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!

You can also get temp insurance. I used veygo so dc could drive my car Christmas hols from uni.

Yeah, still a shock to me. It's a life skill, and the majority of employers won't be interested unless you can drive. The people that say 'oh, I don't need a car, I can get anywhere on public transport' soon change their tune when they need a lift somewhere.

I know a lot of people who can't get into the office when their car is in for an MOT or out of action. Learning how to use public transport is important too.

I've lived in zone 2 and zone 1 in London when I've had dc and we've been fine without a car. Most families we know don't use a car for the school run or getting to work. I drop them at school 5 mins walk away, walk to the office 20 mins away and get our groceries delivered. We've always chosen our houses based on easy travel connections and wouldn't live further out than zone 2.
We walk, tube or bus to extracurriculars and play dates. Relatives live either abroad or a tube ride away (5-7 mins walk from tube).

Very occasionally I'll look up a journey for a holiday or day trip on Google Maps and it'll tell me it "can't find a way there' on public transport - NT properties or holidays to Cornwall or similar counties. But we get around it using taxis (bit of a pain with younger dcs as they can't use portable car seats) or we just pick an easier trip.
Big purchases (eg furniture) would be easier with a car, but we just manage using delivery services. We don't have anyone to get a lift from so it's just taxis, or paying for deliveries.

You can't "learn" to use non existent public transport. It's obvious how many people on this thread live in London or a handful of other large cities where public transport is actually good. The vast majority of the population don't have that luxury.

I did learn at 17 and passed first time after about half a dozen postponed tests. I stopped driving by the time I was about 22.

I was a terrible driver and has diarrhoea every time I knew I was about to drive (due to the apprehension and stress).

Many years later, in my mid 50s, I was diagnosed as autistic. I think it is autistic issues that make it really hard for me. I might have been better off if I'd had access to an automatic.

Yeah I agree it would make life so much easier if I did drive but I honestly think it's safer for everyone if I don't.

No one on this thread is bothered that people who live in central London don't have driving licences. People who live in central London with fantastic public transport and taxi services don't need to bother their friends and family for lifts and effectively expect them to provide free transport. But believe it or not, about half the population of the UK live in areas where there is no or limited public transport and where getting a taxi can be difficult.

@dizzydizzydizzy it sounds like you made a difficult decision but the right one for you. Stand by for all the posts telling you that you are not really a capable, functioning person who should probably go and live in a cave though.

Threads like this, piss me right off. Unless you're unbelievably stupid, surely you can understand and appreciate that there is a myriad of reasons for people not learning to drive?
I have PTSD from an extremely serious crash before I had a chance to learn. I'm awful even as a passenger in a car all these years later. Do you really want people like me on the road?
My eldest went to uni where cars were discouraged and now can't afford to learn to drive. Or run a car. Or buy/rent their own place. Can you not comprehend this either?
Maybe you could point us in the direction of the money tree?!
Jeez. Like I said, bloody goady posts like this piss me right off!!!!

Well most of the critical posts have said non drivers and not specified that they are only speaking about the 17% of the British population who live rurally.

@taxguru - yes, I do live in a city with good public transport, as do my colleagues who can't get into work when their car is out of action

I think if you've never experienced the flexibility and convenience of being able to drive, you're unlikely to appreciate the limitations of public transport and taxis. I feel lucky to be able to drive where I want, when I want. It's a freedom and independence that every woman should be able to enjoy. And of course there are people who can't walk far and struggle to use public transport services. I've had some really unpleasant taxi journeys with drivers I would normally run a mile from (racist, abusive, intolerant and sexist men) and don't willingly take cabs.

Exactly this. My daughter developed epilepsy at 18. She will never be able to drive due to the type of fits she takes. People not driving isnt always a choice

Seeing as there are pages and pages of comments here I probably won't have much to add. But at 50 I still haven't a license. At 16 I was desperate to drive. Though didn't have the money for lessons. I cycled from a very early age, and it's oddly only in the last year or so I've actually wanted a car. I haven't ever really had a want or need for one. Or rather I wouldn't mind one for holidays and the occasional removals and emergency trips. That's about it. And as someone who prefers cycling and walking in general I find car use can be a pain, it's never particularly nice being in a car and travelling, there's the whole hassle and cost of parking. And for the local/city near me, the cars absolutely ruin the experience of visiting it, walking in it, breathing the air there and everything. And as it's a small city, cars aren't even much needed there. From an environmental stand point every time I get in the car it weighs on our minds quite heavily so we don't frivolously use one. Trips are carefully planned to make the most of any car journey. It's only after physical injury that it struck me that I might not be able to cycle forever. And as said it's really the first time in my life that I've ever really had a desire to have a car. I've heard many people try and justify their car requirements, get one and not really use it for much more than going back and forth to work. I know someone that has one on contract, and they drive it about 3/4 of a mile to work and back. They live on a frequent bus route and given all the congestion it would simply be easier for them to walk. Given the opportunity and money I'd like to learn, but it's hard to justify insurance/costs for sporadic use. There's a stat along the lines of most journeys are under 2 miles, and that to me suggests cars are the wrong type of transport for people to be using anyway and we'd be better of with battery assisted lightweight vehicles. Or even bikes or walking. It's kind of unpleasant the thought of doing that currently for many, as the humdrum of motorised vehicles is a turn off! You can even get groceries delivered to the door these days so even shopping doesn't really require the need for one. Most cars sit parked the majority of the time. So car shares make much more sense and perhaps in the future automated taxis. We could vastly reduce the numbers of vehicles on the road if we went that route. Not to mention cars are bloody ugly.

@pluvia yes. I think that’s an excellent point. Drivers will have seen the downsides of not driving, but non drivers won’t have felt the freedom and benefits of being able to drive.

It's a life skill, and the majority of employers won't be interested unless you can drive.

Really? The majority? That’s pretty extreme. I think it’s also quite an outdated view. The last time I was asked about my lack of a driving licence at an interview was in 2006, and it was just to check there was an easy way for me to get there (three different bus routes stopped five minutes away). I got the job, so it couldn’t have sent them into a blind panic.

The only time it’s ever been a problem was with a job that was split across two sites: they hadn’t told me that, and they’d obviously ignored that I’d ticked the “no” box when asked about a driving licence. That was entirely their fault; it wasted a lot of time for both of us.

There are lots of "non" rural places with crap public transport too. "Rural" by government statistics means somewhere with less than 10,000 residents. Plenty of towns and smaller cities have crap public transport but far more than 10,000 residents.

It's not just rurally. I live on the outskirts of a fairly large town and the last bus through my non-rural village is at 9.35pm. Some non-drivers here are choosing to ignore the lack of flexibility of a life lived with one eye on the bus timetable. Most of us will have been through periods where we're dependent on public transport. I know what a relief it is when the car comes back from the garage after having some work done on it and whew, you're not having to leave home at 7.20am and stand around in a freezing bus shelter for a 40 minute bus ride that gets you into work nearly an hour before your start time.

I wish more people didn't drive, or stopped driving. Some sadly for medical reasons such as worsening eyesight, but many because of their behaviour whilst behind the wheel. The courts should end the practice of reduced bans or no bans because of sob stories about hardship.

It is not a "life skill".

If you are disabled, and you have been since you could drive, are you "missing" a life skill just because @LoyalMember deems it such?

Also this "majority of employers" bollocks really has to stop. Yeah if you work as a client services manager for a water filter company in Telford, or you are an accounts person for Nantwich's leading roofing business. Or you're a carer, or you work shifts as a nurse, etc... I get it

But there are LOADS of jobs which don't need you to drive either. My first 10 years in the City? I didn't even have a car, let alone know how to drive. Do you think KPMG or Citi or Clifford Chance care about a UK driving licence?

I lived in Singapore, New York and London, and I always find it so funny when a parochial Brit chimes in, bristling with importance "but how do you get around?"

Taxis, my dear. We have a bit of disposable to get around. We don't need to be shackled to some £300 a month PCP for an overblown puffed up hatchback, so that we can show our mate we have a 'new' car.

@Pluvia Some non-drivers here are choosing to ignore the lack of flexibility of a life lived with one eye on the bus timetable.

But if that's how they wish to live and assuming they're not pestering for lifts then that's perfectly okay isn't it?

Admittedly it's not what I'd do but each to their own I guess.

I don't doubt that, which is why I always respect the posters who say "A journey to my workplace would be 1.5 hours on two buses / train, but its 25 mins in the car".

That's reality - the UK isn't set up for what it needs to be in this respect.

However people who are disabled, people like me who bypassed certain careers and went for city-based roles, are we all vulnerable and compromised in your eyes?

I mean, I can drive, and I actually own a car now. But I kind of don't want to admit that here because that now makes me "non defective" in the eyes of the folk on here whose identity and life achievement is bound up in their car ownership.

I lived in Singapore, New York and London, and I always find it so funny when a parochial Brit chimes in, bristling with importance "but how do you get around?"

You need to get out a bit more, to places where there's no public transport and you have to book a taxi two days ahead, and see how other people live. But hold on a minute... you don't drive.

Many don’t drive because they don’t want the responsibility of driving, they may be nervous or lack confidence. Perhaps they would drive with more understanding and attention, and practice. Even some of those who pass their test hate driving and make excuses not to do so, in which case the road is a safer place without them. Some haven’t even driven since passing their tests. Some may have had a bad experience driving or perhaps a member of the family had an accident which has put them off for ever. Yes it is very liberating to be able to drive, useful, and essential for one’s job in many cases, yet completely understandable that some do not want to do so, especially with increasing numbers of dangerous, incompetent, impatient drivers on the road.

But doesn’t anyone ever adapt to their circumstances? Not being able to drive is something most people can change - so someone finding it hard to cope without a car could decide they do need to learn after all, even if they find it very hard. But also, if they know it’s really unlikely to be an option, they can take other action - moving closer to their job, getting a new job closer to home, moving to a bigger city with better options etc.

I know I’ll never be a driver, so I’ve made plans accordingly. It would be pretty silly to stray in a location where I can’t get around, or in a job that’s a permanent hassle to get to.