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Discussion I don't know how to drive

Metroid

Metroid

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Too scary. I've been in 5 accidents throughout my life and each one left more and more understated mental scarring. Now I can't be in a car without feeling completely unsafe and flinching at every other vehicle changing lanes, or turning, or braking, or speeding up.

Anyone else agree? :(
 
Sorry you had multiple accidents. Genuinely feels awful reading that. No one should go through it. Does this affect you only while thinking about driving or also if you are in a taxi?
 
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I feel it in any vehicle, front, back, or, in the case of bigger cars or buses, middle seats.
 
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I know how to drive but it also scares me to death, I almost always go with public transport (yeah, I have my own car but I don't use it lol), even though I know it's far from ideal. Relatively dangerous, way too many reckless drivers and questionable units... Even so, I think I have more peace of mind that way than me on the wheel.
 
A car crashed into mine a few years ago and it made me more nervous on the road for a while. Five accidents I can definitely understand putting you off driving altogether.
 
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I had a car accident in which a car ran a red light at an intersection and crashed straight into mine, flipping my car over (miraculously I was okay). I still like to drive, but only at night or in places where there are few people. What scares me is other people. Fortunately, the public transport network in Switzerland is good enough that I don't need a car. But I absolutely understand you OP and I'm sorry for you.
 
I don’t know how to drive either - my adhd makes me feel like im gonna drift off and kill someone’s grandma or something - just have a bit of a complex about it for whatever reason not as a result of an accident or anything, but just feel anxious and dislike the sensation of acceleration for whatever reason - so yeah, i think my phobia of it is more unreasonable than yours! Can totally understand where you’re coming from - anxiety sucks
 
I've got a licence but eh, it's not worth it. I think too much. Gonna inevitably let my mind wander or I'd be way too hyperfocused on the road, both are bad outcomes.

Luckily at the moment I'm in a city with good enough public transportation so I don't need to invest towards buying a car, and not to mention the drivers here scare me. You'll almost get hit even if it's your turn on the crosswalk!
 
You know today I misjudged a turn and nearly got t-boned by a guy racing through and it scared me, so I understand, OP. Sadly where I live I have to drive.
 
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I'll learn how to pilot those rolling death machines when society forces me, damn it, and so far public transport has had my back.
 
I understand you OP; I was just in one accident (a car hit me on the side, fortunately it just damaged one of the back doors) and it made me having a more defensive and slower driving.
Do you live in area with a lot of traffic? I feel fine driving in smaller cities, rural areas or places with low traffic but i get anxious if i need to go to a bigger city.
Unfortunately, in the country where i live (Portugal), you need to have a car to be able to go anywhere unless you live in the capital (Lisbon); public transportation in nearby cities it's far from ideal.
 
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been driving for about 20 years and have never been in an accident but i do often think about how much of america more or less requires a car to be able to fulfill basic life obligations like getting to work and to stores and how insane it is that we're basically forced to trust that all of these people are capable of operating giant death machines lol

automatic transmissions does admittedly make the act of actually driving a car about as trivial as playing a kirby game, but the moment to moment decision making is still a lot to put on people lol
 
I haven't learnt yet cause driving seems scary and easy to eff up. But then I think about all the people who are kinda stupid yet drive fine lol, surely if they can do it fine I should be able to. Maybe one day.
 
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incidentally, where I live everybody decided to stop using turn signals altogether a few months back

it's been frustrating to say the least
 
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I failed my third driving test this January and, honestly, I feel like I've just given up. Haven't even sat in a driver's seat since then, after having weekly practice and lessons before that point. I mean, if I can't pass a driving test after three whole tries, how could I ever be fine on the road itself?
 
Plum said:
I failed my third driving test this January and, honestly, I feel like I've just given up. Haven't even sat in a driver's seat since then, after having weekly practice and lessons before that point. I mean, if I can't pass a driving test after three whole tries, how could I ever be fine on the road itself?
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To be fair, there's also people that are just bad in exams but actually know their stuff!

said the guy who failed his test thrice too, then decided to just move into a big city where he doesn't need a car... or a driver's license^^"
 
Driving is literally the most fun and freeing feeling in the world. I'm sorry for your loss, OP.
 
I have a license, but I almost never drive - it's stressful and exhausting to me a lot of times.

And living in a city with... well, in all fairness, okay-at-best public transit, I don't need one of these stupid-ass machines unless I need to transport stuff and thankfully, we have a pretty good car sharing system here.
 
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I don't know how to drive either, but in like, I never learned, nor I'm interested either. I honestly don't think I have temperament to drive , so why i put myself and others in that position and risk?

My wife tho, she is a total gearhead , the cars that we had and the ones we are considering buying are thanks to her, she also drives very good (she used to amateur race many years ago).

2 of my kids are gearheads too, my youngest so much that we are considering starting his career in kart racing when he reaches the age.

I'm fine to be copilot the rest of my life.
 
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Mrs. Pheniac can't drive, so we don't own a car and live near a metro station. It's worked pretty well thus far, since she can take the train to go to work. I could drive a rental car if we really need it, but I'm glad we don't have to worry about the expense of parking/gassing/maintaining a vehicle.
 
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I know how to drive but I hate it and it gives me anxiety. I hate that the U.S. is so car-dependent. I dream of living in a city where I don’t have to drive, which I may just end up doing next year.
 
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I drive every day but would definitely prefer not to. It’s bad for the planet! It’s expensive — holy shit, is it expensive! And yes, it’s a definite source of anxiety for me. Sadly, the realities of living in my area and getting my wife (who does not drive) and kid around kind of necessitates it. Or at least, it would be very tough to get by without it.

One time someone (almost certainly on their phone) very nearly rear-ended me at high speed. They must have noticed me stopped for someone to turn into their parking lot at the absolute last second, because they managed to swerve and shave the back-left corner of my car clean off! Thankfully the gas tank was not breached and everybody was OK. Definitely was not having a great time driving for a while after. I started cutting through residential streets to get home after that too.

I do enjoy the actual driving of a car though, the mechanics of it. To that end I enjoy driving in one scenario: early in the morning, especially on a weekend, when there aren’t many other cars around. Driving around and listening to some music when traffic isn’t really a factor can be great! I hope when I get old(er) I can move to a rural area where it’s not busy and boot around in an old piece of shit I don’t really have to care about. A man can dream.

(Also don’t feel bad @Plum — a driving test is a definite pressure cooker environment! Not sure where you’re located but at least in Canada you can get your license anywhere in your province. A friend of mine booked their license test in a rural town where traffic was minimal, no nearby freeways. Could be worth looking into if tests really stress you out!)
 
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I tried it once after getting my learner's permit and I was like "the fuck is this shit?" I'm using my feet? I'm spinning a wheel to turn? Why am I not centered?

It'd be a pretty terrible idea for me to do it, with my eyesight and general obliviousness and lack of focus, so I've never been too bothered about it. I've come to kind of hate being in a car in general in recent years, it's such an uncomfortable experience and now that I'm older the ferocity of the vehicles and how dangerous it is to be in and around them is a lot more apparent. Makes it hard to even ride in one because every jerk could be nothing or you could be about to hit something and die.
 
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I can't drive due to vision issues and my anxiety disorder + tendency to just zone out (it's possible I have ADHD, but I don't have the means to look into that). And even if I could, the roads where I live are... pretty bad and the other drivers even worse. My mom and I typically have one near-accident whenever we go out. It terrifies me.

I want to be able to walk to places, or maybe ride a bike. I wish public transportation in my area was better, too.
 
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I don't know how to drive. I should get round to attempting to learn if only because not having a license closes off a load of jobs if my life ever changes and I need to get a job.

But yeah I haven't ever needed to. Of the cities and towns I've lived one had great public transport and the others had acceptable public transport and more to the point I've always been in walking distance of basically everything I've needed in everyday life. So even public transport wasn't strictly needed except the times I lived far from my school and going on a day trip or to visit family or friends.

I also have autism, dyspraxia, and possibly ADHD (waiting list for an assessment is five years) so I'm not looking forward to trying to learn. My uncle also has Autism and failed so much that he got a doctor's note saying he was literally unable to drive which got him a disabled bus pass for free local public transport so I guess I've got that to look forward to if I fail that bad.

Five times is an insane amount of accidents to be in though. Never heard of that many happening to anyone. I'd definitely be scared of being in a vehicle if that happened to me.
 
I'm glad this topic can serve as a little solidarity for my fellow Not Drivers, whether by choice or not. Reading all of your posts has been nice.

crepuscule said:
Five times is an insane amount of accidents to be in though. Never heard of that many happening to anyone. I'd definitely be scared of being in a vehicle if that happened to me.
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I made this topic shortly after reading a statistic that the average person goes through 4 accidents over the course of their entire lives. Definitely made me feel a little validated for being avererae to vehicles. It's not just me either, this means my family in general is quite unlucky with them. My father was with me for 3 of mine for example and I know for a fact he has been in at least one other.
 
I’m a young(ish) queer British person who lives in a city. I’m the exact cross-section of someone who would never know how to drive. I didn’t trust myself at 17, and haven’t felt the need since.
 
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Between the first two Summers after college, I collectively spent about 100 hours taking driving lessons. I failed my driver's test three times, before waiting several months and finally passing it a fourth time. I've only driven once since then, my mom was in the car and she didn't think I was very good. I don't really trust myself to drive. I know I could if I had do, but I'm not in a situation where I do.

I live in a notable US city that's too suburban for its own good because of nimbys. Public transit isn't great but it gets me where I need to go. Which isn't very many places; I work from home and on an average day stay in my room for most of it.
 
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Metroid said:
I'm glad this topic can serve as a little solidarity for my fellow Not Drivers, whether by choice or not. Reading all of your posts has been nice.


I made this topic shortly after reading a statistic that the average person goes through 4 accidents over the course of their entire lives. Definitely made me feel a little validated for being avererae to vehicles. It's not just me either, this means my family in general is quite unlucky with them. My father was with me for 3 of mine for example and I know for a fact he has been in at least one other.
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Guess I'm just ignorant then. I really wouldn't have expected that stat tbh. Just another reason I don't like cars then.
 
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Gladly never was in a serious accident.

I tried to drive but it's really not for me. I can't keep up with handling a car and keeping the street in check. I failed my driving test 3 times. While driving I just think too much about each action I take, which is like the opposite you need to learn for driving. I cycle a lot which is to be honest not much safer, even here in Switzerland, but sitting in a drivers seat in a car again would scare the shit out of me.

Though when I see how many of my friends took their driver test years ago but are really bad drivers because they drive a car like 1-2 times a year, I don't feel like I'm missing out much.
 
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I'm almost the same way. I've never been in a full on accident but I've had a few close calls/scares ect.

Luckily where I live right now there is a trail that leads everywhere in town and it's nice to walk.
 
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Can't drive, large vehicles spook me and I have pretty significant eye sight issues. Thankfully live in a country with good infrastructure for bicycles and with decent public transit but it's still a pretty limiting factor in my life sometimes, more so in my personal than professional life actually.
Not being able to drive my parents somewhere for example feels pretty shitty.
 
I keep getting my learner’s permit and not actually doing anything with it. I got it again in June. Maybe this time I’ll use it.
 
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Leica said:
Can't drive, large vehicles spook me and I have pretty significant eye sight issues. Thankfully live in a country with good infrastructure for bicycles and with decent public transit but it's still a pretty limiting factor in my life sometimes, more so in my personal than professional life actually.
Not being able to drive my parents somewhere for example feels pretty shitty.
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Oh yeah, I don't know how I forgot this, but most of this is true for me too. I feel you
 
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