Do you have a drivers' licence?

[Glass Kakapo]

It's hard cus I live in a suburb and you can't get anywhere without driving. So I either don't get anywhere or beg and grovel enough so my parents will take me. Not a particularly good arrangement.

Same here. I'm 18, and don't have mine yet. I had a permit for a year, and have to get a new one soon, as family members haven't really had time to teach me.

I don't really enjoy driving, and won't be getting a car for a long time, if ever, but getting a license is sort of a necessity in the area where I live. Even in the city of Columbus proper, public transportation could be described as terrible, at best. Of course, because everyone and their great-uncle has a car around here, the drivers themselves are very frightening. Moving to another city is an appealing alternative.

[Bestatued Head]

I have a license and drive my own car, but I really hate to drive. I can't wait till I can move to a place were you'd have to be insane to not go on the transit or by foot.

Sidenote: I look so high in my license photo. Anybody here had that problem?

[Tanasha]

Sidenote: I look so high in my license photo. Anybody here had that problem?

Oh yes. All the time. Actually, I always either look high or really mad. I guess it's because I don't like smiling for cameras. I think pictures of people with fake smiles are the worst. Oh well. It gives me a menacing look, right? I need it with my short stature and baby face. :lol:

One teacher in High school always brought in very flattering professional photos for her passport. I wonder if you can do that for liscences too. Hmm..

[anima]

Dude, my licence pictures have *always* been horrible. I am just not photogenic. The only good pictures of me are either candid shots, where I'm not looking at the camera, or of the side of my body that my face isn't on. LOL. :)

[Gorax]

Sidenote: I look so high in my license photo. Anybody here had that problem?

Miraculously, my driver's license photo looks real good :shock: My previous one was horrid though.

[Islander9]

Had a licence since I was 15 which makes me a *very* experienced driver. Own a Mitsubishi turbodiesel L300 van which I plan to exchange for a Delica later this year. I live in an area where *not* having a vehicle/being able to drive is not an option (unless you can afford to whistle up a helicopter every time you need to collect the mail or go shopping (nearest place for both activities is over 25 k away.) Cheers, kia ora Islander9

[Islander9]

The photo on my driver's licence shows a cross-eyed moron. The photo on my gun licence shows a deranged cross-eyed moron. And we wont go into the passport photo...kia ora Islander9

PS: I *love* driving - though not 7-hour odysseys in way too hot & humid conditions.

[Jockey]

my depth perception is really awful. i walk into walls. so i don't think i should be trusted in a car. cars are deadly weapons.

[Ally]

I'm age withheld and never got a licence, and don't plan to unless I really, really need to. Although I've been meaning to get a state ID for years; mainly because you're supposed to have one when you're 16? Something I was never informed about. .

I don't see why I'd need to drive here, though. Public transportation in San Diego is really nice, and while it may take a bit longer to get places - especially if you miss a bus - the costs outweigh driving. There's monthly payments, and insurance, and gas, and repairs. . there's enough people on the road these days, too. I'd rather not crash.

Plus I have a pair of rollerblades for when I don't feel like riding the bus. You don't see those everyday. XD

[YP]

I had my first proper driving lesson on my 17th birthday and passed my test a couple of months later. I've had a car on and off since then, and since the middle of 2000 I've had one permanently instead of just sharing with my sister. At one point I had three cars at my disposal (mine, my sister's which I was trying to sell, and my mum's because she had a broken leg) :shock:

I'm perfectly happy driving anywhere, on either side of the road. I drive a lot at my parents place in Spain (they run their own diving business and have many many different cars lying around to move customers around), and am quite happy driving on the "other" side of the road.

I actually love driving in a way because I can just get away from the other stresses of modern life, put some good music on the stereo and relax (kind of). Other drivers don't bother me too much, and even traffic doesn't wind me up, so it's quite relaxing in a strange way. My favourite road is the M62... I know I'm odd ;)

[Borrible Cal]

I'm nearly 29 years old, and I have never had a driver's licence, and I will never get one.* It's hard to imagine a more frightening thing for me than being behind the wheel of a car--not just because I grew up with my parents drumming 'A car is a lethal weapon' into my skull and leaving me terrified of the thought of trying to control one at every opportunity, but because I'm prone to having tiny attention-slides just when I most need to be concentrating on something...and if that can happen when I'm in the middle of teaching a class, it could happen when I'm in the middle of driving a car, and that could be disastrous.

Borrible Cal.

*Oddly enough, saying that you don't want to get a driver's licence frequently seems to provoke exactly the same response as saying you don't want to have sex: 'Well, how do you know until you've given it a try?'...

Sigh.

[Shivers]

I don't have one right now. I MUST get one ASAP though, because technically I'm not qualified for my own job unless I have a licence. So I'm gonna get a motorcycle in a month or two, then a car when next winter rolls around. (if I'm still doing the same job.)

[Islander9]

E Glass Kakapo - how did you arrive at your name?

(Here, a kakapo is an extremely rare and very odd bird - a flightless night parrot: the males boom (a call that can be heard up to 3 k away), and all of them smell like honey...)

[gambit_boi]

yes, but i don't have a car.

some lady in a ginormous SUV plowed into the back of my little Taurus and totally killed it. :(

[TheSMMG]

I voted "other" as I have a full UK motorcycle licence but don't have a car driving licence.

I wouldn't use a car enough to justify the expense of having one. If the situation changes, then my brother just happens to be a driving instructor!

Most short distance journeys and commuting to work are done by bicycle, longer journeys by motorcycle, or rarely, by train.

Most rides on my motorcycle, a Honda X4, are done purely for the grin-inducing sheer exhilaration of it!

[baa*baa*grey*sheep]

I'm 21 years old and I don't have a licence and I really don't want one. The reason is that (and I'll try to put this across as kindly as poss.) I'll feel guilty that I'll be adding to the pollution of the environment. Besides, I think I'd miss getting the bus everywhere or walking. :)

My parents think the reason I don't want to drive is because I may not be able to drive a manual car (being dyspraxic) and will have to drive an automatic. Whenever the subject comes up about me starting to drive, my dad keeps on saying "Now just because you'll be driving an automatic doesn't mean you're different to everyone else". I keep saying that I know and it isn't a big deal at all. My dad just drives (no pun intended) me mad sometimes. :evil: I haven't told anyone the real reason I don't want to learn to drive. They'll just think I'm crazy :shock: .

My friend annoys me sometimes by asking me when I'm going to start learning to drive. I think its so she doesn't have to drive us everywhere, as we could take turns in driving.

I think I may start learning to drive when eco-friendly cars start coming out, and I can learn in one of those.

:D

[Miss_Moneypenny]

I can technically, but not legally, drive. I had lessons, but three tests have now given me such a bad experience that I am in terror of taking another.

The third and last test I took really took the mickey. The examiner said that I had mounted the kerb, when there's no way I could have done. If a car mounts the kerb, there's an almighty thump and you feel the car tip. That absolutely did not happen and I would swear on that fact in court.

The trouble is, there is no way to petition if you feel the test was not conducted in a fair and proper manner. You can only take them to court, and assuming you do win your case, the only recompense they will offer you is another test, not a reversal of the examiner's decision. So having gone through the trauma and cost of a legal wrangle, you then have to face another examiner (who probably KNOWS why he's examining you and will be looking for any possible flunk to vindicate his colleague).

I was discussing this with a work colleague a few years ago, and she was telling me how she'd done this and that on her driving test, and the examiner had itemized about 6 potentially dangerous things that he'd observed her doing wrong but informed her that she had still passed. She said her friend reversed into a tree on her test but still passed. Another colleague said she'd stalled on a roundabout but still passed. My friend's driving instructor told her it was purely the luck of the day whether a person passed or not.

Given all these variables, I don't feel exactly inspired with confidence to try again. To my methodical way of thinking, there should be a set standard which a person must meet to pass, and that once they've met that standard there should be no grounds on which to fail them. The system we have in this country just seems way too hit and miss.

Unfortunately, the Driving Standards Agency has a monopoly on driving tests so I can't shop around for an independent body's opinion just because I've lost confidence in them. I feel like I have no choice now but to take my test in another country if I want to start driving again.

[Islander9]

I took my licence at 15 (I'd been driving for a year previously - hey! there were less than 2million people in ANZ then! And waaaay fewer cars.) I did perfect handbrake takeoffs on the Port Hills, never flubbed written or verbal tests - and finally, *drove the wrong way round the Square*!!!!

(For those zillion or so people unfamiliar with Christchurch ANZ, this is the centre of the city-)

The traffic officer, greyfaced, rigid, unsmiling, ticked the PASS box and said (how could I ever forget this?) "Not the nervous type eh?"

[Insulin]

I don't have a drivers' licence.

[Kam]

I don't have a driving licence and I don't want one for the moment.

The main reason is the fact that drivers in belgium are most of the time crazy on the road ... and so I'm scared to drive...

[TeddyMiller]

Other: I got my license over 20 years ago, and haven't driven since then.

[Schala Zeal]

I just wanted to know if I’m the only one who doesn’t have a driver’s licence and doesn’t want one either. I’ve had a lot of discussions with my dad about it (actually it’s usually just him saying “You should get your licence” and me mumbling, “but I don’t want to” like a little kid; since he works for GM it does seem a little strange for me not to want to drive). I just don’t fancy the idea of being in control of such a large and potentially lethal weapon.

In Ontario, we have “graduated licencing”, so you have to go through a series of steps before you get your full licence. It takes about 2 years, generally. This system came into effect in March 1994, two months after I turned 16, so I could have potentially gotten my licence very quickly before. Many of my friends thought I was nuts for not wanting to. Almost 11 years later, I still don’t want to. The only reason I would get the licence is so I would have a piece of ID that has my picture and signature, and it’s too much of a hassle to go through just for that.

So, am I alone? Do you have any funny anecdotes about driving (or scary)? If you don’t have a car, how do you get around, and how long does it take you? I love to walk, but it takes 30 minutes to get to the grocery store. I also take transit, and in the spring, I’d like to get a bike. I haven’t owned a bicycle for . . . I don’t know how long.

I don't have a driver's license, nor do I want one. I'm 22 (legal age is 16) and have the cash for it, even enough for a car, but no, just no.

I prefer my bicycle, my legs, or other alternatives, not my own car.

[Goonie]

I have one, but I didn't get it until I was in college.

[cait]

have my licence - didn't want it - had to go through getting my learner's permit with the driving school that is harder to pass than the actual road test to get my real licence. Have it now, don't have a car - probably won't ever get one. My parents made me get one for whatever reason (living too far away from a bus stop I spose). But I am still afraid of driving, and my mom is teaching me to drive a standard, and it's scary, and I don't like it.

It's funny actually. When my older sister was fifteen she was very excited about getting her licence. My dad told her she couldn't get it til she was seventeen though. She was upset, and won in the end. She got it as soon as she was sixteen. But I didn't want my licence and my dad had a hand in pressuring me into it, I believe. I didn't get mine til I was....17 - possibly 18.

[Frigid Pink]

I like driving, especially on the highway at night :D

[Cerhiunnhn]

I just wanted to know if I’m the only one who doesn’t have a driver’s licence and doesn’t want one either. I’ve had a lot of discussions with my dad about it (actually it’s usually just him saying “You should get your licence” and me mumbling, “but I don’t want to” like a little kid; since he works for GM it does seem a little strange for me not to want to drive). I just don’t fancy the idea of being in control of such a large and potentially lethal weapon.

You... sound exactly like me! I could have gotten my license over a year ago (and my permit before that) and I've never wanted to do so. I thought I was alone!

[Hazmat]

Wow, I guess I'm the odd man out. I have my license and I absolutely love driving! But I didn't get it until I was 20 (though I lived in the city for a while and didn't need one), and I was absolutely terrified of driving. What forced me into it was moving to a place that would up being boring to the point where I wanted to jump out a window. But I had to live there because it was within walking distance of my school. So, I could either live there and be miserable or learn to drive and be happy. I chose the latter.

I'm not sure how to explain how I came to love it. I just did.

[suttsteve]

I've had one for decades, but I hardly ever go anywhere.

[Peix]

I'm 20 and don't have one, because I can't afford the insurance on a car and I live in a city where I can walk everywhere and public transport is good enough anyway.

--El Peix

[Jael L]

As an epileptic I'm prohibited from driving a car, but even were I physically and legally capable of driving nothing would induce me to try - the fear of doing harm to someone is far too overwhelming. I have occasional nightmares in which I'm in charge of a vehicle, even the prospect of riding a bike in traffic would terrify me.