Do you not drive?

neilo23

I'm always getting disbelieving comments when I tell people that, pushing 40, I've never had a car or a driving license. I didn't even take up the offer from my parents of driving lessons for my 17th birthday. Just never interested me. I know that I must be in the minority but is it really that unusual? Anyone else like me? And what are your reasons?

My personal reasons for not driving:

Would be a waste of money, time, and resources for me. I get the bus/train/taxi/use my bike if I need to travel somewhere. The one or two times in the year I might need to transport something I'll ask a mate.

Bad for the environment. I'm not some hippy, but I do worry about what we're doing to the planet. And oil's running out.

Saw a bad accident when I was 16. A young girl who babysitted for neighbours smashed to bits by a hit and run driver. Didn't want to have control of a potential lethal weapon. For that reason I wouldn't buy a gun. Just in case.

Can have a beer when I want.

desweller

Where do you live?

I went without a car for 12 months or so after the Gloucestershire floods in 2007 bent the engine in my Alfa, and my social life died on its ar5e! Most of my mates live within a 20-mile radius, and buses round there are not very frequent!

Weejie54

I drive (I did go without a car for five years and only used the bike - bliss - however, needs of work dictated getting a van) but the rest of my family (three brothers and two sisters) don't drive and have not got driving. licences. They are all over fifty. I can't recall them ever wishing they could drive. A couple of my siblings use a bike from time to time, but they seem quite content using public transport to get around. I'm sure it's not that unusual. It would be considered so here - in rural Scotland.

northernneil

To make it work I think you need to live in a city with a good transportation system, have no kids and a job that doesnt require 'irregular' travel.

I suspect that having never learnt to drive you dont miss it. Believe me you would if you had.

neilo23

I live in the middle of a town, directly across from where I work. I moved from London (where you really don't need a car) to a small town in Germany. I think a car is one of those things which, if you have one / have had one, you really couldn't imagine living without, but if you've never had one you find you can get by without one. I suppose the most important factor in "needing" a car is where you live. My girlfriend lives in a small town 10 miles away from where I live and would have a very dull life indeed if she didn't drive. Theoretically, though, she could live without one. I manage to visit her without a car, but it was a way out for her.

gkerr4

i think you shoudl try it - it would give you a different view of the road

i think people should try licences for all sorts of different types of vehicle - it opens your eyes to the differing requirements we allhave on the resource we must share - the road!

I have cars and a motorbike - i've driven vans and mini-buses and tractors - i'd love to try an HGV!

Weejie54

I suspect that having never learnt to drive you dont miss it. Believe me you would if you had.

I didn't miss it when I went without for five years - I was commuting from Ayrshire to Glasgow at the time and the trains allow unrestricted access for bikes. If I needed to shift big things occasionally, I could hire a van or car. As I said before, it was the necessity for regular use of a van that ended in me buying one. Not having to pay road tax and lack of MOT costs were definitely a bonus. I frequently rode the 32 miles each way to work.
Kept me reasonably fit.
Up here, the nearest station is a bit away, and bikes need to be booked. The bus system is dire and the needs of raising a bairn make it convenient to have a motor. I have considered doing without one again though.....

i'd love to try an HGV!

If you have issues with bad car drivers as a cyclist, they'll double if you drive a truck. I drove a truck for a number of years back in the 70s. Many tales of idiotic car drivers.

theblender

I'm 35 and I'm just about to start having lessons.

I'm a single parent and my nipper is 9, since he was 3 he's always ridden with me, often on journeys up to 25 miles on the bikes.

We've always coped without a car, I chose to live within walking distance of school/shops/work/doctors etc...bus stop 30 seconds away....

...but those buses...it takes between 40 mins to 1 1/2 hours to get to City Centre, cycling would take 20-40 mins, if you don't get robbed (this is Bristol) and more often than not, the trains are too full to get bikes on (Worst Late Western don't take bookings for bikes and seem to run the shortest trains in the world)

...now, my nipper is getting good on his bike (he won bikefest 8 year olds category back in the summer) and we want to ride trails further away, and most trail centres are miles away from train stations due to the necessity of being out in the sticks....

....so the time has come, I NEED to learn to drive, I'm proud of my green credentials and surviving this long without a car, but the trains and buses are too unreliable and do not cover the areas I want to visit, and I'm seriously restricting the jobs available to me too....it's ironic that to get a well paid job in the bike trade, you need a car!

So yep, here we go....hopefully pass test, hopefully afford car, hopefully do a LOT more biking as a result, hopefully get a job that pays the rent and bills....

Pross

I couldn't do my job efficiently without a car as I'd have to waste time travelling to destinations the day before and staying over plus I have to visit sites in the middle of nowhere. I'm not saying it wouldn't be possible but it would be very difficult. Getting to work in the office would be no problem however as there are very good bus and train links plus I cycle the 19 miles each way a couple of times a week. Outside of work it would be difficult for me and the family to visit friends and relatives without access to a car. I guess it provides another answer to my London question in that living and working in a big city it can be far easier to manage without a car.

CyclingBantam

I'm exactly the same as the op (apart from the last bit about the accident).

I've just never learnt and no real desire to. I live in between Leeds and Bradford so getting about is easy. I watch a lot of football and manage to travel round the country every other weekend without any need for a car.

I completely see the agrument about missing it once I have had one but I haven't so I don't!!

I think the only real diference is they make some trips a little quicker. I certainly don't think they are anywhere near as conveniant as some people make out. Sitting in traffic, very expensive, parking costs, having to walk to and from car park certainly isn't more conveniant than getting a bus or train right to a town centre. (I know it works both ways, but people do seem to think cars are 'always' more convenient which I disagree with).

Pross

On the convenience issue, I used to work in Bristol and live just outside Newport. Two fairly big towns 30 miles apart, you'd think getting to work by public transport would have been easy. My village was linked to Newport by a regular bus service with about 5 different routes, one of which went right past my house so again all going well. However, to get to work by 9.00am I would have to leave the house at 6.45am, walk a mile to the centre of the village, catch a bus into Newport, get on a train which took me directly to Bristol. I would then have the choice of walking the 1.5 miles across Bristol to the office or getting a bus both of which took about half an hour. I would get in the office 2 hours after leaving home. I could get on the bus outside my house but the earliest was at 7.15am and I would miss my train if the bus stopped at more than half the stops along the way. If I drove it would take me about an hour with the last 20 minutes or so covering the final 2 or 3 miles in traffic. Cars may not always be more convenient but unless both your destinations are very close to good public transport links or your route is through heavily congested roads then it generally is. The two journeys above would have cost me similar amounts but only because I had to pay the toll for the Severn Bridge when driving. I was guaranteed a comfortable seat for the whole journey and other than a five minute walk from the car park I was protected from the elements.

disgruntledgoat

I'm 29 now and have never owned a car or held a driving license. My reasons are thus

1. I got into cycling when I "should" have been learning at 17.

2. When I tried to learn, i hated it. It seemed that every time I went out on a lesson some idiot tried to kill me overtaking. Consequently, I hate overtaking.

3. My Dad used to kick off/whack me round the head whenever I missed 2nd in his car when practicing. Not a great motivator.

As for consequences

1. I live in rural Cumbria, public transport aint great and the nearest mainline train station is an hour and a half away by bus.

2. I've spent a decade cadging lifts off clubmates to races.

3. I pay only a tenner a week in transport costs to make a 40 mile round trip to work

4. My girlfriend nags me constantly about it. I should probably get engaged to shut her up for a bit.

5. I have no interest when everybody in here starts boring on about cars. Or house prices for that matter as that never appealed either. I think I may just be an overgrown teenager.

Crapaud

gkerr4 wrote:

i think you shoudl try it - it would give you a different view of the road

i think people should try licences for all sorts of different types of vehicle - it opens your eyes to the differing requirements we allhave on the resource we must share - the road!

I have cars and a motorbike - i've driven vans and mini-buses and tractors - i'd love to try an HGV!

I've sat in an HGV a couple of times, but not in the driver's seat alas, but it still gives you a good idea of just how restricted the all round view is. It also gave me an appreciation of how more mirrors and / or CCTV to cover the blind spots wouldn't help the driver spot cyclists as there'd then be far too many things to look at at once.

I didn't learn to drive until I was 27. Never really had the desire to, but got conned into it. I drove for about 5 years before realising that it was ludicously expensive and I could spend the money more fruitfully on other things and gave it up. Still not that interested in cars, but they're handy now and again.

Weejie54

've sat in an HGV a couple of times, but not in the driver's seat alas, but it still gives you a good idea of just how restricted the all round view is. It also gave me an appreciation of how more mirrors and / or CCTV to cover the blind spots wouldn't help the driver spot cyclists as there'd then be far too many things to look at at once.

Generally, vision is better in a truck. You can see over hedges and over the top of a car. It's the rear view that gets some getting used to. You need a routine of watching both mirrors. Anything that comes up behind should have been seen before it got there. After a few years driving trucks, it made me more aware as a cyclist. Don't sit directly behind a truck. Position yourself to one side so that the driver can see you in the mirror.
Things like this should be obvious, but to a non-driver and even a non-truck driver, it may not be.

northernneil

BenBlyth wrote:

I've just never learnt and no real desire to. I live in between Leeds and Bradford so getting about is easy.

I am similar but one thing I would miss is the ability to throw the bike in the boot and 30 mins later start my ride in the dales, I certainly use my car for taking my bike to the start of rides all the time.

Cheshire_Cat

I didn’t pass my test until I was 32 – had always used public transport, cycled or walked. Didn’t last long as I was diagnosed with a “macular pucker” (a sort of crinkle in one’s retina) a mere 2 years later and had to give up driving (but still ok to cycle).

Do miss it now and then but I comfort myself with the thought that I’ve probably avoided a host of health problems due to the return to human-powered transport.

neilo23

I'm glad I'm not the only person who's never actually had any desire to drive. Just never pressed any buttons for me. Not even exotic sport cars do anything for me. My girlfriend's dad has an expensive "boy-toy" (I think it's a Corvette. That's how little it interests me: looks like Knightrider's car) which leaves me cold. However, I'll pore over bike catalogues for hours.
I do find that some people attach a kind of stigma to not being able to drive as if you must be somehow derranged not to learn. I could afford lessons, but sometimes get the impression that others think I must be at least a mildly eccentric dosser for getting the bus. I suppose that I have more people on my side here than I would do, say, on the Top Gear forum

northernneil

neilo23 wrote:

I'm glad I'm not the only person who's never actually had any desire to drive. Just never pressed any buttons for me. Not even exotic sport cars do anything for me. My girlfriend's dad has an expensive "boy-toy" (I think it's a Corvette. That's how little it interests me: looks like Knightrider's car) which leaves me cold. However, I'll pore over bike catalogues for hours.
I do find that some people attach a kind of stigma to not being able to drive as if you must be somehow derranged not to learn. I could afford lessons, but sometimes get the impression that others think I must be at least a mildly eccentric dosser for getting the bus. I suppose that I have more people on my side here than I would do, say, on the Top Gear forum

yeah, probably

it was a pontiac transam by the way

neilo23

Just asked and it's a corvette. These new-fangled automobiles all look the same these days...

re-cycles

I'm 36 with 3 kids and whilst I can drive I choose not to have a car. I've not had any problems getting around, and I've no plans to get another car anytime soon.[/i]

MrChuck

I didn't learn till I was 27. I've never owned a car, but it is handy occasionally to be able to hire one or drive my GF's car. I live in Birmingham so there's no real need for one.

shockedsoshocked

I actually hate driving, can't stand it. Tried to have lessons on a couple of occasions but just have no desire at all to pass.

I walk/cycle/bus/train everywhere I need to get. Has caused issues with girlfriends in the past like (it seems my position is on the same level of unreasonableness as being some sort of facist), but I can't stand it that much I'd rather continue to be stubborn and stick to my guns than capitulate

This quote pretty much sums up how I feel about cycling everywhere:

“When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments. Here was a machine of precision and balance for the convenience of man. And, unlike subsequent inventions for man’s convenience, the more he used it, the fitter his body became. Here, for once, was a product of man’s brain that was entirely beneficial to those who used it, and of no harm or irritation to others. Progress should have stopped when man invented the bicycle.” - Elizabeth West, ‘Hovel in the Hills’

Stewie Griffin

northernneil wrote:

neilo23 wrote:

I'm glad I'm not the only person who's never actually had any desire to drive. Just never pressed any buttons for me. Not even exotic sport cars do anything for me. My girlfriend's dad has an expensive "boy-toy" (I think it's a Corvette. That's how little it interests me: looks like Knightrider's car) which leaves me cold. However, I'll pore over bike catalogues for hours.
I do find that some people attach a kind of stigma to not being able to drive as if you must be somehow derranged not to learn. I could afford lessons, but sometimes get the impression that others think I must be at least a mildly eccentric dosser for getting the bus. I suppose that I have more people on my side here than I would do, say, on the Top Gear forum

yeah, probably

it was a pontiac transam by the way

Beat me to it but I was in the car driving home. KITT is indeed a pontiac transam. Preferred the older ones though, like Burt Reynolds one in smokey and the bandit :oops:

Bikehawk

Work shifts, public transport is a joke where I live so no choice. Good quote from my old driving instructor " If you don't enjoy driving then you shouldn't be behind the wheel of a car" reasoning being if you like something you tend to be better at it than those that don't.

Cressers

I've never been able to drive due to having poor vision. In fact people are just as incredulous that I ride a bike...

shouldbeinbed

Bikehawk wrote:

Work shifts, public transport is a joke where I live so no choice. Good quote from my old driving instructor " If you don't enjoy driving then you shouldn't be behind the wheel of a car" reasoning being if you like something you tend to be better at it than those that don't.

I put about 1000 miles onto ours last year out of 11,000. I do more on my bike.

I did the learning to drive thing when I was 17 just because it was the thing to do, still rode my bike and didn't have a car until I was 23 and needed to buy one.

My job demands I'm on call over the entire Gtr Manchester area so i've no choice if the phone goes at 3am and I need to be in Wigan urgently.

its also convenient with 3 kids and 3 big dogs to get about the place- try taking a greyhound on a bus and see how far you get. yowling puking noisy kids and huge ankle whacking pushchairs - bring em on, quiet obedient well trained dog on a short lead that'll sit under your legs- no chance.

I don't regret having a car or learning to drive at all - even as a passenger it makes me a better cyclist understanding the hazard I could be from the stupidity I see from other bikes in and around motor vehicles, and vice versa, I'm a 'christian' motorist without the god connotation. but the bold quote above sums it up for me perfectly so I avoid it at all costs.

Clarion

I didn't learn to drive until I was 30, shortly after the birth of my second child. The next ten years I drove far far more than I ever wanted.

Now, I still own a car, but it's a silly way to get around in London. It's useful once in a while, but not good.

I hate driving. It's stupid, and it seems to wind people up. I pass lots of drivers on my commute every day, and, for all their comforts, they never ever seem happy.

I'd be happy never to drive again.

Pross

Here's a question for you. As a kid in the 70s my dad, like many, worked within a couple of miles of home. Neither of my parents drove until I was about 7 and we never struggled as everything we needed was close to hand, relatives mainly lived in the same town. So, was it the accessibility of car ownership that led to people starting to regularly travel much longer distances to work and families to move further from each other or was increased car ownership the response to people needing to do those things for economic reasons i.e. Tebbit's get on your bike (ironically leading to people using cars rather than the bikes they were previously using) to find work? Would we be a better society if the motor car had remained an aspirational object available to only the wealthy (which it may go back to being at some point in the not too distant future)?

finchy

I'm 30 and going in for my test in a few weeks. We got a car because my girlfriend needs one for work, as she has to visit about 3 schools a day, not always in the same town.

We avoid driving whenever reasonably possible - apart from work we use the car for personal reasons maybe once a fortnight - but my parents live in a place which is particularly poorly served by public transport - one of those housing estates out in the countryside which calls itself a village.

If my parents moved somewhere with a train line and my girlfriend and I got jobs which are based in the same location all the time I think we'd very happily get rid of the car, as we both hate driving and the costs involved.

Smokin Joe

I like cars, love motorcycles and have had tremendous enjoyment out of both.

It's a personal thing, each to their own.

zippypablo

Bikehawk wrote:

Work shifts, public transport is a joke where I live so no choice. Good quote from my old driving instructor " If you don't enjoy driving then you shouldn't be behind the wheel of a car" reasoning being if you like something you tend to be better at it than those that don't.

I don't enjoy driving at all but have to drive when I'm at work. I do however cycle to work. I've also got an HGV licence. Don't really agree with your driving instructor.