M. 34

I’m currently studying for the theory and then the practice for the license and I hate it… But since I’m unemployed for like half a year now maybe it will give me more chances to get hired. Still I will avoid driving as much as possible, being on a highway scares me and I’m afraid of having an accident. Plus I wear glasses and I’m not sure if my reflexes or peripheral view are good enough…

So, what’s your reason to not drive a car… money? For the environment? Are you afraid? You really don’t need to?

  • intelisense@lemm.ee
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    6 months ago

    Simple: I fucking hate driving. I hate the smell, I hate the noise, and I hate the stress. Thr environmental impact isnt exactly a plus point either. You could say that I’m lucky to live in a place with good public transport, but I actively sought out a place with public transport because I didn’t want to rely on a car.

    Final nail on the coffin: I developed Menieres disease, so I am prone to intense vertigo attacks at short notice - I couldn’t get a license even if I wanted one.

    • whaleross@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Same here. I grew up in a big city, moved around to different big cities, always been on foot, biking or communal traffic. Never felt the need for a car. I’m in the upper middle ages now so I doubt it’s going to change.

  • lorty@lemmy.ml
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    6 months ago

    Cars are expensive to buy and maintain. Also I don’t think finding a parking spot and then parking is a fun activity. Also the metro can in many cases be faster, and I can use my phone while I’m in it.

    • OrgunDonor@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Trust me, you could absolutely follow the example of other drivers and use your phone while driving.

  • weeeeum@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    I’m personally baffled at how many are killed in automobile accidents. 44,000 Americans every year. American KIA numbers for the entirety of the global war on terror is around 5,000. That is roughly only one month’s worth of automobile deaths.

    Americans dead in Vietnam is around 58,000 over ten years. That’s only a year and a half worth of automobile deaths.

    Even in WW2, over 4 years, 416,000 americans lost their lives, around 104,000 per year. Even during the deadliest war in history, automobiles today still kill 44% as many year to year. Granted the war did not touch America as much relatively but are still mind boggling statistics.

    It feels as though learning to drive is merely fueling the cycle. More cars cause politicians to invest further in road infrastructure instead. More people giving up on public transportation further starves it of the funding it deserves and desperately needs.

    • Hugh_Jeggs@lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      It feels as though learning to drive

      Yous should probably start there

      Fuck me, the worst, most selfish and badly trained drivers I’ve ever seen in my life

      How the fuck could anyone be ten times worse than the Italians?!?!

  • gerryflap@feddit.nl
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    6 months ago

    I have a license, but never use it. I’m Dutch. My work and the train station are less than 10 min by bike, the supermarket is a 5 min walk. I can do almost anything by bike and sometimes public transport and it saves me hundreds of euro’s a month.

  • xavier666@lemm.ee
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    6 months ago

    I have a license. I enjoy driving as a leisure activity.

    But I hate driving to work. I just take the shuttle and enjoy listening to my podcasts. We have a decent public transport system as well, so it helps.

  • 6mementomori@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    According to medical checkups, I am fine, but I know for a fact I am not a safe driver. I have bad attention span, sight, reaction, field of view, and tiredness issues. I am ideologically repelled by cars. And it looks feels dull to me to drive and also to study for an exam.

    • Persen@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      For me, it’s the opposite. I’m autistic, without ID (aka intellectual disability), but apparently, I have practically the same amount of rights as people with ID. I was forced to go to the psychological exam, where nothing was wrong, but I got accused of being irresponsible and have to wait another year. Great.

    • Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      6 months ago

      I feel you mate.
      Also get easily tired in a car. Already got in an accident with another car at slow speeds. Luckily it was a company owned car :p

  • wildcardology@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Basically, confidence. I don’t have enough confidence to drive a car. Heck even riding a bike gives me anxiety that I’m going to collide with somebody or get hit by someone.

  • Onno (VK6FLAB)@lemmy.radio
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    6 months ago

    I had no access to or use of a car until I was around 23. Up to that point I lived in a country where you could cycle for most of your daily routine, take the bus a couple of times a month and the train sporadically.

    I moved to a country where cycling was for the poor and foolhardy, me for several years, and public transport was atrocious.

    Public transport has marginally improved, my bicycle hasn’t been used for 20+ years and our household has one car.

    Learning to drive is a process. It takes time. Just like learning to fly a plane takes time. If you have a need to drive, learning how is step one. In my country even when you pass your test, you are required to keep a logbook for at least two years and drive in a variety of conditions before you can actually upgrade your probationary licence.

    • PrivateNoob@sopuli.xyz
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      6 months ago

      Wow which country did you go from and to where?

      It seems like a downgrade, but there must have been an economical / life quality reason that you had moved.

      • Onno (VK6FLAB)@lemmy.radio
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        6 months ago

        I was born in Australia, moved to the Netherlands as a child and as an an adult moved back to Australia where I am now.

  • thirteene@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    I got my license at 18 before I moved out, but my parents made the entire ordeal a nightmare. It was more anxiety than it was worth to get my required miles in with them as the instructor. People living in large cities often never get the opportunity, it’s high stress and taxis are readily available. Car ownership is expensive and public transportation is available, as well as biking. In uni I taught several Asian students how to drive because countries like Japan often have expensive training programs, and insurance is painful for testers. European cities are often designed for micro mobility and bikes and smart cars are preferred just because of size.

    • lud@lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      Aren’t taxis incredibly expensive where you live? They are here.

      • bountygiver [any]@lemmy.ml
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        6 months ago

        They typically are quite expensive, but if you don’t use them daily, only use them when absolutely needed (which is when other options are not available), it will be cheaper than maintaining a car.

  • u/lukmly013 💾 (lemmy.sdf.org)@lemmy.sdf.org
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    6 months ago

    I don’t want to get a license only to forget everything because I won’t drive.

    I see having a car as a necessity only. For me, it’s only acceptable if public transport/bicycle is not an option. Unfortunately, the latter is almost never an option due to how everything is built car-centric, but the former very often is.

    Also, I don’t know anything about cars, I don’t have to think where to park that huge piece of shit, I don’t need to be my own driver, I don’t need to do any maintenance, it’s more ecological and even cheaper than just gas.

    !fuckcars@lemmy.world

  • Fungah@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    I don’t like driving…

    I don’t need to drive

    Owning a car is stupidly expensive. And its an expense I don’t need to pay.

    Cars make people lazy and entitled and create divisions between them. When you’re driving you’re not around other people like you would be on public transit. They’re bothered.

    • Flanhare@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      That’s a very narrow view. It depends a lot on where you live and what interest you have.

      You realize there are a lot of people that live and work and do stuff where it is practically impossible to cope without a car?

      Driving does not automatically mean you want to avoid other people.

      • bountygiver [any]@lemmy.ml
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        6 months ago

        I don’t need to drive

        They literally explained their reason. There’s no need to bring up other circumstances. Them not liking to drive will also lead to them avoid moving to places that they must drive. An activity that will take a significant amount of your life is going to be an important factor to decide where you move to.

      • hglman@lemmy.ml
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        6 months ago

        Cars automatic make people disjointed from the people who live around them.

    • Delusional@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      My coworker has the same reasons except he has another coworker drive him to/from work so his reasoning is kinda sloppy there.

    • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      I rode the 16 bus in Denver for a while as my commute to work, and believe me I am so happy to be separated from those people.

      99% of them were fine but the other ones … let’s just say they aren’t ever guests in my car.

  • Obinice@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    I don’t think people are “refusing”, it’s not like it’s mandatory or anything. Nobody’s trying to force you to drive a car.

    I know I’ll never be able to afford a car, they’re incredibly expensive to buy and operate, and most of my travel is already covered by our excellent Trams, Buses and Trains, which can get me basically anywhere comfortably and quickly.

    For the times I need something special I can ask someone for a lift, but that happens only a handful of times a year. A car would be a big, expensive, risky piece of equipment to just leave sat around for someone to steal…

    • Slippery_Snake874@sopuli.xyz
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      6 months ago

      Some people certainly are refusing. I know someone who is almost 23 and refuses to get a license. His parents got a car for him and his brother (who never leaves the house) so he could drive just chooses not to. He even had his mom drive him to his job every day over the summer.

    • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      I don’t think people are “refusing”

      This is kind of a pointless assumption. There are billions of people. Yes some people are refusing.

      If you’re not refusing, then the question isn’t aimed at you.

    • 𝚝𝚛𝚔@aussie.zone
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      6 months ago

      I don’t think people are “refusing”

      I know a few people who have no reason NOT to learn to drive, but just don’t and instead mooch off everyone else.

      My folks had a falling out with a couple they’d been friends with for ages because they refused to get their licence… But then expected them to come and pick them up from the train station when they were invited to dinner, spent most of the night telling everyone how smart they are for not having a car, and then expecting a lift back to the train station. Having just spent a couple of hours banging on about how much financially better off they were, I saw it as essentially stealing to then demand someone else use their asset and running costs to carry them around for free.

      My sister in law finally got her licence at 30-something after a couple of decades constantly harassing family members for a ride.

  • nasi_goreng@lemmy.zip
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    6 months ago

    Instead of car, people of my country usually able to drive motorcycle.

    But not me. I’d rather take my bicycle. I don’t want to deal with cost of maintaining motorcycle.