Is it really horrendous that I'm 25 and can't drive?

Snaggles

Oh my god, you don't drive??? You weirdo!!!

Only joking :rotfl:

I don't think it's weird at all - I hate driving and only do it because I have to - there's just no other way of getting my son to school and getting to work on time. I drive just about the smallest car I could get (11 year old Micra), and still struggle to reverse the flipping thing. My dear old Grandad was a driving instructor - he must be turning in his grave!

crawley_girl

I passed my test when I was 18 and have had a car ever since, even thru university. Now, 10 yrs on, following a car accident in which I was driving, I have been advised my by GP and DVLA not to drive and it is likely this will become a long term thing. And that's when my life came to an end!!!

But seriously, I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to get anywhere or do anything. I get to work on the bus which takes approx 2 mins longer than if I drove! It's not practical for things like shopping etc but if I can cope, then so can anyone. I was such a public transportaphone but you can't miss what you haven't had... I find that I am also a lot calmer as I have time to wind down on the bus after a stressful day instead of bomb about at a million miles per hour trying to cram it all into 45 seconds!

GirlRacer_2

I passed my test when I was 17. Couldn't wait to get behind the wheel. Saying that, maybe if I lived in a place where public transport was acceptable I wouldn't use the car at all. I live right out of town and drive a
4x4. The tax is expensive as is the insurance, I don't put an awful lot of petrol in each week (prob about £15) but would be so much better off financially if I didn't have the car.

The public transport here is awful, I only live 6 miles from my workplace but would need 2 buses to get there and a 10 minute car journey would probably be an hours bus ride!

Well done for you, managing without a car.

moneysaving_pharmacist

I started learning to drive in my final year at uni when I realised I was going to be living back in Kent. I didn't pass my test until a few months after graduating and all of a sudden my traveling time was cut from around 1.5 hours to half an hour. My OH worked at Bluewater and it was the same cut in travelling time for her. Even though I was doing 300 miles a week it worked out significantly cheaper travelling by car than getting the bus.

After registering as a pharmacist I have been working all over the south east, from Deal and Ramsgate to Hastings to Coulsdon. Getting to these places for 8.30 or 9.00 by public transport would be very difficult, especially for those little village pharmacies. Of course if I was working and living in London it would be a completely different story.

redrabbit29

You seem to get the same reaction I do when I tell people I don't own a mobile phone.

People just can't understand why I don't have one. They say things like:

"How can I contact you then?"

I have a home phone with 1571 plus I check my email at least once a day. I refuse to get one and the worse is when people assume you have one. I.e:

"I'll just take a mobile number then?".....

Anyway, that's quite similar I suppose to your situation.

Don't feel obliged to learn to drive or to get a car if you don't want to. I never understood why people wanted to learn to drive and why they insisted on getting a car as soon as possible after their 17th birthday.

I never had an interest in driving, and much preferred getting public transport. Don't become another one of these robots who cant possibly walk the 15 minutes to the local shop, and have to drive there.

alias7

I have a friend who's 26, a teacher, and she is only just learning to drive now.

Its not compulsory or anything, if someone said to me they didn't drive and they were 20, 30, 40....I wouldn't care.

elantan

ok i'm gonna be the leper here ..i havnt read any posts other than the origonal one (sorry everyone else too drunk (shouldnt be on here) and too stressed with family life right now(hence why i'm drunk) to be able to read all your replies will get around to it)

...but can i say...a) you should not be forced to drive unless you want to there are nutters on the road


b) IT COSTS A FORTUNE TO HAVE A CAR AND DRIVE IT..not very dfw..if i had my way again i wouldnt have a car...


however...i work with people that dont drive and although half of them dont expect to be picked up etc (the other half do...why no-one picks me up) some people (most that i have met ...but i doubt if it's all in the uk) think that because a person has a car then the person that doesnt should be picked up and dropped off...i mean my car drives on fresh air...i dont pay insurance etc etc(no-one gives me petrol money).... i totally understand it's a nightmare not having your own transport (and i certainly aint accusing the op of being like this) but hey you choose not to drive dont expect me that did choose to drive to bail you out...most jobs need a person to be able to multitask and sometimes this requires moving around..

i dont think you should be penalised for not driving...but i can understand the looks that you have recieved...sorry if i have offended really drunk ..not that that should be an excuse

Sugar_Coated_Owl

I'm 23 and can't drive. Never had a proper lesson either. I've never really had much of an interest in learning to drive. However, my boyfriend's have always been able to drive and have had their own car so that's always been a huge advantage.

Right now there is no way I could afford to learn to drive. My brother (20 yrs old) passed his test last September. He can't afford to own a car.

I do sometimes feel like the odd one out for not being able to drive but it doesn't bother me very much.

Imelda

I would separate the being able to drive issue from the having a car one.

Both my OH and I have cars, I have recently moved in with him (in London) and in the past 5 months I have put £30 worth of petrol in my car! I just don't need it, we use his car once per week for food shopping and for longer journeys (his parents live 300 miles away). The only time I use mine is for visiting my parents, they live 9 miles away (other side of the river) and you would think it was 90 the time it takes on public transport!
However I am glad I learnt at 17, at the time I hated it, failed my test twice and my parents forced me to retake it. It is a good skill to have and I am glad I did it at 17 as I was so fearless and confident, I wouldn't like to learn now...

nearlyrich

I passed my test at 24 a week before my 25th birthday, I had my DS aged about 9 months and was going back to work on the Monday as I passed on the Friday, pre DS getting around was OK but with all the stuff you need for a baby getting the two miles to my mum's with him on two buses would have been a nightmare, I would have been setting off at 5am to get to work for 9am.

I don't think it's weird when people don't drive if they don't want to or need to it's up to them, I have a friend who has passed a test but hates the thought of getting behind a wheel and walks or takes the bus if her OH isn't around to drive.