Driving

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I cannot drive. Which in a major British city, isn't a social handicap to me.

This question, though, is more pertinent to the United States than anywhere else. It seems half the WP'ers drive and half don't. If you don't, and live in the US, do you find it to be a social handicap in your life?

I have found often that Americans cannot understand someone not driving, cannot understand that I wouldn't drive.

I know people who can't drive and are NT. Driving is something not everyone is comfortable doing, whether they have a neurological disorder or not. I personally find driving very easy because I drive an automatic car which is very simple to use.

I, while everybody is getting their permits and licenses at my age, have no real wish or reason to drive at all. Especially looking at the economic situation, getting a car would be extremely NT.

I've joked to my friends that the first car I'll ever drive would be a UFO. I was serious.

It depends. At home, it's not an issue. In the city where I attend graduate school, it is. Small southern towns have very poor mass transit in my experience.

Depends where you live in the world.

For me, public transport becomes unsafe after dark, and stops running altogether at 8-8:30pm. During the day time, your trips take 100-200% longer as if you could drive. From that, you can conclude for me personally not being able to drive = not being able to do anything unless someone could give me a lift both ways, which didn't happen often.

Got my licence 3 weeks ago though \o/

It really depends on where you are. My sister lives in Boston and can manage with public transportation.

I live in New Jersey. While we have public transportation, it never seems to go where I need to. There was no bus/train stop near my place of work or my house, so I drove. It wasn't a route I could do on my bike (it involved route 10).

Currently (I'm at uni) I don't have a car, which is a perfect excuse to not drive. Overall, I drive as little as possible. When it comes up with NTs I cover by explaining that New Jersey drivers are awful (they are. plus all the New Yorkers), and sharing the road with a bunch of over-caffeinated, cell-phone-using commuters does not make me feel safe.

I live in a city with subways, trains and public transports + taxis if needed, why would i need a car? Part of the reason is what Vasyl said, cost and maintenance are something to consider, and i'm not sure i want to bother myself with something which runs on oil (not going to answer any comments pertaining to that).

I'm fortunate to be able to drive as it is really impossible to get around here without driving.

I would prefer to live in a place where I didn't have to drive, though - I find it inconvenient and the number of dangerous things other drivers do is rather worrying. (As mentioned above, New York/New Jersey drivers are not the best....)

When I was old enough to drive, back in the mid-eighties, I lived in the SF Bay Area. I tried to learn, but it was too scary, so I stopped. Several years later I was living in upstate New York, in a place where there were hardly any cars at all. I learned to drive there, and did fine. Once in a while you'd hit a patch of ice and slide into a snowbank, but that wasn't much of a problem.

I can drive in rural areas just fine. I mean areas where, when you need to go somewhere, you get on THE road, and you drive past fields until you get there. Or when you need to get on the freeway, you get on THE freeway. You know you're on the right one, because there is only one. And you know nobody is going to crash into you, because there is nobody driving that close to you.

I'm back in the Bay Area now, and it's very frightening. I can't drive on freeways here at all; it's just too terrifying. They are many lanes across, and there's always someone a few feet behind you, cutting in front of you, driving in your blind spot, and all of that. And of course none of them look or signal. Meanwhile, there are exits every half mile or so, with people getting on and off. And overpasses, and underpasses criss-crossing all over the place. It's dizzying and sickening. And you can't even just get used to one area, because it's constantly changing. They widen the road, and only half-scrape of the lane markings. So, sometimes you can't even tell where the lanes are.

I limit my driving to a very small area, which I know well. Even so, I get nervous.

I hate driving in and around the city. It seems so cheap, closed up and controlling. Not that that's always a bad thing, it just seems as if the world is completely 2 dimensional.
I used to enjoy riding the school bus because it offered me a variable amount of time for repose, homework, or just talking BS with all the other people on the bus. It was one of the few times I remember feeling socially normal. I wish my city had a more effective area transit and my life was predictable enough to use it.

apparently i cant drive because im scared or im uncoordinated. either way since im not really social i dont go out so its not a handicap

They won't let me drive until I'm 18.

Driving is like anything else--you need a lot of practice to be comfortable with it. I used to be freaked out by the idea of onramps but I quickly got over it. Also helpful was specifically practicing what to do when the car is "out of control." I found an industrial park and back roads and got a copy of The Drift Bible. It helped me gain a lot of confidence in my ability to control a car.

I really love driving (stickshift), but I've never actually owned a car. A bicycle suits most of my daily transportation needs and cars are reserved for fun when I can con a co-worker or friend into letting me drive.

I love driving. I wish I would have gotten into it as early as possible (legally) I'd love to be able to race cars.