To be constantly surprised that people 'don't drive'?

[MissEloiseBridgerton]

Every day on here, and on my own social media, I am shocked that soooo many people don't drive. My local FB group is constantly people asking for favours because they don't drive, they want a dump run, or someone to deliver second hand stuff to them. On here, the barriers to work, to childcare, to anything is so often that they don't drive!

For me growing up, learning to drive was just what you did. I don't have any friends who didn't learn to drive at 17. Most had cheap runarounds or borrowed parents car.

I totally understand it's expensive and costly to run a car but I don't think I realised how many people never learned!

I can drive but have suffered terrible health issues all my life making it hard to do do and by my own estimation I was not well enough to drive so I gave up. As frustrating as it can be I'm glad to not drive both for health and ethical reasons.

The holier than thou attitude to non drivers is irritating. Not everyone can or wants to for many reasons and thank goodness this is the case because if literally everyone drove the roads would be in a far worse state than they already are.

Oh, I've plenty more arguments left in me, Rose. Try me.

Oh, the irony…

Why the link?

People seeing public transport as below them is why we're going to hell in a handcart. And of course the fact there is very little of it outside big towns. The question of whether driving is necessary I feel is very different in rural or urban locations.

I have no issue with you not driving but don’t ask me for a lift anywhere because you lack a life skill. This is what pisses drivers off not the fact that you can’t drive.

Funny that you didn’t manage to answer my question from earlier then…

You're not wrong! I was actively discouraged because my poor, anxious mum was afraid of me being in an accident or something and then when I was older and earning my own money rent and bills made paying for lessons too difficult. I'm 36 in two months and determined that this is the year I pass my test.
Not driving has never been a huge issue, but I'm looking forward to the freedom and I will definitely be trying to pay for lessons when my DD turns 17. I would like her to have the skill from an early age.

It’s £45 a hour. 2 hour minimum lessons and you can’t find a test for shit. £90 a week to mostly sit in traffic.

I assumed it was a bot, lol. Such a strange post.

But why didn't you just teach them yourself? No need for lessons then,

I drive but not very much and I get anxious about it. Like many others here, I lived for a long time in a global city with excellent public transport and I didn’t need to drive. However I always felt a bit restricted and I now I really wish I had driven when younger as I think I have missed out on some opportunities.
I’m looking forward to autonomous self driving cars becoming a reality so that in future no one suffers because they didn’t or couldn’t learn to drive when they were young.

What surprises me is a few posters who are not making sweeping assumptions at all have apparently met every single non driver to know they are a CF who has an army of people they command running round making life easy for them. It's strange because my non driving best friend who occasionally has to be begged to accept a lift home never mentioned it.

You should be glad that some people don't drive!

If everyone over 18 drove no-one would be driving anywhere. It'd be quicker to walk.

I only learnt two years ago.

It is not only 'expensive', it is horrifically expensive. Even more now than two years ago. We're in a much better position now than we were then, I don't know how I afforded it. It was painful.

I'm always surprised to find out how many people don't realise how fucking broke people are, so this is yet another learning moment for both of us OP!

I "don't drive" by choice, don't need to, don't want to worry about the stuff involved with owning a car.

I don’t think it’s below me at all, been using it for a few months and (very controversially for some) I think ScotRail generally do a great job and I think for reasonable money - much cheaper than getting a taxi or running a car.

I much prefer to drive though. It’s just nicer.

I'm in the US and driving is so essential here that drivers ed is taught in high school. That and then getting the driving hours in with parents is how most people get their licenses. The vast majority of cars now are automatic rather than manual too.

There are driving schools and they offer driving by the hour or blocs of hours where students drive rural or suburban, then city, then freeway drives.

Barring disabilities or being from New York which has excellent public transport, most people drive. It's just a necessity of life.

I grew up in the north. As soon as you turned 17 it was standard that you received a course of driving lessons and the goal was to pass asap so you could drive to school/college.

Driving equalled freedom but then it was so easy to get Saturday and evening jobs to pay for it all.

We had no train station; the buses were infrequent, unreliable and the last buses were often early evening.

As an adult I know few people that don’t drive and they are all of the variety that are always trying to cadge lifts etc…

There is someone that comes into work for whom it takes 2hrs to get here via public transport during rush hour so she spends £40 on taxis each day. Claims she can’t afford to take driving lessons.

I can think of lots of reasons: can't afford it, disability or medical problems, keep failing tests, anxiety, lived in a place where you didn't have to drive but now you do, nobody to drive with privately, traffic more aggressive and complicated nowadays than many years ago

Not everyone has the finances to. If I wasn’t disabled and got pip from 16, I wouldn’t have been able to afford to drive. Just the month before going to university at 19 I passed my test - if I didn’t pass then, I wouldn’t have been able to afford it. I have lived on my own since 19, paid my own bills and never had disposable income enough to pay for lessons. The people I know who don’t drive haven’t had the luxury of having disposable income either.

Im an exception as stated I’m disabled and got pip, but everyone else who afforded lessons that was my age had their mummy and daddy pay for them. They had their parents pay for their lessons, then pay for their first car and the maintenance of the car. Not everyone has that luxury - but I know for a fact that it’s these people are the ones who look down on people who don’t drive. You’re massively unreasonable in your post saying 17 year olds didn’t bother to learn, when they likely was still in education and their parents couldn’t afford to pay for lessons. Not everyone has the luxury- and it’s just that, a luxury. People who were privileged that look down on people thinking they’re ’lazy’ Because they didn’t have the same handouts really isn’t fair.

though, the one thing that bothers me with non drivers are that they expect you to waste your time and money driving them everywhere. Especially drivers who are dating non drivers, it’s exhausting and people take the p**s out of you.

In the case of dump runs, it doesn't help that most tips won't let pedestrians and cyclists drop waste off and expect you to pay for specialist pick up!

Exactly this. I drive (locally and carefully) but if something flares up, I might be asking for help.

Apart from the expense, lots of people don't need to drive if they live in a city with good public transport, or can afford to use taxis etc. If you're in a rural area though you're pretty stuffed without having a car.

Who is complaining about the fact there lots of people don't drive? It's a long thread and I can't be bothered to wade through it post by post, but from what I can see plenty of people have expressed 'surprise' that so many others don't drive, and plenty of people have expressed annoyance that some non-drivers frequently rely on others or ask for favours from those who do.

I can't imagine there are many people on here (or in general) who 'complain' about non-drivers per se. Why would they? So long as they are quietly getting on with using their legs and public transport and not inconveniencing anyone else, why on earth would anyone have an issue with them? I think non-drivers are just being a bit over-sensitive to criticism that doesn't necessarily apply to them.

It's like when people complain about dog owners not clearing up dog mess. You get 250 angry dog owners all lining up to say 'How dare you! I ALWAYS clear up my dog's mess!' Well then they didn't mean you, did they?

I've always lived somewhere where I'd really struggle without a car, but if I moved to central London or any other large city with great, affordable transport links, horrendous traffic, no off street parking etc, then I probably wouldn't bother with a car either. It wouldn't work out any more expensive to use Uber most of the time and I could hire a car on the odd day I needed to go much further afield.