Did your Mum ever drive?

My mum was in her late 40's ear;y 50's when she learned to drive, automatic as she just didnt get the gear stick!!! I remember she once drove her and a friend to Gt Yarmouth for a weeks holiday and she got totally lost on the journey home. After that she only drove locally, and i am afraid i have taken after her. I don't do motorways far to much traffic which overwhelms me. Luckily all family live local so i do not need to drive long journeys.

Thank you for this thread, Foxglove - it's become a fascinating slice of social history.

My mother was a farmer's daughter brought up in the era of carthorses. She would ride a Clydesdale bareback but I don't think she'd have had the nerve to get behind the steering wheel if we'd had a family car.

Her mother and aunt were Edwardians with a shabby genteel upbringing. Once a year they came to visit us in remote Banffshire in a hired car with "chauffeur". The old ladies loved playing Queen Mother and would heave themselves out of the car to greet us in a great waft of mothballs.

One of them did. (I had two mothers). One obtained her driving licence back in the 1930's .

My mum did, took lessons in her 30's passed before my Dad. She also took herself off to Local FE college and took some O levels.
She also did a night class in Car Maintenance, my Dad was more than happy for that skill.
She only passed away a year ago, so miss her.

My mother passed her test before WWII, had her own car, I think it was an Austin 7, which she drove during the war in her work for the Food Office; after the war. married with a child and no longer working, she had to give her car up, which must have been hard.
She did drive my father's car and eventually had one of her own and drove well into her seventies, as I am doing.

My mum passed her test when she was in her early 40's in the early 70's. I learned to drive shortly afterwards when I was 17.

We only had one car - which was quite normal in those days - she rarely drove it and that would only be locally.

When my parents went out in the car my dad always drove. My mum gradually lost her confidence and sold the car when my dad died in his 70's.

My mother didn't drive, but had a licence. In the days before driving tests, anyone could get a licence and I think her brother, who owned a dealership probably tried to persuade her to try driving. The licence was simply kept going year in, year out but even when my patient dad tried to teach her, she was far too nervous. His licence, too, was acquired before tests began but throughout his life, he was an excellent driver - loved driving fast! He gave me lots of practice after I had failed my test twice and he really was patient.

I only remember my mother driving once when i was about 7yr old.
My grandma never drove,iv`e been driving for about 35 years and i love it.

Notspaghetti I have been looking through old family photos.

The male side have been lorry and bus professional drivers in years gone by. My Mum and her Mother never learnt to drive. I was a reluctant driver but my daughter never looked back and has a PSV and train licence.

I was interested to know how common it was for women to drive in previous generations, compared to women of today where it is the norm.

My Mum passed her test when I was a young child and I remember pulling on the back of the drivers seat trying to help her turn corners because I was so nervous.

Mum never drove. She occasionally tells me what to do (Marjorie goes a different way - to a funeral or whatever) which results in me saying "Who is driving?"
She comments on drivers, cars, fumes but relies on me driving her to appointments.

My Mother could drive , but never bothered , I got my licence before the driving test was brought in , but never managed to master the skill . I had lessons in my fifties , but all that happened was the Instructor learned some language he’d never heard before ! ?

Foxglove77- Just wondering, what made you interested in this?

Neither of my parents could drive. Mum wanted to learn during the war when in the waafs, but it was necessary for her to learn the basic mechanics of a vehicle in case of breakdown which, sadly, she couldn’t grasp, so she never did learn. Finances were too tight after for her to take lessons. Dad, bless him, had no sense of direction whatsoever, so I doubt he would have been a good driver, even if he could have afforded lessons and a car.

Yes in her 30s. Her sister, my Aunt who was 10 years older learnt in her 20s but no other women in our family drove on any side of the family. I know my Aunt was told 'women couldn't drive' and this was as late as the 90s!

I learnt at 17, I wasn't putting up with that sexist rubbish!

My DM (born 1918) learned in her mid 40s, since it was only then that she could afford her own car. DF’s was a company car and IIRc she wasn’t allowed to drive it, and in any case she’d have found it too big.).

She drove until about 80 but I wouldn’t say she was ever super confident. By then she’d become more nervous but giving the car up meant that she became increasingly housebound - she had reclusive tendencies anyway.
She could easily have afforded to take taxis - we had pointed out to her that what she was saving by no longer running a car meant she could take masses) but she was of a generation/mindset where taxis were a Gross Extravagance. ?

Neither of my parents drove. They simply couldn't afford it and I don't think Dad had the temperament. He worked for a bus company so got a free bus pass and Mum could go half price. His observation was, "Too many idiots on the roads."

Younger brother was taught by his wife when in his 20s. I didn't knuckle down and learn until my mid 50s. Older brother and twin sister had a few lessons but couldn't get the hang of it so didn't persevere. I'm so glad I did.

My mother learned in her mid forties when she needed a car for the business she had set up before divorcing my father. She loved driving fast, but fortunately knew when to give up.

No, my mother never learnt to drive, no point they could never have afforded to buy a car or maintain it.

Yes - she learned in her 30s - then refused to walk anywhere, ever again. Of course, her health suffered accordingly.

Living in London, I never bothered, though, as it's so easy, and more convenient, to get a cab.

My granny had an open topped car and drove it all over the country. My mother drove before I was born but gave up when she had a crash.

After my father died, mum took lessons and passed at the 7th attempt (aged 65) having failed one test for crashing into a wall! She was a nightmare and how she ever passed I will never know.

DH's mother passed her test in the 50s and had her own car.

I can't imagine being unable to drive and having my own car.

We also ensured that all our children could drive and have access to a car.

Mum decided to learn to drive in her early 30's, although as they only had the one car, she didn't have much opportunity as Dad mostly took over the driving on trips out. She passed first time.

When Dad died in 1998, she decided to take a few refresher lessons, and then drove quite regularly until her early 70's when she decided to stop as she lost confidence.

Dad never took a test as he drove tanks in the War, so was given a licence on that basis.

My mother passed on her 7th attempt, I'd give her an A+ for persistence and having been a passenger on the rare occasion, a D- for ability. She was a terrible driver!
My MIL however, learned to drive in her teens and after university and during the war, used to drive all round the SE advising dairy farmers on how to increase their milk production. She was accompanied by her trusty golden retriever, Roxie, and continued driving until in her 90's. Even in her 90's she was a better driver than my Mother was in her 40's.

It would never have occurred to my mother to want to drive a car, and neither of my sisters never drove. Apart from some of my female teachers I didn’t know any women when I was growing up who did. My father learned to drive in the Army and so did my adult brother who then started a garage business so there was always a car of some sort in the family. I didn’t learn to drive until I was forty, and passed my test first time, as did DD. Both my son and my son in law took five tests before they passed. DH took his driving test in Belgium and it was quite farcical, but it got him his licence! They are all very good drivers now, but after driving for years for both work and leisure I now seem to have lost my driving mojo.

My mother was a terrible driver she was always crashing into something or other . I remember her bashing into a small island turning right into the housing estate of a main road and my dad rushing back to fix it before the police found out. I think she had more than 6 attempts at passing her test. I was in my 30s before I sat my test and passed first time what an achievement that was.