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.

camelfinger I agree with this!!! Also, if you say you're going by bus and somebody offers you a lift and then makes you late!

I choose not to drive after an accident. There was a time I might have tried to drive again but that time has passed and I don't need to drive as I live in a city and can afford taxis if necessary

I don't hang out fro lifts but I do think some people can't imagine not driving so feel a bit sorry for me. A ew times when I've accepted a lift it's taken way longer than the train/bus journey would have so I tend to trun them down

Firstly, I don't want to, there are far too many cars on the roads polluting the air we breathe. Secondly, I live in a city with a good transport system so don't need to. Thirdly, I think it's so expensive to drive nowadays I personally couldn't justify the cost of running a car when I have a perfectly good local transport system.

I think all this lift business is because car people can't imagine how they would manage without a car themselves.
I don't need or want lifts.

I never offer anyone a lift. 4 times this month I’ve been asked by non drivers for lifts.

So interesting to see the topics which touch a nerve!

It's very much noted that the main frothers on here aren't the non-drivers defending their decision... but the drivers who seem to interpret every non-driver as a personal insult (especially if they won't accept that lift that they've offered them ten times in a row or begin lessons even when badgered...)

(I'm a driver, before anyone asks-!)

Great thread.

I drive a lot for work and given some of the drivers I see everyday I really wish some of them fell into the 'don't drive' category. My SIL doesn't feel confident enough to drive so never has and I think that's the most responsible thing she can do. So hopefully a lot of other people who don't drive think the same way. Maybe one day the people that are on the road who try and kill me and other normal drivers will wake up and realise they should also be in the 'don't drive' club too.

Actually I should be perfectly honest... I'm a driver, but find it's often easier and quicker to cycle most places. So maybe I'm just not a CarWorshipper, clearly a different thing from skimming these responses.

I hate driving. It took me seven years of stop-start lessons and three tests before I finally passed (in an automatic car). I'm too nervous and it got to the point where I'd cry before I had to drive anywhere - even just the supermarket.

I don't have a car, nor do I need one. The train links are excellent here and I walk a lot. I've never asked anyone for a lift anywhere.

DH has never even sat in the driver's seat of a car, let alone driven. He doesn't care either.

I never ask for lifts. The last time someone gave me a lift was over a year ago and I repaid her by buying her lunch which cost me £20, the petrol would have cost her less than £2. I usually decline all lift offers, because it makes me feel indebted and I've nearly always got my bike there or a bus/taxi sorted.

I think car drivers on here are quite miserly,. Just never offer lifts and say 'no' if anyone asks you. It's obviously a big deal to you. Most non-drivers know how to get about without you.

I've always lived in London. There's never been a need to. I walk, cycle or use public transport, with the occasional cab chucked in for good measure. It would probably be a different story if I moved out of London.

1. I don't want to
2. I took a years worth of lessons and I can drive and I was fairly good at it but never confident
3. I just don't want to
4. Why does it annoy other people when my decision does not affect their lives?

I don't understand either, but personally couldn't function without a car.

It does annoy me when non driving friends expect me to drop them back off home too after a night out or a coffee/lunch date etc.

I think if you live in London for eg you have no need for a car but pretty much anywhere else, how do you get to activities for your kids etc?!

I don't ask for lifts, and I rarely get offered them as I live in central London and most of my friends who can and do drive prefer to walk or use public transport anyway.

As usual on these threads, I despair at the lack of imagination that leaves some people unable to comprehend that others may have a different lifestyle to them.

Star on the bus! Or train...or bike or by foot. Whichever is most convenient. It's not hard.

What would you do if for some reason you could not drive? You'd HAVE to function....you couldn't not function.

Such an interesting thread. Funny I drive but hate accepting lifts. As a group of ladies we go to the pub around once a month. Most of us live a 10 min radius and you can guarantee most of them drive!!!! Why??? More annoying they insist on driving me so that makes me look rude!!

I love to walk and I hate a whole pub evening with just soft drinks it’s boring. Why don’t people understand that just because you gsve s car you don’t always hsve to drive. It’s beautiful weather with light nights. Walk.

star

If your kids walk everywhere with you or cycle or catch the bus or train you don’t need to drive them to activities for them to keep fit.

They are fit

But it does impact on me ALL the time. If I go to pub and sent drinking everyone is over asking if I’m driving. I drive so I can go home early, not so I can Taxi everyone home and get to bed at 3am. At work at the least drop of rain I get asked my plans for the evening in case I can give someone a lift. And weddings!!! It’s just assumed I can drive 30 or 40 minutes out of my way to collect the non driver. (“ I’d look ridiculous on the bus in my hat!!). I don’t mind doing the odd favour, but since all the non drivers here seem to think I’m some kind of ridiculous fool for driving, it’s making me rethink that.

I think that being able to negotiate public transport, local or otherwise, is a vital life skill. If I'm going somewhere, finding out about the local systems - times, routes, payment methods - is very high on my list. I'm also a bloody good walker.

How on earth do all these drivers cope if something's up with their car or they become unable to drive?

I have Meniere's disease, and while having that in itself isn't an exclusion, my symptoms are.

BUT this is a fairly recent diagnosis, before that I was just shit at driving. Unbelievably shit. You wouldn't want me on the road, trust me.

You need to learn to say no then slanetylor if I ever do drive to the pub it’s because I want to leave early and say so if anyone asks for a lift.

You need to stop being a martyr. Stop giving lifts to co workers say you have plans etc.

I’m not being a martyr but it does take a special meanness to let someone walk in the rain if you’re going that way. I’m merely stating that I thought I was doing a favour, not being quietly sneered at for being an idiot.

Why would you want the non drivers to drive? Could you imagine the roads? You would be complaining about that if they all suddenly started. I really don't get the anger at people who don't drive

Always grin when you see the mums on the school run struggling to park massive 4+4 and kids getting out to walk 4 steps into school and mum is in gym kit and kids do all the after school activities going.

Just bloody walk to school. You would all be fitter and healthier and stop polluting the rest of us. Gods truth some people had pushchairs for normal healthy 4 year olds!!!! To walk about a mile. Crazy behaviour

But I thought you were complaining??? If you are offering then fine but don’t offer and then complain.

Personally I love walking in the rain.