Thinking about getting driver's license

[fokof]

I'm thinking about it and wondering if it is because I'm getting old. (44)

I really made that a target , to have a full professional life without ever owning car.

Anybody in that situation ?
What do you think?

[Number27]

cars are great. i totally recommend them.

[Atoz]

I don't know where you live, but where I live is so sparsely populated that living without a car would be almost impossible.

I'm exactly your age, BTW.

[UnsungZeros]

Go for it. Even if you don't own a car, having a driver license opens up the possibilities of renting or borrowing a car.

[RWP]

I guess you have always lived in a city where you never needed anything other than public transportation? If that is the case you may find a car a huge burden. Where will you keep it etc. Don't get me wrong, cars are great if you need one but if you don't it's more of a hobby.

[DeluxeRed]

Unless you have been studying, practicing, and been in through training...PLEASE DON'T! Driving is a combination of explicit awareness and implicit reactions, implicit reactions most people learn at a young age where reflexes are faster and the brain more plastic.

That's all we need is another inexperienced driver on the road.

I'm just fine with you not having a license. Driving isn't just something the kool kidz do--it is a life and death matter.

[Absentia]

Easier than ever from what I can see, you don't necessarily need to know how to drive anymore.

[zenrad]

Originally Posted by DeluxeRed

Unless you have been studying, practicing, and been in through training...PLEASE DON'T! Driving is a combination of explicit awareness and implicit reactions, implicit reactions most people learn at a young age where reflexes are faster and the brain more plastic.

Um...44 isn't exactly elderly. I knew of a guy in his mid 50's who learned to race sport bikes.

What about senior citizens? Very many people continue to drive well into their 80's and beyond. Just because they learned how to drive as a youngster doesn't help their reflexes, eyesight or make their decision making process any better.

You can't convince me that the mom in the SUV talking on the phone or the guy playing with his laptop while driving down the highway, or the countless teens (and adults) who text while driving, put on makeup, eat their lunch, read the paper, etc. etc. are any better drivers than a middle aged person who decides to get a license.

To the OP: go for it if that's what you want to do. You don't need to get a car if you don't want but it would be great to have if for no other reason to have a good photo ID

[DeluxeRed]

Originally Posted by zenrad

...What about senior citizens? Very many people continue to drive well into their 80's and beyond. Just because they learned how to drive as a youngster doesn't help their reflexes, eyesight or make their decision making process any better...

Sure it does (help that they learned young). Go study the physiology of learning. Plus, if they learned when they were young, they have years of experience and practice, as well, something the OP will never have.

If you don't think your other example drivers aren't better than someone who learns to drive in middle age, ask the middle-age learner to drive while putting on makeup or typing in their laptop. They can't. I'm not condoning unsafe driving practices like that, but they are a perfect example of people having the implicit reactions that the OP would be lacking. (They just don't have any common sense or smarts, but they can drive.)

[playinpearls]

if you dont need one, dont bother....too much money involved...just leads to debt...


unless your a speed nut...it is fun...

[zenrad]

Originally Posted by DeluxeRed

Sure it does (help that they learned young). Go study the physiology of learning. Plus, if they learned when they were young, they have years of experience and practice, as well, something the OP will never have.

If you don't think your other example drivers aren't better than someone who learns to drive in middle age, ask the middle-age learner to drive while putting on makeup or typing in their laptop. They can't. I'm not condoning unsafe driving practices like that, but they are a perfect example of people having the implicit reactions that the OP would be lacking. (They just don't have any common sense or smarts, but they can drive.)

Years of experience doesn't make you a better driver. What about people in their 70's who have been driving since they were teenagers and are still bad drivers? Study and practice makes you a better driver.

You're also making judgements about the OP, he'll NEVER have this or that. How do you know? If someone is over 30 should they just quit and be satisfied with whatever they are and don't even try to learn new things?

You're painting a mighty broad stroke that's not based on current knowledge or studies. The brain at middle age is actually able to learn just as well as a young brain, information is just processed differently. As for reflexes, I know a few Kung Fu masters who, well into their 50's, can deck me before I can blink my eyes. Some of them didn't begin their studies until age 30 or beyond.

It all depends on the individual - anything is possible if you allow yourself to believe it is. We rule our minds and bodies, and with this attitude learning is possible at any stage of life.

This carries into music as well. If the mind is filled with "I'm too old and slow to learn this riff" then you won't learn it. If you throw that attitude away and focus you can still improve.

I've been playing for over 35 years now, and I continue to learn and improve, and as long as arthritis or other physical limitation doesn't get in my way I'll continue to learn new things, improve in new ways, and maintain my dexterity. I'm playing things now I couldn't pull off a year ago. Maybe there will come a day when I can no longer hit the notes at the same tempo, or at all, but so far it hasn't arrived and I'm older than the OP who wants his license.

I don't want to get inot a pissing contest about the brain, my point is that I think people should be encouraged to get out there and do things, learn things at any age.

[PSPookie]

Originally Posted by UnsungZeros

Go for it. Even if you don't own a car, having a driver license opens up the possibilities of renting or borrowing a car.

This.

Driving is a valuable skill and having a liscense does not mean you have to go out and buy a car.

BTW, I think it's awesome that you've made it this far without one. Where do you live?

[Pilgrim]

Originally Posted by fokof

I'm thinking about it and wondering if it is because I'm getting old. (44)

I really made that a target , to have a full professional life without ever owning car.

Anybody in that situation ?
What do you think?

I can't imagine being 17 without having a driver's license. I grew up in the western US where if you can't drive, you DO NOT go anywhere...I mean you can't even get into town. I grew up 4 miles in the country and it wasn't that safe to ride a bike on the roads...no shoulders on the road.

In the US in general, mobility equals driving a car. No driving, no mobility farther than you can walk or conveniently ride a bike...and a bike doesn't get you from Denver to Seattle, which can be a great drive.

One of my favorite things to do is to drive the roads in the western US. Everyone needs to see big sky in Montana, rock formations in Utah, the salt flats west of Salt Lake City, the Cascade mountains in Washington, ride a ferry from Seattle through the Strait of Juan de Fuca, visit San Antonio and the Alamo...the list goes on. And driving is what will get you there, because the process of driving and all the stops on the way are important.

Get the license, then rent a car when you need one. Your world will get bigger.

[bongomania]

Originally Posted by zenrad

Years of experience doesn't make you a better driver. What about people in their 70's who have been driving since they were teenagers and are still bad drivers? Study and practice makes you a better driver.

You're also making judgements about the OP, he'll NEVER have this or that. How do you know?

You're painting a mighty broad stroke that's not based on current knowledge or studies.

+1
DeluxeRed, the things you're saying sound to me more like some enthusiastic opinion you cooked up after reading a short article about early learning; they do not sound like they are based on actual driver/accident data.

Additionally, there are many other venues besides driving from a young age, for developing quick reflexes, hand-eye-coordination, and awareness of the people around you.

As an example, I have been a city bicyclist my whole life, riding in traffic. I got my driver's license at age 37, and I can tell you that everything I learned from riding between and alongside cars translates quite well into driving one. Sure I had to learn the footpedals, but everything else--steering, looking around and being aware of other vehicles, signaling, braking, they are not very different from what I already knew quite well.

I guess if somebody had led a sedentary life in a slow-moving rural setting, I would not expect them to do well late in life, when thrown into fast-paced traffic. But if they had biked in the city, played fast-paced sports, flown an airplane, or done anything else involving reflexes, hand-eye, and awareness of what's going on around you, they would do fine as drivers--at least statistically they would not do any worse than the tens of thousands of terrible drivers out there, most of whom got started when they were young.

[Pilgrim]

Well put, bongo. Half of being a good driver is anticipating the stupid stuff that other drivers will do - and a bicyclist is highly attuned to that (at least if they survive very long, they must be attuned to it).

Driving isn't hard...and a smart bicyclist should make an good, alert driver.

[MakiSupaStar]

I guess it depends on your geographic location. Out here in Southern California, it's almost a necessity.

[Steve]

Learn to drive. That includes a a car with a manual transmission. It's a fairly valuable skill to acquire even if you never own a car. It would really suck if you oh, I don't know, needed to drive someone to the hospital or home from the bar or something similar and couldn't make it happen.

[DeluxeRed]

The real world says that people don't do things like fly airplanes without learning how to drive first. And think how bad those >80y drivers would be if they were just learning how to drive, as opposed to having ~25 more years of experience than the OP could possibly have by that age. (I'm talking the general case, not pathalogical cases like people born before there were cars.) If you don't think sheer mileage/experience doesn't matter, go talk to a trucker.

And, Bongo, give it any circumstance from dry streets to snow to road courses or dirt ovals, I would be able to drive circles around you (not that it matters). Why? Because I have years and literally a million miles more experience than you do--experience throwing a ton-and-a-half (or a lot more) of plastic and steel where I want it, something a bike will never teach you. Any you will never catch up, so it will always be that way. I have no problem with "always" and "never".

[fokof]

Intersting answers !

Originally Posted by bongomania

As an example, I have been a city bicyclist my whole life, riding in traffic. I got my driver's license at age 37, and I can tell you that everything I learned from riding between and alongside cars translates quite well into driving one.

That's exactly my situation.
I've been riding bikes all my life in traffic , even done some downtown bike messenging lots of years ago. So I developped a sixth sense of guessing what cars are gonna do that could very well serve me while driving a car.
I worry that if I get a car , I'll get fat .....

I know people who have cars for 20 years and are atroscious drivers.
Experience doesn't have much to do in this. Talent/ability has.

Like in bass playing , you can play without much talent , you'll probably get at the end of the song without much harm (!) but if you'd have a little more talent , it would probably be less dangerous.

[MJ5150]

Originally Posted by Atoz

I don't know where you live, but where I live is so sparsely populated that living without a car would be almost impossible.

I think fokof just stays home and watches hockey. He doesn't need to go anywhere.

-Mike