Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People in this thread are not listening to each other.

One side says DC ought to know HOW to drive and HOLD a driver's license. Note well: this does NOT mean actually owning a car or driving a car regularly.

The other side says they live in an urban environment and do not need to actually drive a car regularly, but does not articulate why someone will NEVER need a drivers license and NO unplanned emergency situation would ever arise.

Separate from both of the above, there are many situations in my daily life where I NEED to show my drivers license because the bank or company won't accept my US Passport. That ought not happen, but it regularly does happen in real life.

There are non-driver state IDs that are accepted for adults who don’t have a driver’s license.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I appreciate the good advice. I thought I'd wait for my DD to be ready but you all convinced me not to wait. Thanks, DCUM!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sigh. My niece, who is now 25, STILL CANNOT DRIVE. Her younger brother, who is now 23, can.

She was always "too busy" but I think she was just scared. She also didn't learn to ride a bike (I kid you not) until about 5th grade when her mother FORCED it - as in, if you want to do that thing, you will need to ride your bike to it.

Her younger brother? Bike riding in 1at grade.

I think my sister should have PUSHED her to learn to drive in high school - now she's a 25 yr old who has to function (and spend $) with Lyft and Uber AND is trying to hide that she can't drive with her colleagues at work. And she lives in a big city so that's not a great place to learn to drive! Yes, she can have cat litter delivered by Chewy (and does) but honestly, imagine not being able to just jump in the car and drive to the store to pick something up??? I cannot!

I do think a 25 year old should know how to drive...but I live in DC and literally haven't driven to a store pick something up for months. I walk to the grocery, hardware, retail, etc., or order items online or many times Intacart from Costco because I just hate driving out to a Costco. I am strategic in that if I take a road trip somewhere, I try to hit a Home Depot or something on the way home for items I would buy there.

I assume your sister if she lives in a big city has zero issue walking to any store where she needs to pick something up.

Knowing how to drive and choosing not to or not needing to is a VERY different thing than not knowing how to drive and thus never even having the option to drive yourself somewhere. It’s incredibly limiting.

Well OK…but PP said her sister lives in the urban core of a large city and “can’t imagine not being able to just pop into a car and drive to a store”…when 99% of people who have a car in that same city don’t drive to a local store.

Again…the vast majority of 20 something’s who live in the heart of DC, NYC, Chicago, Boston, etc don’t own a car. I guess you can’t jump in a zip car if you want…but most of those people would prefer an Uber anyway.

I don’t disagree that it can be professionally limiting and you should have a license, but for an established city dweller who has no practical need for a license…it’s not really limiting at all.

It’s limiting in many ways. The reality is majority of people without a license are people that can’t afford one and don’t have the means to leave their city anyhow. It’s is highly unusual for someone middle class or UMC to not be able to legally drive