Your partner doesn't drive, does it bother you?

I think if people are happy to plod on through life walking and cycling and getting buses and trains, or if they are someone who finds it hard to live without a car, then so what?

However I do think it is a good idea to at least learn how to drive, even if you don't have or don't want a car.

I think that people who are cool with having no car are the ones who are younger and have no kids, and probably have a chilled out life with not too many responsibilities, and perhaps live in a more populated place with good public transport links. (I guess they have to if they cannot drive.) However, if you have a busy lifestyle, a job, children, hobbies, and if you have children - they have hobbies and different groups they go to at funny times, and one of you in the family has awkward finishing times at work, (or awkward starting times,) then a car is essential.

As someone said earlier, not everyone is lucky enough to have a bus stop outside their house that takes them and every family member to every destination they need to get to in life at all times of the day and night, every day of the week. IMO, having to go everywhere by public transport is incredibly irksome, and time consuming, and sometimes very expensive if the whole family is going. But if that is what people prefer then good luck to them.

With people who need a car, It's not a matter of people being wet or soft or useless or car-dependant because they are lazy or whatever, it's an absolute necessity for many because of poor or average public transport links, awkward shift work, a very busy lifestyle, and clubs and hobby groups that finish late (I certainly would not have my daughter getting a bus home from the city to our house at 10 or 11 at night.)

And it's all very well saying that if you don't drive you can drink! Well that is true, but to say I am not going to learn to drive because that means I can drink, makes no sense. You can have a driving licence (and even a car!) and still get a taxi or bus back home after a night out. (Mind you who wants to be getting public transport back from a pub or club at 11 at night? Public transport is dire and infrequent at night.)

And as several people have highlighted, I would not want to have to be restricted to picking somewhere to live that is near shops and clubs and a train station etc, because I couldn't drive. Many places that are near train stations and near shops etc are not always the most desirable places to live.

Although I do respect people wanting to go by bus or cycle or walk, (and it is good exercise and better for the environment,) I still don't understand why people wouldn't at least want to learn to drive. You don't have to actually even get a car; just learn, and pass your test, because you never know when you will need to drive.

I have known many people in the past who never learned, and by 30-ish to middle age, they regretted it, as it became tiresome and awkward, not only for them, but for the people around them, like their partner, who had to do all the driving. In some cases, not only all the driving to every place they went together (near or far,; ) but also driving them to work, having to run the kids around, and having to run elderly parents and in-laws about. Also, as someone said earlier, several people I know ended up in a job that required driving, and even lost out on a job because they had no driving licence.

One woman my husband works with (she is 44,) cannot drive and refuses to learn, and the workplace moved location last year, and there is sparse public transport to it, as it's moved out into the sticks a little bit, and she works shifts where she starts at 7am sometimes, or finishes at 11pm. Every day, her husband has to bring her in for 7am, or come and fetch her home at 11pm. Not a week goes by when he doesn't complain about it. He has his own job (he does days : 9 to 5) and it's incredibly unfair on him.

By all means, don't have a car if you can live without one, but it seems a little crazy to not at least learn how to drive. There is a very high probability that you will need to drive one day.

And in response to what someone said earlier, I don't think learning a second language or being able to play the trumpet is as important a skill as driving.