Do you know someone who doesn't drive by choice?

[mrsdisneyfan]

I have to ask, how do you get around? Is where you live connected to public transportation? I've lived in small towns all my life, so when New Yorkers said they don't drive, I thought it was odd. But then I realized they have transport everywhere they need for daily life.

Personally the only people I knew who didn't drive were my grandmothers who were born around the turn of the century. I don't think women commonly drove then. But I can't think of anyone here in central Va who doesn't drive by choice.

My husband is the driver. If he is not available (he works nights, so he sleeps during the day) and I really need something I will call my dad. He is retired and usually available. Otherwise, most things can wait.

I know how people who drive think they would be like a caged animal if they could not just pick up and go. But I have never felt that way because I never drove.

 

[mrsdisneyfan]

If driving only sounds like a good idea after you've had a few cocktails, then I would have to agree driving might not be for you




Sorry, just couldn't resist

I know, right! Beer muscles and all that!

 

[PigletsPal2]

My minions (daughters) drive me around when I'm home and DH does the driving when I'm in Washington. They all swear they don't mind as they're going wherever I need to go anyway (shopping, hairdresser, etc.) They do make the effort to be available to take me to the doctor when necessary.

I fill their gas tanks and we usually go to either breakfast or lunch depending on what time we need to be out and about.

Queen Colleen

 

[Gumbo4x4]

For those of you who don't drive AT ALL, are you ever concerned that changing conditions could eventually require you to drive at least part of the time?

What if your current driver were to lose their vision?
What if loss of employment found you in a new location with no public transit?
Or if a new job required driving as part of business travel - or even part of your daily routine?

 

[mom2rtk]

Wow, I never dreamed there were so many people who didn't drive in this day and age. Of course, it's a totally different discussion for those who live in a big city with adequate public transportation. Out here in the midwest, that's more the exception than the rule.

This discussion brings me right back to last summer though when push finally came to shove with our own reluctant young driver. He was 18 and happy to be license-free. I figured that if he was reluctant to drive, I didn't want to force him behind the wheel. Man, that was a tactical mistake. When he enrolled at college here in town, it became critical that he get the license. Made for one of the most stressful summers ever. He finally got his license 2 days before the school year started.

I REALLY wish they'd see driver's ed as a priority and put it back into the high schools.

And I'm REALLY happy I did not indulge him in his fears any longer and in fact nudged him forward.

 

[cornflake]

For those of you who don't drive AT ALL, are you ever concerned that changing conditions could eventually require you to drive at least part of the time?

What if your current driver were to lose their vision?
What if loss of employment found you in a new location with no public transit?
Or if a new job required driving as part of business travel - or even part of your daily routine?

Of the people I know, who are all city people and large in number -

most would not really consider moving someplace like that and what job could require driving?

If it was somehow imperative, like if there was a zombie apocalypse and people were forced to the midwest, I suppose they'd learn then - like the people in the thread who moved to LI and now have to learn.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Of the people I know, who are all city people and large in number -

most would not really consider moving someplace like that and what job could require driving?

I can think of two instances of mine, one of which I've already mentioned. 1) That was that a promotion required me to travel on business. Company headquarters was located in a large city, but all my visits to manufacturing plants (with the exception of Bristol, PA) were in rural settings many, many miles from public transportation. So, as part of my job, I'd fly from the big city to some other big city (or a small one), rent a car, and then drive to my destination. A typical stay for me would be to spend 3 nights in Harlingen, TX and each day drive back & forth from there to our plants in Mexico. The vast majority of business travelers I've met over the years have shared numerous tales of goofy things that happened to them in rental cars somewhere, so surely it can't be THAT uncommon to have to drive as part of business travel.

2) After several years at that job, our company was purchased and corporate headquarters was relocated to another city, but my job was moved to Georgetown, KY - ~70 miles from the nearest public transportation. I was in a position where we were able to turn down that job and seek employment elsewhere, but the economy was better then AND my wife was making nearly what I was. So, moving would have meant me keeping my job, but her losing hers. OTOH, were I the sole breadwinner & such a thing were to happen in today's economy, I'd have little choice but to follow work where it took me.

 

[cornflake]

I can think of two instances of mine, one of which I've already mentioned. 1) That was that a promotion required me to travel on business. Company headquarters was located in a large city, but all my visits to manufacturing plants (with the exception of Bristol, PA) were in rural settings many, many miles from public transportation. So, as part of my job, I'd fly from the big city to some other big city (or a small one), rent a car, and then drive to my destination. A typical stay for me would be to spend 3 nights in Harlingen, TX and each day drive back & forth from there to our plants in Mexico. The vast majority of business travelers I've met over the years have shared numerous tales of goofy things that happened to them in rental cars somewhere, so surely it can't be THAT uncommon to have to drive as part of business travel.

2) After several years at that job, our company was purchased and corporate headquarters was relocated to another city, but my job was moved to Georgetown, KY - ~70 miles from the nearest public transportation. I was in a position where we were able to turn down that job and seek employment elsewhere, but the economy was better then AND my wife was making nearly what I was. So, moving would have meant me keeping my job, but her losing hers. OTOH, were I the sole breadwinner & such a thing were to happen in today's economy, I'd have little choice but to follow work where it took me.

Lots of people travel for work, it's no big deal. Either you get a cab or someone from, in your case, the plant, would pick you up or whatever. There are cabs pretty much everyplace - people who don't use them often think there aren't any but there are.

I can't think of anyone I know who would move to someplace I've never heard of, Kentucky. I mean maybe, with NO other alternative AND some giant bonus or perk or something but...

In general, there are also more options in big cities. Obviously the economy is what it is and there are people out of work everyplace, certainly including in cities. Taking your chances vs. moving to someplace completely foreign ... I mean if you told me my job was moving to Texas, I'd wave at the party. I'm not going to Texas. It matters not. I'll go down to Starbucks before I moved to Texas.

If someone did move to Kentucky though (and yes, I'm aware people do - many of my friends are natives or people who came here very early because they belonged here, so they're less likely to, I'd think) they'd learn when push came to shove. I mean your job may transfer you here someday and you might decide to take the assignment - are you studying subway maps and inventive cursing just in case?

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Lots of people travel for work, it's no big deal. Either you get a cab or someone from, in your case, the plant, would pick you up or whatever. There are cabs pretty much everyplace - people who don't use them often think there aren't any but there are.

I can assure you, most of the places I've visited for work aren't going to be accessable via a cab ride. And if having to be picked up at the airport & carted around is something you require, someone else is probably going to get the job.

I can't think of anyone I know who would move to someplace I've never heard of, Kentucky. I mean maybe, with NO other alternative AND some giant bonus or perk or something but...

And that's the exact scenario I'm talking about - move or lose your job, big promotion, etc.

In general, there are also more options in big cities. Obviously the economy is what it is and there are people out of work everyplace, certainly including in cities. Taking your chances vs. moving to someplace completely foreign ... I mean if you told me my job was moving to Texas, I'd wave at the party. I'm not going to Texas. It matters not. I'll go down to Starbucks before I moved to Texas.

What if it weren't Texas, but just someplace upstate NY where you'd occasionally have to drive?

If someone did move to Kentucky though (and yes, I'm aware people do - many of my friends are natives or people who came here very early because they belonged here, so they're less likely to, I'd think) they'd learn when push came to shove. I mean your job may transfer you here someday and you might decide to take the assignment - are you studying subway maps and inventive cursing just in case?

Well, I'd like to hear it from "they". IIRC, you do have a license, correct? The question was, "do they ever worry that such a thing might become a requirement?". Or, is it just not something they think about? Besides, sometimes it's not just about the big city folks - a lot of people who've been mentioned in this thread get around primarily by car, but with someone else doing the driving.

Riding public transit has already been part of my business & non business travels, same as driving - and I already know how to curse

 

[cornflake]

I think there are at least a couple of people in the thread who said they either now have to learn because they moved (I think one moved to LI) or did have to when they moved someplace.

Would I move to like Utica? Not likely.

I know lots of people who do and have travelled for work - a friend of mine from h.s. ended up having to travel three days a week for a year. It's not that big a deal. I think, as someone else said, if you drive it seems like it'd be a huge deal, but it just isn't. People live their whole lives, travel for work and pleasure, and don't drive.

 

[Janepod]

I had to learn at 35 when I moved to CT. I hate it, hate it, hate it. Only 12 more years til we move back to the city.

Never had an issue as far as jobs, though I always traveled a lot for work. Either whoever I was meeting would drive me around or I would use cabs/public transportation. No problems, ever. (Though I did hate the 9 months I lived in Minneapolis carless - no subway! Waiting for buses in front of Laurel Village really sucked in the winter.)

 

[nansmama]

I didn't drive until I was in my 30s. I lived in cities, and then I was broke for a long period of time. I could have afforded a cheap car or insurance, but not both. Insurance for new drivers is obscenely expensive in my state.

You probably know more people than you think who don't drive. Most will not admit it unless directly asked, because people look at you like you are mentally incompetent or have six heads when they find out. It's embarrassing.

I have a good friend in her 50s who is a lifelong NYC resident and is relearning to drive. She has kept her license all these years but never used it and now is planning to move somewhere she'll need it.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

My Grandmother never learned to drive.

My mother very seldom drives. She has her license but doesn't like to. She preferred to wait for the weekends when Dad could drive for errands and such.
Growing up we seldom went to the Doctor and weren't allowed to do after school activities because we lived in the country and didn't have a way to get home afterwards because Mom wouldn't drive.

My niece who is 21 finally got her Drivers license at age 20. My sister (her Mom) finally laid down the law and said she wasn't driving her anywhere anymore. My niece was scared of driving but once she lost her free ride, she got her license. There is no public transportation where they live - not even a taxi service.

I can understand being afraid to drive - especially if you live near a city or have to take big interstates like the ones around Atlanta.
Or if you've been in a bad wreck - someone I know was in a horrible car accident and had to have her hip replaced because of it. It was several years before she drove again - she was too scared. But she did have access to public transportation and taxi's where she lived.

I don't like to drive in cities I don't know well and I don't like driving in Minneapolis. What is up with all those short freeway entrances and exits anyways? Those things drive me nuts! I'm just used to longer ones I guess. I still drive in those situations - I just don't like it.

 

[Colleen27]

I have a license but very seldom drive. We put about 5000 miles per year on my van and DH is behind the wheel for probably 90% of that. I just don't like driving and we live in a town where I can get around fine on foot or bike so driving is something I only do if there are major errands to run (which requires a trip into suburbia), if the weather is very bad, or if an emergency arises. I've lived without a car for extended periods of time and we still only have one, but I do feel like I need to have a license to at least have the ability to drive should the need arise.

 

[njmom47]

DS is sooo ready to drive (he turns 17 10/20) but he has quite a few friends who have no interest in driving. I don't know if the kids feel overwhelmed or afraid, but all 3 of mine couldn't wait.
Other than that, I don't know of anyone who doesn't drive by choice.

 

[jodifla]

To me, one of the requirements of being a functional, capable adult is learning to drive a car. It's a basic skill, like reading, writing or doing math.

I can see some exceptions if you live in an incredibly urban area and have great mass transit, but there aren't that many of those in the U.S.

And in South Florida, we got SO many New Yorkers who only learned to drive because the moved. Talk about a nightmare! An elderly person with zero driving experience navigating I-95.

 

[POPCITY]

My grandma never learned to drive. She's 86, and grampa, while he still could, or one of her kids or grandkids always drove her. Grampa always said that she could drive if she had to, though. He told a story of her driving an old car they had 30 miles to get home, with him and her brother riding on the running board, blowing in the gas tank because the fuel pump went out. He said that was the one and only time she ever drove, but she did great!

 

[*tinker*bell*]

I don't drive, I'm 23, I was in a bad roll over accident a few years ago and now just being in a car makes me nervous. I don't know if I will ever decide to drive. My mom has never driven and she is in her 50's.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

My grandma never learned to drive. She's 86, and grampa, while he still could, or one of her kids or grandkids always drove her. Grampa always said that she could drive if she had to, though. He told a story of her driving an old car they had 30 miles to get home, with him and her brother riding on the running board, blowing in the gas tank because the fuel pump went out. He said that was the one and only time she ever drove, but she did great!

Is it goofy that my first instinct after reading this story was to describe a better way to do that?

 

[disneychrista]

My 21yo daughter doesn't drive. And my 19yo only just got her license.