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’m not saying everyone in a village is fine without a car.

I’m just agreeing with a previous poster that “the majority of the UK population” don’t live in tiny villages with one bus a week - even the 20% who live in villages not towns often have reasonable public transport options.

Yes I agree which is why we need to massively improve public transport to get people out of cars and onto buses, trains, etc. But that's going to cost billions and take many years. So who pays?

The general consensus seems to be that if only Hopeless Driver can get through their test, at the 10th or 11th attempt or whatever they can somehow 'improve' through hands-on experience whilst driving unaccompanied.

It's quite a terrifying thought isn't it?

People with chronic anxiety, dreadful spatial awareness and judgment and those with attention disorders are going to struggle to become really good drivers, so do we pedestrians and passengers and fellow road users have to be the guinea pigs until they do?

The time and cost isn’t the problem with increasing public transport use. It’s preference and convenience.

People complain that trains are expensive - they’re not. Certainly not in comparison to running a car or getting a taxi. But taxis can charge way more than trains and we just accept it. Complaining about how awful the trains are is just a national pastime in my opinion.

Fundamentally people don’t want to give up their cars. You can put on all the buses and trains you like people will still choose to drive. Unless you make it prohibitively expensive to do so. But that would be a shortcut for any government to lose the next election so I doubt it’ll happen.

Yes I agree which is why we need to massively improve public transport to get people out of cars and onto buses, trains, etc. But that's going to cost billions and take many years. So who pays?

presently the bill for vehicle crashes is £36bn per annum, im doubtful that public buses would cost the country the same even if they were free to use. The revenues form buses outside of London is £4.4bn- if we can afford the former the later should be easy - but all decrease the former cost as people switch.

18 - 24 year olds aren't learning to drive at the rates previous generations were learning to drive https://www.statista.com/statistics/314898/share-driving-licence-holders-by-age-england/. if that continues those people will still need to move about, so the demand for buses and trains would increase of the number of driving licences decrease

So me working as a market researcher in London, interviewing people in their homes, doing stock checks on supermarkets and recording special offers all over London within the M25 without a car or being able to drive was a fluke? You know the ad did say clean driving license and access to a car desirable but they still employed me, very lucrative it was :)

Id have thought a car would be more of a hinderance than helpful within the M25 . Especially difficult to find parking, to cross the city at any speed over 8mph and paying to go into different zone - absolute nightmare imo

easy and quicker to use trains, buses, water bus, bikes or tube

It's not as bad as it used to be but boys and men still think they should drive. So ironic. I'm a better driver than any boy I've been driven by.

My mum believes that not only should all men drive, they should drive in a "manly" fashion. She broke up with an ex boyfriend because he "drove like a girl"

Define better? No crashes, can parallel park in smaller spaces? I’m curious how you define better.

Some people bang on about it being a life skill, because it is one of their only "life skills". Their car is status to them. A sense of pride.

I have other experence and "skills"; more important than not hiring an uber driver.

I NEVER accept a lift. Not falling for that.

Its over 35% of the population of Northern Ireland

We used to have a bus service, stopped back around 2009.

Now its a five mile walk to the train station, unlit, unpaved busy road. Then you cant just jump on a train to go cross the country, to go anywhere you need to get the train down to Belfast and then get the train back out

My nearest hospital is 15 miles away, by public transport - 3 hours , its quicker to go to Belfast

Would you like to see that improved so that you can walk or use public transport more?

Trains ARE crap and expensive up here in the North West!

I completely disagree. We have to do 100 hours minimum of driving to take the test, 10 of which have to be at night. Most UK learners dont clock up that much before taking a test.

I don't speed, have had no crashes (have had one scrape but it's still debatable whether it was my fault). I CAN parallel park, I don't think "driving" skill comes down to that.
My neighbour and best friend is "into" cars and she has a couple of "old" cars. One's a 1960s Morris Minor and I'm licenced to drive that. The gear lever is noisy (she admits that and is trying to soften it) but otherwise it's wonderful and neither of us has had any problems or points or scrapes driving it.

Btw I am NOT suggesting I'm the best driver around - but that is what men think of themselves. Which is a major problem. We are always trying to better ourselves behind the wheel; men think they can be no better!

@MikeRafone

presently the bill for vehicle crashes is £36bn per annum

How is that split out between cars, haulage and buses?

Most of the serious accidents seem to involve lorries - the ones where there are serious injuries or fatalities and require extensive repairs to the road surface, barriers, signage, etc. They're still going to crash even if there were no cars on the road, so you're really not going to save all the £36bn if you get rid of cars altogether. And what about buses and taxis involved in accidents?

You'd not shave 10% of the cost of accidents just by reducing car usage by 10%.

My sister moved to a new build a few years ago. The house was very expensive as it was close (2 miles) to a popular village. She is a driver but hated it there. There was no footpath to the village, and she obviously didn't feel safe walking on the road. She had to get in the car to do anything and parking in the village was a nightmare. There was a railway station in the village but she had to drive to get to it and then try to find parking. She hated not being able to go out her front door and be able to take her baby for a walk close to her house. She has since sold up and moved.

For me, I’m in my 20s. When I was 17 I got my provisional license and passed my theory test and started lessons. I moved to London at 18 for university but unfortunately I had a mess of instructors for driving lessons. From creepy flirty men to dossers who were trying to string things out. So I hadn’t made much progress. Then when I moved to London I was broke and couldn’t justify lessons let alone running a car. Regret that now as the going price for lessons back then were £40 but are much more expensive now.

I’m in a better position to take lessons now, but the issue is I live in a city eg central London and it’s an awkward area to learn to drive in. So whilst I had hoped to be able to drive by now, it also wasn’t that straightforward for me at 17 or now. Plus there’s no urgent need for me to drive right now.

I live in NI too like @suki1964 .Our public transport is so bad that we laugh at people in GB who complain about theirs being bad.

It also means that particularly in rural areas. many people are continuing to drive despite having medical conditions which mean they should probably surrender their licences.

To get to the acute hospital which 'serves' my location, I would have to get a bus or taxi to the train station in Belfast, get a train to this town, and then get a bus or taxi to the hospital, which isn't even in the buggering town, it's two miles up the road from it, next to a motorway. It's just laughably bad. It's a system that doesn't even begin to consider non-drivers, because it's taken as read that everyone in NI will have access to a car!

Ok.

@ARichtGoodDram
I get really annoyed when you hear stories of openly dreadful drivers being encouraged to take their 5th/6th test by friends and family.
I agree, the test isn't that difficult and if you haven't managed in 5 attempts it is time to consider is this for you.

I only had one parent who drove, my dad.
He was a dick about giving lifts and him being the driver made him think he held all the power.
I knew I was going to do my utmost to learn to drive. I didn't want to be relying on a man for lifts in my adult life 😅
I had lots and lots of lessons and passed at 25 but only drove regularly from age 30.
10 years later it's one of my favourite things to do.

But I appreciate it's not that important or necessary for everyone.
I do, rightly or wrongly, believe that barring disability it's a skill people should try to learn.

Precisely, but according to that poster you cant get a job without having a car and being able to drive , that the "majority " of employers arent interested in those that dont drive

27 years I worked in London, never was I refused a job because I couldn't drive

Did the OP ever come back?