It took me 18 years (off and on) to learn

I’ve never (even with partners who can drive) thought about hiring a van to move. Everyone I know uses a moving company. That would never occur to me. I’d never live somewhere remote as I like being able to walk to stuff and go out for boozy evenings with dh.

So what we spend on a car living rurally is more or less cancelled out by living in a town or city where the cost of living is generally higher?

I think there’s too many factors to make an accurate judgement of that.

"How do you go on weekends away to holiday cottages" I don't. Not my cup of tea, when I go on holiday it's to a hotel where I don't have to be doing any bloody cooking or cleaning, I do enough of that at home!

If I needed something moving I'd pay for someone to take it for me, there's always someone on my local Facebook page with a van who will do it for cash.

I just passed at 29. I was in care as a teen and had no one to 'help me through'.

It's changed our lives in lots of ways for the better, but I wouldn't judge others and it really depends where you live. Cars are really shit ecologically, so if people can manage without them good on them.

Oops pressed “post” rather than “review” but I think that I spend less on a car than living in a city would cost me.

I live in a rural idyll

MsAdorabelle not always. I live in a commuter town in the east Midlands between 2 cities and it's still one of the most affordable places to live in the country. Until HS2 ruins that anyway.

@Metoodear You seem strangely and disproportionately angry about this - is there a CF Liftzilla in your life who's always demanding you ferry her here and there?

Not everyone needs to nor can afford to drive.
Especially if you live in London where you can't Park anyway.
I don't see the point in learning how to drive if I can't afford the upkeep of a car? Pointless skill as far as I'm concerned.

I absolutely loathe cars. Drivers of cars can be irrationally territorial about the road. I’ve had people speed up before to try and run me over because I’m crossing in front of them. The air quality where I used to live in London was disgusting, you could taste the fumes.

I can drive. I don’t drive.

When I lived in London I had a car that went mouldy inside, as it lay dormat on the driveway (with a unknown leaky sunroof) for so long!

My eyesight is borderline, I can read the numberplate at the required distance just about on a good day when the conditions are exactly right, but not some days, so I could probably scrape through my driving test, but if I ever caused an accident etc then I would not get over the guilt, because I know I am borderline. So its not exactly for medidal reasons but it sort of is.

What never fails to astound me is how many drivers think its okay to comment negatively on my lack of ability to drive (and no not people who have given me a lift), and who suggest I memorise numberplates before a driving test to cheat at the test because to them it is more important that I learn to drive than that I am legal to drive.

And yes my spouse does the shopping because he drives, but then if he didnt want to do it I would just get it delivered,I dont 'make' him do it. He had to do shopping before we got together, so why should he stop just because he has a wife...

I have public transport, shops and schools all within walking distance, because I chose this because I cant drive. In the same way a driver might choose a house with off road parking, or a garage. This shouldnt be hard to understand

So when people just say well I like in London were not talking about living in blinking Chelsea here

No. But I grew up in zone 4, and went to school in zone 2, and now live in zone 5 - still don't need a car. I have a 24hr bus which stops outside my house. My local station has trains running through it 24hr.

As it happens I do have a car because I'm lazy, it's more convenient, I do have a licence and we can afford it. But DH doesn't and copes just fine.

Because I'm skint. I walk 40 miles or so a week instead. Probably better for me.

Bet all the drivers on the thread complain vociferously about traffic jams and bad drivers.

I don't drive due to a combination of 3 factors: dyspraxia, no peripheral vision in my left eye and an extremely anxious disposition. Everyone is better off without me on the road.

And have never asked for lifts.

Cos I care about the environment?!

I know HOW to drive. Just refuse to have a car. I use a bike and public transport.

So howdo you ever go away for a weekend to a holiday cottage for example? Or a holiday park (if that's what you are into) where you need transport to get about.

We get there via train. Just come back from a week in Devon, accessible via train. HTH.

How do you move stuff about if you can't hire a van?

We always pay movers. Can't be arsed doing it ourselves anyway.

I have seen the odd Facebook post for vans but they are mostly by drivers looking for a free van (possible a beer in payment but hopefully once driving is done) rather than paying hire costs.

I passed my test but I choose not to drive. Don't want to, don't need to. Walking & public transport gets me everywhere, I travel a lot for work. Being able to use public transport to get just about anywhere is such a useful life skill.

I don't want to, don't need to and have absolutely no interest in driving at all?
My mum actually bought me a car when I turned 17 (no idea why as I'd never expressed a desire to learn to drive, never applied for a provisional driving license) after 2 weeks of it sitting on the drive, she sold it to my auntie.

I don't understand why driver care that I don't drive, it doesn't impact on anyone else's life at all!

My in laws constantly bang on about me not driving like it affects them! If I am making arrangements to go somewhere I take public transport or a taxi. I never ask for lifts or expect them from anyone (including DH)

SIL once asked me what I would if I was home alone with my child (hypothetical as we have no children) and they had an accident that meant they urgently needed to get to hospital... I calmly replied that I would ring an ambulance as I would probably be in no fit state to drive!

We don't live particularly rurally (large village 10 mins from large city centre!) so it's not like I'll be stranded!

I really like that if a journey takes me an hour and half on public transport, that's time to read, snooze, listen to music etc.If i drove i'd be stressed and pissed off.

My DH (who does happily like driving) has a 3 hour commute each day on trains and in that time, over 5 years has written a book, many papers for periodicals and most of his Phd. He'd hate/refuse to drive to work as it would take away this time.

I drive and my partner has passed his test but he can’t afford a car and I’ve got a under a year left on my finance car. So I do all the driving when we are together and he gets a bus to work, which even if he had a car it would be cheaper to get a bus because what he pays for a return is what he’d pay in car parking for a 4/5hr shift, we also have a toddler so I don’t have time at 7am every day to drop him off or pick him up in an evening when I go to work. Just not worth it for him to have a car at the moment and unfortunately that leaves me doing all the running around.

I do my best thinking on public transport too.