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.

I've just never thought of doing it, to be honest. I've always lived near decent public travel, and are totally used to arranging my comings and goings around train and bus timetables, so I never really feel the need for a car?

DH also has no licence (and not sure he'd be allowed one because of medical reasons), so we have no car. We just walk, take the train, get a taxi in the rare occasion we need to, and order things delivered.

Also, a car is expensive to keep, and I'm not sure we'd end up using one enough to justify the cost?

I always say I don’t drive rather than I can’t drive. Truth is, I can, but lost my licence due to degenerative condition. So pp who said that people saying don’t rather than can’t showed it was a choice. It doesn’t.

Couldn’t live without driving personally, but probably because I have built my life around being able to drive. I know plenty of people who don’t and they do just fine

Children born today won’t ever need to learn to drive...the driverless cars will negate the need 👍👍👍

We live in the sticks. 10 mile to nearest town. DH has long commute and there's no public transport so driving for us, and a car each, a must.

Kids will be getting their provisional license and lessons as soon as they're of age and a second hand run around when they get their test.

It's the done thing here.

I love visiting cities - London being my favourite place on earth - and am quite the excited hick on public transport. It's amazing! Seriously. The underground is fantastic.

If I lived in the city I wouldn't bother with a car at all. Why pay road tax, Mot, service, fuel costs, parking, etc, when there's no real need.

I do drive, and I long for the days when I didn't have the expense of running a car. I'm not great at it and I know from threads on here that some other bugger is judging me for sticking to the speed limit or not being able to parallel park in under 0.5 seconds. You can't win, honestly - there's always someone lining up to have a go.

Can you imagine the state of the planet if there were 7 billion car on the road.

how often do you request lifts as favours from others?

Never. I don't have anyone within driving distance to request drives from. Two good friends who happen to live near also don't drive. No family near. We take a taxi if we absolutely need to get somewhere by car.

Come to think of it, the only time not driving is an issue is when we need to get to the hospital in the middle of the night. It's a £40 round trip in a taxi, so a car would be handy at those times. Luckily not a very common occurance.

I only learnt 10 years ago (I am 40- was too busy getting pissed prior to that) and it cost £2.5k. That’s a pretty significant sum isn’t itOP? I can totally see why many people can’t affkrd it

I can drive, but don't. I live in London, work in the City, use public transport or bike for everything. DD and I walk to school, we have shopping delivered. If we travel to visit family we go by train, when we go on holiday we use public transport. Why would I make my life more difficult by running a car?

Drivers are significantly indebted to those of who don't drive as the roads simply couldn't sustain every fucker driving. You'd be in gridlock all day long.

Maybe remember that the next time you give a colleague the odd lift.

Love in central London (and always have done). Cost of learning and then running a car has always made it unappealing to me. DP drives so when we need to we hire a car.

My parents didn’t pay for lessons at 17 (my sister got lessons but because my brother wasn’t interested they didn’t bother with me either). I pissed away most of my income in my 20s but I finally knuckled down and passed aged 29. It significantly changed my life, opened up job opportunities and life would be much harder now I have children. We don’t live in a city so public transport is patchy at best and I’m always nervous to pram on the bus after the hundreds of threads on here about it.

• live in central London.

Also I think when you dont drive you have no concept of how easy your life could be, so you just get on with it. I lived in central London before and after passing- yes, even there, life was much easier with a car. But if you don’t know, you don’t know!

I didn’t need to drive when young but learned anyway. Now in my 50s I’m glad I did. It meant I was able to go to the late night pharmacy for the antibiotics prescribed by the out of hours doctor for my OH who had a post surgery infection and needed to start them ASAP. And it made things a lot easier taking my late mother for hospital appointments when she could no longer walk very far without a wheelchair.

Some people simply don't want to which is their choice.

I do think there are some people who are just not meant to drive - my nan tried learning and was apparently absolutely hopeless - no co-ordination at all and no observation skills. She eventually have up as she just never improved no matter how many lessons she had.

My auntie has never learned because she was a passenger in a horrific accident as a very young woman - in the days before seatbelts were worn - a drink driver crashes into the car she was in (her husband was driving). She went through the windscreen leaving her almost fatally injured and blind in one eye. She could never contemplate learning.

I learnt at 17 and I am glad I did but I can see many reasons why people don't.

My children are preschoolers and I already have a driving lesson fund for them as I really wish that I had learned at 17.

People who DO drive all the time really annoy me. I love walking; it is good for you, much better for the environment and keeps more dangerous, polluting cars off the roads. I walk even when I’m going shopping and need to carry heavy bags. I CAN drive but haven’t needed to for years. Dh has a car for work but we rarely use it for anything else. We travel around a lot too. Living in London helps of course and that’s one reason why I would never move to the country as i would hate to have to drive somewhere.

I can drive but haven't in years because I live in central London where it's much more efficient to use public transport or walk / cycle. I sold my car because the only times I was using it was to run it around the block to stop it getting a flat battery!

DH is in his 40s and doesn't have a licence - he's never needed one as always lived in central Brighton or London

Because I live in a city where I can cycle/get the bus. Because I found learning difficult and have never enjoyed it at all. Because trying to control a ton of metal hurtling at vast speed is terrifying. Because when you travel by train you can read/work. Because travelling by car makes me feel sick. The people who surprise me are the ones who drive everywhere, even five minutes down the road, when walking/Cycling is better in every way.

I don’t have a car because I live 5 minutes from the tube. The amount I spend on taxis is far less than running a car just to use at weekends

I can understand not OWNING a car if you live somewhere like London, but not having a licence- not so much.
I mean how do you manage when you go on holiday? Don't you want to hire a car to get bthere/explore? What if you were offered a great job that wasn't accessible with public transport, what if your child needs to do their hobby somewhere not on a PT route? For example my DDs do gymnastics and the comps are always on remote industrial estates and you have to be there at 8.30 on a sunday morning.

Because I have poor speed and distance perception and can't tell left from right. Because I like walking. Because I live in a city with public transport available. Because I can afford a taxi when (rare) I can't get somewhere on said public transport. Because I'm a considerate passenger who offers petrol money/payment in drinks or other acceptable currency. Hope that's ok with you OP

I mean how do you manage when you go on holiday? Don't you want to hire a car to get bthere/explore? What if you were offered a great job that wasn't accessible with public transport, what if your child needs to do their hobby somewhere not on a PT route? For example my DDs do gymnastics and the comps are always on remote industrial estates and you have to be there at 8.30 on a sunday morning.

We go on city breaks for the most part

If DH needed a licence for work then he would learn, obviously

You can get a lot of ubers and cabs for less than the cost of running a car!

Loads of parents round our way take their kids to activities in an uber.