Comments because I don’t drive

[Waolom]

I’m 28. I don’t drive. I have no children. I do not mind the fact that I can’t drive one single bit. I enjoy sitting on public transport and switching off, listening to my music, I never ask anyone for a lift or to take me xyz place. In short, my inability to drive affects absolutely nobody but myself and I’m happy.

So why on earth do (some) drivers make it such a big deal and make comments when people can’t drive? I don’t ever ask for lifts so it just frustrates me when people comment on it as if I’m putting them out. I’m not.
AIBU to be fed up of these comments?

You’re right, if I lived somewhere genuinely that bad for transport I’d drive. But then again I wouldn’t live somewhere with no taxis, so it wouldn’t happen.

Not who you’re replying to but we do rent a car for holidays, but it would be madness to run a car just to use it on holidays for a few weeks of the year and have it sitting on the driveway unused 95% of the time.

I was thinking about this the other day and if I had a car here I would actively have to look for opportunities to drive it. All the shopping gets delivered, no way would I commute into central London using a car, same for weekend social activities.

I hardly think it's a big deal if you can't drive. If you are fully independent and happy using public transport. I know several people who manage and we love in a very rural area.

I learnt a few months back and im in my 40s. I find it quite nerve wracking. I just drive locally. Within an hour or so of where I live. However for a rural area area public transport isn't bad. I'd rather get the train for 6 to 7 hours to visit my family in a different part of the country, then drive for 7 hours. The speed people drive at and lack of patience of other drivers really annoys me. Our nearest A&E is 18 miles away though. So it'd be useful if one of us needed to be there in the middle of the night or can't walk to the bus stop. However in the daytime it's actually easier to get the hourly bus to the hospital, cause parking there is a nightmare.

There is nothing wrong with managing without a car. There are too many cars as it is. There is no room to park on our street now. My ds 16 and when he decides he wants to to learn, no idea where he will park his car?

It is a life skill but it is incredibly expensive these days and unaffordable for many. So if you are happy not to drive it is nobody business!

"It's nobody else's business."

This ^

So tell them so and shut them down before they start.

I live in a small village with no bus service so have to drive. In fact the reason I was able to buy the house was that the previous owner had a stoke so had her licence taken away for a few years and then found herself stranded as there was only 1 bus a week to the supermarket and that was it. The nearest bus service is over a mile’s walk down narrow national speed limit roads - not such a problem in the summer or in daylight but could be frightening in the dark - or if you have a disability, or like the previous owner of my house, have had a stroke it would be impossible. There is no taxi service based in the village and they have to come from the nearest town 7 miles away so it costs an absolute fortune to get a taxi anywhere. There are no Ubers. The nearest train station is also 7 miles away.

I have just looked up how to get to the office via public transport. It would take 90 minutes, however due to the times the busses run I would need to leave the day before to get to work on time in the morning. It is 10 minutes in the car.

Also my hobbies are car based so again it would make no sense if I couldn’t drive. My work also requires me to have a driving licence and I have to visit customers which range several hundred miles apart, most in rural areas.

Your situation is totally different though. You do live somewhere with good transport links, presumably you don’t have a car based hobby and you can get to the places you want to via public transport. In some places it doesn’t make much sense to have a car - it would be a nightmare in most city centres. I wouldn’t ever live in one of those places though as I am not interested in cities and love living in the middle of nowhere.

What do you do when you have a load of stuff that needs going to the tip
for example and no car?

Pay for it to be collected.

It's expensive but cheaper overall than running a car for a tip run once a year

So how often are people needing to go to A&E? I could count the number of times i have gone on one hand and I am in my sixties. Not a reason for owning and running a car.

I dont drive because

• i like to walk 10000steps minimum everyday
• id 100% crash into a tree, or worse..off a cliff!
• other drivers make me URGHH
• the cost of fuel/insurance..id rather MOT my face and body.

Driving isnt for everybody and there is nothing odd about people making the choice not to.

I can drive but have never owned a car and rarely drive. I live in London and financially and practically it makes little sense. It seems to come up amongst relatives time and again who don't seem to understand how a grown adult would not want to own a car. I just smile sweetly and reply "I don't like driving so it is a job I pay other people to do for me"

Yes, A&E for very rare emergencies we've had taxis. I went in a taxi when in labour. Was quite a good story. He's my favourite taxi driver. I do wonder how much everyone walks if they drive everywhere. I walk into town and back at least once a day which neatly gives me my 12000 steps. And I listen to books, which I don't know that you should do when driving as presumably distracting.

I always think it would be a total inconvenience in that situation

I had my babies in a central London hospital and on the post natal ward was a woman whose husband had for some idiotic reason driven her in. They had run up a ridiculous parking bill and he was trying to find somewhere else to park, he ended up driving home and ubering back!

Last time I took one of my kids to A&E, he was admitted for a week and it would have been a total arse to have to deal with taking the car back to ours or paying a ridiculous amount in parking charges.

We would always go by Uber/taxi

Likewise, as I said upthread, I'm an electrician and don't and never have driven. You just have to be more organised.

I usually get a taxi to and from jobs, I have materials delivered either to site or to my home up to twice a day as the wholesalers have same day morning and afternoon delivery.

Screwfix do a 1 hour delivery to site for emergencies, or I can taxi to the wholesalers and back to site.

All very efficient, and on a cost analysis with another spark who lives down the road, I spend less per year on taxis than he does on depreciation, MOT, fuel, adblue, insurance etc.

That is way cheaper. I figured out that it was costing me £1500 per annum to keep my car on the road (not including fuel). That was around 7 years ago so it is probably more now.

If you don't rely on others for lifts, then it's no one else's business. It's not a personal failing not to drive, just a lifestyle choice.

I lived in cities in my 20s and 30s and didn't start driving until my mid 40s when I moved to a more rural location and the inconveience got too much. I saved a lot of money not driving and was in a lot better shape (yes you can still walk a lot when you have a car .... you just don't). But, I love the freedom being able to drive gives me now - I'd really underestimated just how much not able to drive had been constraining me/limiting my choices.

I was just thinking about tip runs. What do people do? Load into an Uber?

To be fair, at the children's hospital my son was at, they were very good about making sure close family members had free permits for the car park and parents who weren't local were offered accommodation nearby with free on street parking not far from the hospital if their child would be staying in hospital for a while.

Now that I can drive, when we go back for appointments, I always get a free permit too.

It's always really difficult getting a parking spot though!

If you're a city person and have good public transport then I can fully understand why you wouldn't need a car. But unfortunately if you're outdoorsy or live outside of a main town or city then rural bus services are so terrible - or non existent - in the UK that you don't much have a choice.

As a family we like hiking, camping, paddleboarding, trail running etc. All of those things are extremely difficult without a car, unfortunately. As soon as you try getting off the beaten track you're scuppered.

It's a real shame because places like the Lakes and Dales would be far nicer if people could get around by bus; or safely on bikes. And if you're just sticking to the tourist centres you can.. but otherwise you're stuck. (I know this from bitter experience being stuck in the Langdales with tent and full kit on my back waiting in the rain for buses that never arrived...)

I tend to think that those who say "oh I don't need a car" either don't travel off the beaten track much or, if they do, rely on other people for lifts..

Pay for it to be collected.

@Overpacking4eva I don't do any of those things, except, 'hike in the hills', although wouldn't phrase that way, are you American maybe? Californian? I know people tend to need cars there. I've walked in the Lake District, Yorkshire, Peak District, South Downs, start from a town? Tend to like to finish at a pub which wouldn't be the same with a car.

Big 8 seater taxi and run to the tip.

Nobody else's business. To be honest, I wouldn't care if I never drove again. I got my licence in 1986 and my first car the year after. Then it was car ownership on and off, usually sheds/bangers because I couldn't afford anything else. Then along came marriage and children, the now ex-husband didn't drive so it was all down to me and I got fed-up with it. School runs, commuting, shopping, having to drive us on holiday etc. etc. Now I'm retired, we run a decent car. DP uses it for work in the week and drives me wherever I want or need to go at the weekend. I'm lucky enough to be in easy walking distance of local shops, or I just get a grocery delivery. As a passenger, I see so many nutters and aggressive arseholes on the roads these days that shouldn't be allowed behind a wheel. Don't need to be part of that.

Not driving by choice is not a big deal tbh.

But not even having a drivers licence however is pretty...

Pretty what @Outside9? This is what we mean, such a weird reaction.