Do you think it's weird if someone doesn't know how to drive?

Wibbs

Another angle to this might be that quite the number of people driving around actually shouldn't be in command of a moving vehicle. I know one guy who learned later in life(30's, but he was an uncoordinated mess at 18) to drive. Well when I say learned… He learned enough to pass his test on the fourth or fifth attempt, but quite frankly the guy is a danger to shipping every time he turns the wheel. The only straight panel on his first car was the roof. When I heard he had bought a new car, I suggested to a mutual friend that we should take a lump hammer to the panels, to get ahead of the game like. This guy actually gouged the gatepost of the driving licence testing centre on his second attempt at passing his test. He really shouldn't be driving IMHO. He is a danger to himself and others. And in my experience there are quite the number like him.

And TBH I don't blame him. Driving is a skill and like any skill some people are naturally brilliant at it, most people are OK at it, but some people are bloody disasters and no amount of training or experience will change that. Maybe they've bad coordination, can't judge distances, have slow reaction speeds, whatever. The problem is such people can get a car and licence pretty easily. IMHO too damned easily.

If cars were invented today, they would be heavily restricted to people with aptitude, interest and training. There was a point early on in aviation that all you needed was the cash and off you flew. That lasted for quite the while, right up to the second world war pretty much. Cars similarly. If you had the cash off you went. Then licensing and testing and all that came in, but at a time when 99% of cars were slower than continental drift and the roads were empty*. These days even your basic model A to B shopping trolley would be like rocket ships to a 1930's driver(unless they were peddling something like a blower Bentley or a racing Alfa Romeo). Yet cars have killed and injured far more people than aircraft. I'd bet that a single day worldwide of car deaths and injuries would be more than the deaths and injuries from a couple of decades of aircraft deaths and injuries, yet driving is seen as a given, a right?

If I ruled the world *cue song* I'd be far more restrictive on being a car driver. IE I'd have a limit for passing a test. Four strikes and you're out for a start. Four fails and take a decade out and try again then. I'd apply more restrictions and tests on physical abilities too. Oh and lest some get twitchy, that would be above and beyond folks with disabilities. One of the safest and most clued in drivers I've known was a victim of the thalidomide fcukup in the 1960's. Yes she was running short of limb and her car was adapted to her, but she was a damned good driver. I'd have retests every five years for the under fifties, every two for the over fifties and every year for the over seventies.

Shenshen wrote:

Fail it 6 times, you'll be sent off for a physical-psychological assessment, to see if you should be allowed to re-try at all.
None of that is for free, either.

Sounds OK to me TBH SS.

Oh and I am quite happy to say I'm no Stig. No racing driver am I. I know a couple of that type and they're like a different species.






*actually I'd hate to be starting out and learning to drive today. Even in my lifetime the level of traffic and the speed of said traffic has gone right up.

Summer wind

I'm driving 18 years. I took lessons when I was 23 and passed my test on the first try 18 months later. I love driving it gives you so much freedom. I live in the heart of the country and couldn't go anywhere if I couldn't drive. I don't think it's weird that everyone can't drive though cos if you live in a city you may not need to. Best of luck with the driving Medusa22 just take your time and make sure you are comfortable with everything and you will be fine. Even Jenson Button was a learner once:)

Fluffy Cat 88

Started driving age 17. But that was years ago, no lessons necessary that time - just hop in and keep between the ditches!

I've been driving over 25 years, passed my test 3rd attempt - didn't bother with lessons.

Trouble is, I'm not a very skilled driver. I can and will drive anywhere and do a lot of city driving although I live in the schticks.

The only non-drivers who irk me are the freeloader passengers that need to be kicked to the curb. I'm talking about the ones who don't drive, but think they're doing you a favour by getting a lift to work etc with ya.

Wouldn't even offer a tenner for petrol for the week. These people need to be beaten with a stick.

I work with a few of them. They get lifts for a while with someone, driver starts making excuses not to bring them - they latch on to someone else for lifts. They live their entire lives thinking the world owes them transport.

Scroungers!

TemptationWaits

I wouldn't say it's weird to not be able to drive, but there are a few deeply annoying things that non-drivers occasionally do.

- Say "I can drive" because one time they were let have a go in the drivers' seat of some relative's car in the back arse of nowhere.

- Say "I don't need to drive" while expecting you to bring them places, and while in the car suggest making a diversion to someplace way out of the way and where parking is gonna be a hassle. "Oh why don't we swing by Henry Street?"

- Give driving advice. Somehow it is often the case with men that they think they're naturally going to be driving experts and think themselves qualified to provide unsolicited advice.