Do you drive?

Our County Council runs an appraisal for over 60’s MOnica, £45 for an hour and a half. You've just reminded me to contact them, thanks.

If you are worried about your driving - and even more if you are not. make sure you check your skills with an accredited driving instructor, from a school or through the Institute of Advanced Motorists.

DH was very seriously ill last year: heart surgery and a hospital acquired infection. Three months ago he spent 5 hours with a driving instructor, driving on all kinds of roads, while she drew his attention to any minor problems with his driving and past on a host of useful hints and tips to keep him driving well. It gave him reassurance and confident that he could still drive safely and well.

I am currently carless. My car was written off a few months ago when a young man, at a minor crossroads, drove straight across a main road without looking to see if any traffic was coming. As soon as I have replaced my car and got used to it, I will do exactly what DH has done, and probably repeat it ever few years to keep safe..

I learnt to drive in my early twenties and still do at age 75. I think still competently. We live on the edge of a small village that has two buses a day to the nearest town. Can't imagine not being able to drive, I would have to move house. (Don't want to).

I'm 80 and still driving the 160 mile round trip to visit my daughter and often then after that drive my 16yo granddaughter to and from her after school job (there's no bus to bring her home to their little village). I don't like driving at night though, or in towns that I'm not familiar with. I have driven all my adult life and took to it like a duck to water, and of course all my children drive. My 66yo niece doesn't though, and has never wanted to. The 16yo GD who I taxi for can't wait to learn and is already saving for her first car (and for uni, and to go to LA to see her fav pop star ....... ). I shall not be a happy bunny when it comes time for me to hang up my keys, as it will of course.

@ Georgesgran I pratfall pleaded with my grandchildren to learn to drive, all paid for and a small 4 to 5 year old Ford Ka was purchased for each of the (just 2 DGC!) neither took the bait and I sold the cars eventually.

I have driven for almost half a century - living in rural areas a lot of the time this was (and is) necessary, given the limitations of public transport. And when we lived in a city, my job involved driving - I would not have been taken on without this skill.

I now have single friends who can no longer drive due to health problems. Also other friends who are newly widowed - or whose husbands are now ill/ disabled - who have in the past been discouraged by their spouses to take on responsibility for the long journeys. They have never driven outside their home town and cannot now face motorway driving. Their lives are now much more constrained. Such problems are worse for the ones who do not live near facilities such as shops and surgeries.

At some point in our lives, however, we are all going to be more dependent on public transport. I have recently been asked to support a new pressure group in our area wanting to increase and improve our local rail provision - access to employment and healthcare being the key reasons. I will be more than happy to do so.

I passed my test at age 17 and have been a car owner ever since. I cannot imagine having to give up on health grounds either, it is my independence and I want to keep it.
I have my free bus pass and have only used it once; we did intend. travelling by bus to the city but Covid put a stop on that and we have not felt inclined to do it since restrictions eased.
I do agree with some other comments too, there does appear to be an element of 'let's disregard the rules and road safety and drive like lunatics' and this is happening everywhere. There seems to be no manners or consideration these days which does take the pleasure out of driving somewhat.

I have always said... One of the top things to happen in my life was passing my driving test. I learnt at 17 and have driven ever since apart from post op restrictions (I was ready to drive but my insurance company said 6 weeks). I have driven all over the UK and post divorce and aged 61 took myself to Australia and New Zealand and drove myself all over both countries alone. I love the freedom of being able to pop into the car and go wherever I want...when I want. At the moment it's almost daily visits to the garden centre.. coming back with a boot filled with plants. I don't want to think about a time when I can drive....my DOH works in the motor trade and can park a car on a sixpence so I'm happy to let him drive when we go out as I do enjoy being driven too .. long may my freedom continue I say ...

Yes, I couldn’t manage without driving, passed my test at 18 so driving for 62 years. My DH has chronic health and I do all of the driving, we live miles from anywhere with no bus service. Our choice to live here but couldn’t without a car.

Women are still overwhelmingly poorer than men and running a car is expensive! I used to think l would learn to drive but l live somewhere where it can't be justified and there are no parking places either.
Women are still, l notice,derided by men for being hesitant rather than arrogant drivers: l would really struggle to feel confident as a driver - and l know several women who learned to drive but never used it for this reason.

Of course I drive.
Do you think I don’t have a life?

I am 75 and have driven since I was 16. I am so grateful that I am still able to. You may think it strange but whenever I get in the car and start driving down the road I exclaim loudly "FREEDOM " I have freedom. I can go wherever I want to go. Makes me feel so good!

Love driving day and night alcove the UK .Mostly lived in rural Somerset buses were few and far between.One place we lived once a week Had to drive for work.Husband cannot drive as Il at the moment could not get to any of his hospital appointments otherwise Rural folk let down by public transport .No buses after 8pm or onSundays

I learnt to drive when I had 3 children under 4,it was a nightmare getting out.
For years I only drove in my local area and relied on my husband for long journeys.He died suddenly and over the years since then I have got used to driving everywhere,including the Continent.

I also love the motorway.

Mobility scooter now as I can't drive due to a neurological condition (not epilepsy) I love my mobility scooter. It gets me all over. I have a full 6 mile an hour one. It takes me all over where I live. It can do on a full charge about 18 miles. Darn sight easier than dealing with traffic too. I would rather not have the condition however I have.

I have my eldest and friends always happy to take me places in the car when I need use of.

My late mom drove which was unusual for her generation. She was born in 1925. She came from a privileged background hence

I love driving too , I also adore train journeys (despite the delays & cancellations) & London buses & tube. The bad thing about driving is parking - I can ruin an enjoyable 30 minute journey worrying if I'll find a space that's not going to cost arm + leg or need pay by phone. Lovely to get off the bus at your destination & just - go! Buses where I live now are dire though.

All my adult life I have felt myself to be an oddity because I have never had a driving licence - much against my will, I may say. My parents refused point-blank to allow me to sit my test at 16, as I was moving away from home, and in Denmark you must take lessons from a state-approved driving instructor which is so expensive that it has always been beyond my means.

I know one, and only one other woman of my age (70) who like me never learned to drive, and can only think of one British woman amongst my parents' friends who did not drive.

I find now that I have retired it's other non-drivers who are happy to use my "taxi service" and non-drivers are the least likely to offer a contribution to fuel despite the recent hugely increased costs. I hope that when I am incapacitated there might be a chance of my getting someone to run me to various appointments, but I will insist on paying my way. I don't often expect some help with fuel costs but it would be nice to feel appreciated and not taken for a mug. I must practise the word NO, with a bit more discretion.

I love driving though I didn’t learn until I was 40 when the arrival of our third baby made it difficult to get back from the shops with shopping and children on public transport.
I’m over 80 and know several women and even a couple of gents who never learnt to drive and among the drivers a large number who never tackled a motorway or the city centre. Perhaps it’s because I live in a capital city where traffic is heavy and public transport available. I don’t drive on unlit roads at night though. Never enjoyed that and now don’t feel safe.

Presumably if you didn’t drive, you wouldn’t move to such a place.

Saying you do not drive because you live in a good-sized town with good public transport and bad parking , is a bit of a cop out. Most of us in that situation would do that.

Supposing you lived in a more rural area, not remote, but one of those villages with in 3 or 4 miles of a town in the busy south east, with buses, but buses that leave you walking half a mile from bus stop to house, or buses who start the journey to the station turning in the opposite direction to the station to go and collect passengers in 3 or 4 other villages before heading back to the railway station, calling in at three more villages, or when a trip to the hospital 20 miles away, requires three buses to get there and three to get back.

What then?

I don't need to drive, living in the city center with a good transport network. Finding a parking space is difficult, so I understand from my friends with cars.

Its just as well we don't all drive, there's enough congestion already and air pollution from the amount of cars on the roads. I feel that, as a pedestrian, without a car and public transport user, I'm doing my bit for the environment!

I love driving, anything and everything, cars, trucks, tractors, minibus, even a combine harvester, would love to drive a tank. Left hand driving, trailer, no problem but it doesn’t extend to changing wheels or servicing, a man can do that for me.

I'd never get anywhere; basic shops, Drs, Dentist,hairdresser, just anywhere unless I was able to drive. Free bus pass useless unless I drive 18 miles to a park and ride and go into a City. Public transport is none existent where I live. Learned to drive in 1966. Dad had a license but was issued in the days when you didn't sit a test. Mum never drove. Parents never had a car. A few of my female neighbours didnt drive, same age as myself. No idea why they didn't bother. Two were nurses, 3 teachers who I thought woukd benefit from the skill.

I've been driving since I was 17 which is a good job as I live in the middle of the countryside, a long way from any bus route and about 15 minutes drive from shops. My mother didn't learn to drive until she was in her 30s and gave up the day my dad retired at 55. It was a shame as she surrendered her independence.