Do you drive?

I try not to drive locally for environmental and now, obviously, financial reasons.
I did give up the car for a while (having deliberately downsized to somewhere with excellent rail and bus links), but family moving to a place that takes 4 hours by public transport but 1 and a half by car... no brainer.

I've been driving for over 50 years. I've driven abroad and around the UK but now I stay fairly local. I've virtually given up driving at night now. I can't say I enjoy driving. I see it as a means of getting from A to B. It's finding somewhere to park is the problem- the fiddling around for cash/card for meters is a right bind.

I’m 73 and never learned to drive. Couldn’t afford it and live in the centre of town with excellent transport links. Of course it must be different if you live somewhere with only 2 buses a day and no railway station.

For my 17th Birthday present I had a course of Driving lessons from my Mum and Dad about 10 lessons.
I paid for the rest, I passed within 3 months best gift ever.
So 50 years driving now, and bless them they added me to the Car Insurance until I could afford my own one.

We did the same for our children.

My SiL never bothered to learn, that was a big mistake, she lives in a remote area in Scotland, she often get stuck without transport when her DH who is now not in the best of health can't drive her anywhere.

I had lessons when my children were small in my thirties, and although I’m not an anxious person I was always in a state of high anxiety when my lesson time came. I hated it all. My DH was not the most patient of people so I had little practice between lessons . I failed twice , gave up and never tried again . Since DH has died I do miss car trips through France and spontaneous days out, but I live in the London suburbs with excellent services and get about easily when I want to. Unfortunately my DD has moved out into the sticks so my visiting always involves me being picked up from the station 15 miles from their village. Yes travelling does take longer by public transport but nowadays I have plenty of time and usually enjoy my train journeys . A number of my friends have given up their cars either for health or financial reasons , but we are fortunate in living where we do. I think the decimation of rural public transport is outrageous. In my daughter’s village the bus service has been reduced to once a day- 8am to the nearest town and a 5.30 return . Elderly people living there are marooned.

I stopped driving 3 years ago when I was 83. Passed my test in 1962. I just avoided a headon collision as my foot got stuck between the brake and the accelerator.
That was it I never drove after that.Luckily bus services here are good and husband drives.

I took driving lessons and passed my test first time after very few lessons but DH did not have any confidence in my ability, his car so didn't push it.

Night driving - I’ll still do it on motorways and other roads with good lighting and cats’ eyes/road markings, but no way on unlit country lanes or minor roads any more.
I wouldn’t have thought twice once, but IMO it’s a fact of life that your night vision deteriorates with age.

I passed my test 50 years ago in London at the age of 25 in my own car. Soon after that, I met my husband, we got chatting at a party as I said I had a car and he said he could mend cars! A few months later we were married. moved up to Cheshire and learnt a new way to drive. I still loved driving and in fact since my granddaughter was born have re-learnt to drive on Motorways. A few weeks ago I had a nasty fall off my push bike and broke my clavicle and have only just started driving again. Would hate to stop driving.

i don't drive, never wanted to but now i have epilepsy i can't even if i wanted to, my mum learned to drive in her 40s, my son does not drive even though he knows how to as he drove in the army out in iraq, he is happy for his other half do all the driving.

Currently, females with a driver's license slightly outnumber males,” Sivak said. “However, because females drive less than males, the overall likelihood that a given driver on the road today is a female is still less than 50 percent

found this on google.

I’ve been driving for 45 years but have almost given up. We live in an area with single track roads and passing places and I just don’t feel confident about manoeuvring our big car on them, having sold my little Fiesta before we moved here. I’m fine when let loose on the motorway!

Glad I learned to drive, mid 20s for me, later than some, one of my friends was behind the wheel and driving before she was 18. The most beneficial time of my driving life was when I had children, I spent my life driving them to and fro to various activities before they were off on public transport. I took the opportunity of introducing them to a lot music from my youth such as The Beatles and Rolling Stones which they often sang along to before they developed their own musical tastes. At one time my eldest (adolescent age) was very into in line skating and skateboarding, we the mothers, organised a rota to take them to and from skate park with the best ramps a few miles away, I was often on the pick up when at times they took their boots off in my car, the whiff of sweaty adolescent feet was rather overwhelming and not in a good way

Since we moved out of suburbia, although still near a large market town, I have some lovely drives around the country lanes, but am very cautious when approaching corners some drive like absolute maniacs as if they don't expect anyone else to be driving in the opposite direction, it's quite different from driving in built up areas. I can't say I enjoy driving that much, more of a necessity, I tend to limit it to supermarket shopping and going to and from my health club.

I used to drive for work, but then when I was at home with the DC and DH needed the car for his work day and night, I didn't drive so much and walked everywhere.

Now I'm out of practice and scared to try again, although I really should try and get some lessons in case of emergency. We rely on public transport, which we like.

I’m 82. I don’t drive and have never needed or wanted to. I do live in a place where it’s easy to get taxis, though. Most of my friends drive, but I have one or two who don’t.

Cars are horrible things except when you’re in one. They pollute, they injure or kill, parked cars ruin small towns and villages, they spoil unspoilt countryside. However, they are very convenient for the driver, so I don’t suppose they’ll go away.

My father drove for his entire adult life, and we had the utmost difficulty in persuading him to give up in his mid-eighties, when he started to drive in the middle of the road and was generally not very safe. Both my sons drive. It can be useful for jobs, so I made sure they had lessons.

I do drive, but no longer in ridiculous countries where they expect you to drive on the wrong side of the road.

The last time I did that I took my hire car back to Toulouse airport and then had to lie down in a darkened room for several hours to recover.

Never again!

I drive and enjoy it on my own. I don't like having passengers especially DH. He's the worst back seat driver ever and makes me nervous. I also think I've lost a bit of confidence with driving since the pandemic as I don't drive to work anymore. If we go anywhere together DH always drives and I know I shouldn't let him but it's just easier. I need to practice more.

I've driven all my adult life and I love it! Just knowing that I can get in it and can go anywhere I want to, come back when I want to and can take any route that I want to, is a total pleasure. They will have to wrest those car keys out of my cold, dead hands before I give them up!

I first learned to drive in Cyprus, where at the time it was pretty easy to pass. I heard of someone who drove through a red light and still passed - the examiner said, ‘Remember next time!’ ?

After a year back in the U.K. I had to take a much more stringent test, so invested in a few lessons. I still remember the ex-police instructor who made me do a hill start over and over, when I thought I’d done it perfectly.
Eventually he said, ‘You didn’t look over your shoulder. That would be an instant fail.’
He was well worth the money!

Later we lived in Oman, where a younger female colleague (Brit) learned to drive.
At some point she told him that she wasn’t very good at reversing, so needed practice at that.
He said, ‘Oh, they don’t ask ladies to go backwards here.’ ?

I’m sure it’s very different now, when the roads are so much busier.

Yes

Of course

No, never had to, living in London, it's easier to get about without a car. It must have saved me a small fortune over the years - and kept me very fit too. Locals are complaining about the road closures for next Sunday's Ride London. You'd think they were being forcibly trapped indoors without their cars!

I can drive, but I don’t any more. We technically share a car, but it’s too big for me to drive comfortably and I prefer to use the bus. Ironically I feel I have more freedom using the bus as I never have to find a parking space and I’m not tied to being back at the car before the parking runs out. Occasionally it would be nice to just take off I suppose, but in practice I simply work around the bus timetable.

Funny you should ask that ! I’ve been driving for 51 years with a totally unblemished driving record - not so much as a speeding fine, but my idiot , conniving , soon to be ‘ ex’ husband lied about me to the DVLA and my license was cancelled! Even worse is that I’m a MUCH better driver than him, as he can’t anticipate the speed of oncoming traffic, can’t read road signs and tends to doze off at the wheel.
When we met some friends the other evening in Poole, I had to scream at him as he stated to drive the wrong way down a dual carriageway !!!?‍♀️????

I've always driven since my 20's. I've just been off camping in the New Forest with another older friend. Both in our camper vans...

My Son’s partner, aged 39, doesn’t drive and doesn’t want to learn.
I can’t understand it, especially as we live in an area with very limited public transport.
Hey Ho, it’s her choice ?