Under Pressure to get drivers license

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Hello
I feel like i am under a lot of presure by people to get my license. Everyone I know that is 16 and over has there license. I am 19 and dont have my license. Do most people have there liceneses when they are 19? The thing is i live in a city where there is buses and i live like a half mile away from my commuter rail station. In january i am going back to college i take the commuter rail to get to boston to get to my new college. So should i be in a rush to get my license?

Yes.
If you have someone (parent) who is willing to give you those hours and allow you to practice, get it while you can. It will get harder to find that as you get older. A lot of things get harder as you get older, and if you can get them done now, your life will be a lot easier.

I was 19 when I finally got my license.

It scared the heck out of me, and I was soo nervous when I took the test! I was even more nervous when they gave me a license after I thought I completely blew it! (I made a few mistakes at the beginning... Looking back, I think that what happened was that at that point I gave up, and so since I was figuring I'd already failed, I relaxed and started driving better!)

I think that, nowadays, most kids don't get their license until they are about 17 years old, so you're not THAT behind in getting it. I know quite a few kids who have waited until 19 to get their license -- BUT, having said that, I think that you should go ahead and get the license as soon as you can. It's not so much that you NEED to get it, but that getting your license is a right of passage, and you might as well do it now. It's just one less hurdle to pass on your way to adulthood.

Try to do it while you are young, unless you don't mind being like me. I am 34 and don't have a license..not for lack of trying...I really think the world is just a tiny bit better off without me behind the wheel of a car. I ride I bike and I like it just fine.

I was 22 When I got mine.It was mostly due to my parents not having the time or the money.I worked and bought my own vehicle through a bank loan and paid to take drivers ed.I then took the test and got my license. I paid off my bank loan last year in september just when i started college.

I got mine at 20, but I started driving at 14. 18 in the city. So, the test wasn't to big a deal.

Most larger metros will have some sort of driving school, my grandma sent me to one. 90 bucks for two hours of instruction, not to bad a price.

Everyone is saying do it now but I don't see the point if you don't need it. How is it harder getting it when you're older?

You can't predict the future, how available your family will be or how far away they will live.
If they are here now, and willing to help, take this opportunity while you can.
Paying for lessons and practice sessions from some stranger is expensive, inconvenient, time-consuming and uncomfortable. To the extent that it might be simply impossible.

Having a license gives you more job opportunities and more flexibility in life in general. You don't have to use it if you have it, but if you don't have it you have limited options.

i say get it ...i used to have to take a bus...now i wouldn't take one for million $

I'm glad I got my license back in June, I can be more independent and I think it's now one of my stims. Plus I can be alone.

Remember that it takes practice to learn, but eventually you will feel the car is an extension of you. Don't think of it as being pressured. Think of it as potential freedom. Learning to drive helped me feel so much more independent. I got my license at 18, later than most kids I knew, who got theirs at 16. But I think lots of young people are starting later now, because of insurance costs, so 19 isn't so old. I just gave myself more time to practice, stretching my skills a bit at a time.

If you have a large college campus near you, their less busy parking lots are great for practicing on weekends. I did that a LOT before practicing more on the road.

Also remember that once you have a license, you're still learning for the first few years. It's important not to get cocky about it, and not to feel pressured into drives that you know you're not ready for. Just pace yourself according to your ability, gradually building your skills with longer or more difficult drives into new territory.

Keep talkative or otherwise distracting passengers out of your car. I still don't like to drive with talkative passengers. Too distracting. For that reason, when we go somewhere together my gabby husband drives.

When I was young, my parents used to buy my gasoline in exchange for driving my grandmother wherever she wanted to go, after she gave up her license. She was really good about not backseat driving, only saying something if I was obviously goofing, or there was some hazard she didn't think I was aware of. If someone starts to help you who is too talkative or nit-picking, ask them to keep instruction to a minimum so as not to fluster or distract you, and if they can't shut up find someone else who isn't so talkative. That helped me a lot. (I couldn't drive with my dad. He coached too much.)

You should get your license for the simple reason that sooner or later, you may want to travel freely via motorized transport, and without a license, you won't be able to.

Just because you get a license doesn't mean you have to drive a car right now. But once you get one, you can practice as you can and gain more confidence.

In a big city, you can do without, but most anyplace else it's impractical to depend on cabs and buses to get where you need to go.

If you TRULY believe that you dont need a car where you're living right now, then I believe that there's no rush to get a license. If you're somewhere where the places you will want/need to go will require a car to get you there than I would start driving practice.

It took me years to get a license after finding that I can only learn driver's ed through a course at school (and NOT by my dad) but by the time I got a license, it was rather pointless because I was going off to college and my parents wouldnt let me take a car insisting that I wouldnt need it (either that or they refused to buy a parking pass and the like or they were too worried about letting me drive around in a new place that was only one freaking hour away from home). How wrong they were. Arrgh! So technically while I got my license at 18, I never became a true driver until I was 24 years old.

Now if you need an ID for going to places like the bars or other adult places or buying beer/cigars, etc...then maybe that's why people are pressuring you to get that license. A driver's license is the best form of ID to prove your adulthood. Heh

You don't have anyone to teach you when you're older, and have to hire a driving teacher. Do NOT count on having friends who will sit next to you while you learn to drive for the many hours required to learn, because it doesn't happen even for most NTs. If you're Aspie, forget it. When you're young, you can still get your parents to teach you.

I don't care if you will not drive a car for another five years, get that license now. A driver's license is a ticket to freedom. If you have to move away, a driver's license means you can move anywhere, not just places with a good bus system.

How do I know? I got my license at age 25.

The reason people probably say to learn now, even though you don't need to drive, is that you're young now.

It's much easier to learn complex skills when you're young. Something to do with young brains assimilating things more easily, such as languages. Have you ever heard that if someone learns a language when they're young, they're less likely to speak it with an accent? Same principle. Driving is a complex motor skill, and almost a language in itself. It takes time and lots of practice to get comfortable with it, for many people. That's much easier to do when you're young.