# 19 Years and still unable to drive! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 18, 1999, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19-years-and-still-unable-to-drive/9560 "1999-10-18T12:17:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SterlingNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@SterlingNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SterlingNorth)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 1999, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19-years-and-still-unable-to-drive/9560/1 "1999-10-18T12:17:00Z")
I would like to announce that TODAY (Oct. 18)is my birthday. I’m ninteen years old, and yet I still can’t drive. Amazing, huh? * * * To lying, cheating, stealing, and drinking. Always **lie** to save a friend, **cheat** death, **steal** your love’s heart, and **drink** with good friends. —\*Madison Michele \* ---
**Author:** ![kellibelli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e480ec/32.png) [@kellibelli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellibelli)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 1999, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19-years-and-still-unable-to-drive/9560/2 "1999-10-18T12:22:00Z")
_snicker_ How do you ever get laid? ---
**Author:** ![Temujin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Temujin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Temujin)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 1999, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19-years-and-still-unable-to-drive/9560/3 "1999-10-18T12:41:00Z")
Happy Birthday! Out of curiousity, what happens when you try to drive? ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Propski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5e9695/32.png) [@Guy\_Propski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Propski)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 1999, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19-years-and-still-unable-to-drive/9560/4 "1999-10-18T12:42:00Z")
Do you mean you can’t drive, or you’re not allowed to drive? The first situation can be corrected, the second, only pitied. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 1999, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19-years-and-still-unable-to-drive/9560/5 "1999-10-18T12:46:00Z")
Don’t feel bad! My sister didn’t get her driver’s license until she was 28!! She moved to the suburbs and had to learn out of necessity. I happen to think that the earlier one begins to drive, the better driver s/he becomes, so get your license already! How are you going to rent a car if you go on vacation? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 1999, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19-years-and-still-unable-to-drive/9560/6 "1999-10-18T12:54:00Z")
In New Zealand you’re allowed to get your driver’s license at 15 years old. I’m 30 and still haven’t got a license. Not interested. * * * “To me, socks are like sex. Tons of it about, and I don’t seem to get any.” [The Legend Of PigeonMan](http://www.hotkey.net.au/~guanolad/pigeonman/main.htm) ---
**Author:** ![kellibelli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e480ec/32.png) [@kellibelli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellibelli)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 1999, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19-years-and-still-unable-to-drive/9560/7 "1999-10-18T13:24:00Z")
Sorry for that snotty comment…(my evil twin). Why dont you get a liscence(sp)? Some of the happiest times I have are in the car (NO NOT SEX!) The wind in my hair, the sun on my face…I love driving. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 1999, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19-years-and-still-unable-to-drive/9560/8 "1999-10-18T13:54:00Z")
I’m 29 and I don’t have a license, and have no intention of getting one either. So don’t feel so bad. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 1999, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19-years-and-still-unable-to-drive/9560/9 "1999-10-18T13:56:00Z")
I’ll second Kelli. Driving is fantastic. Get you license (sp! 😉 ) Sterling. Although I too had almost turned 20 untill I got it. But then again, you can’t get it younger than 18 over here. Which is good, because we’re ALL idiots under 18 and a car is a dangerous weapon. Unfortunately, some people remain idiots all their lives, hence my smashed up Peugeot a couple of weeks ago… _sigh_ ## Anyway, it’s fixed now - looking better than ever. Yay ! Coldfire * * * “You know how complex women are” - Neil Peart, Rush (1993) ---
**Author:** ![Catrandom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@Catrandom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catrandom)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 1999, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19-years-and-still-unable-to-drive/9560/10 "1999-10-18T14:28:00Z")
Hey, I’m 37 and I don’t drive – in L.A.! Yes, it can be done, and without mooching rides; you just have to hate driving sufficiently (and perhaps to have totaled four cars in five years) and you’ll find a way to manage. If you want to drive and can do it well, go for it! But don’t feel obligated if you just don’t want to. Catrandom ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 1999, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19-years-and-still-unable-to-drive/9560/11 "1999-10-18T15:00:00Z")
Driving is like sex… When you’re young, you have all the tools to do the job right, but none of the experience. Give it time, grasshopper. Eventually you will get good at BOTH! * * * Yer pal, Satan ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 1999, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19-years-and-still-unable-to-drive/9560/12 "1999-10-18T15:52:00Z")
My grandmother is 80 and has never learned to drive … of course, that may or may not be comforting. * * * Let every student of nature take this as a rule – that whatever his mind seizes and dwells upon with peculiar satisfaction is to be held in suspicion. - Francis Bacon ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 1999, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19-years-and-still-unable-to-drive/9560/13 "1999-10-18T16:16:00Z")
In calif, USA, they have some weird restrictions on that for teenagers. Like they can only do it at certain hours, with certain people in the car. Driving, that is. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 1999, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19-years-and-still-unable-to-drive/9560/14 "1999-10-19T05:12:00Z")
I didn’t bother getting my license until I was 21. I only got it because dating was gonna be really hard without one. * * * Chaim Mattis Keller [ckeller@schicktech.com](mailto:ckeller@schicktech.com) “Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible. The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks.” – Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective ---
**Author:** ![CanadianSue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@CanadianSue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanadianSue)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 1999, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19-years-and-still-unable-to-drive/9560/15 "1999-10-19T05:21:00Z")
you still cant drive? why is that? i would be lost without my car. * * * We are, each of us angels with only one wing; and we can only fly by embracing one another ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 1999, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19-years-and-still-unable-to-drive/9560/16 "1999-10-18T18:15:00Z")
It seems to me there are two issues being confused here–having a license and having a car. A license is fairly cheap–a car is still out of reach for many people (esp. in places like California, where insurance is both mandatory & through the roof). ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 1999, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19-years-and-still-unable-to-drive/9560/17 "1999-10-18T21:25:00Z")
CanadianSue: Actually, a lot of women get lost WITH cars too 😉 ## _Coldfire takes cover…_ Coldfire * * * “You know how complex women are” - Neil Peart, Rush (1993) ---
**Author:** ![SterlingNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@SterlingNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SterlingNorth)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 1999, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19-years-and-still-unable-to-drive/9560/18 "1999-10-18T21:30:00Z")
Well it appears that we are juggling several conclusions. A) I’ve had my Learners Permit since I was 15 (possibly the longest in Virginia history) B) It expires one year from now. (“Uh, Can I have this renewed?” "Sir this is a _five-year-old **Learner’s** Permit_! What have you been doing all of this time?) C) My dad is too chicken to show me how to drive. D) My dad is too cheap to pay for lessons. E) I’d pay it myself, but there’s this pesky thing: College Tuition! The car is no problem; I’d just take my dad’s. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 1999, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19-years-and-still-unable-to-drive/9560/19 "1999-10-18T21:47:00Z")
Don’t you have any friends who will teach you? ---
**Author:** ![SterlingNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@SterlingNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SterlingNorth)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 1999, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19-years-and-still-unable-to-drive/9560/20 "1999-10-18T21:50:00Z")
Not the way _they_ drive! * * * To lying, cheating, stealing, and drinking. Always **lie** to save a friend, **cheat** death, **steal** your love’s heart, and **drink** with good friends. —\*Madison Michele \* [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19-years-and-still-unable-to-drive/9560.md?page=2)