# Do you think there is alot of pressure on people to learn to drive? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 10, 2020, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-there-is-alot-of-pressure-on-people-to-learn-to-drive/849184 "2020-03-10T03:59:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![48Willys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/db5fbb/32.png) [@48Willys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/48Willys)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2020, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-there-is-alot-of-pressure-on-people-to-learn-to-drive/849184/41 "2020-03-10T23:32:44Z")
I grew up in rural Oregon & Northern California, not to be confused with San Francisco, which is at best, central California. I was driving tractors at 8. All of the tractors are/were manual. At about 10 I graduated to driving grain trucks. Logging trucks came at 12. In the1960s at 14, I got a “Farm Permit” to drive anything on the public roads for farm business, this included the logging trucks. I passed that test with 100% on both the written & the driving sections. When I turned 16 the farm permit was turned in for a regular drivers license with both CDL & motorcycle endorsements. They took my word for it that I could ride a bike. I had to take the written test for both the CDL & the motorcycle. Again 100%. No driving test was administered for the conversion. Like many posters up thread of me, I still can not imagine not wanting to learn how to drive. I always wanted to have licenses to operate almost any kind of equipment. I have all kinds of licenses & permits. The one I do not have is Train engineer. I will not live in a city big enough for me not to need a vehicle, way too crowded. Just for the record, it is amazing what a 14 year old kid with a 1/4 ton Willys can find to do on/near the beach that is farm business. Also for the record I did not get stopped by a cop until I was 15.5 years old. My cousin & I were buying used fence posts from a farm near the beach. The cop was amused that both she & I had farm permits & we were 120 miles from home. No issues, he just thought that we were too young to drive is all. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2020, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-there-is-alot-of-pressure-on-people-to-learn-to-drive/849184/42 "2020-03-10T23:41:29Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Used to be, but now more people believe the drivers’ seat is the only place you surrender your freedom. It’s the only placed the police can demand to see papers of identity without probabe cause and conduct a search without warrant. Young Americans are becoming increasingly cognizant of this, and resisting the temptation to drive. Just tell them you are traveling and not driving. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-there-is-alot-of-pressure-on-people-to-learn-to-drive/849184/43 "2020-03-11T20:25:59Z")
Down here in S. Georgia way back in the early 80s, most high schools of any size offered driver’s ed. Then, in '85, the state quit funding it. Over the next few years, teen driver deaths increased alarmingly. Hmm, I wonder why? New laws have been enacted to reduce the carnage that a simple course in the public schools had been preventing. Public education here has been decried for decades for not teaching kids what the politicians think they should know. If politicians want to do something real and useful about it, they’d put driver’s ed back in the schools as a graduation requirement (physical and mental disability exceptions provided) and save a lot of lives. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-there-is-alot-of-pressure-on-people-to-learn-to-drive/849184/44 "2020-03-12T01:16:26Z")
I grew up in southern California, so getting your license was something every teenager looked forward to (at least, I didn’t know anybody who didn’t). The FREEDOM!!! I took the bus when I was in college (UCLA), well, halfway. I drove to the area where I could get the bus that would take me to campus. But that’s because getting parking privileges on campus were ve\*\*ry limited. I was really spoiled during my senior in high school when I was in the honors program at UCLA and got a permit for Lot 5. Nirvana. Then, I became a fulltime student. Sigh. I never liked being driven by someone I didn’t know (i.e. taxis, Ubers, etc.) It felt like you were expected to interact with the driver, and I liked using my driving time to listen to music, make plans, just be alone for a little while. Do Uber drivers get pissy if you don’t talk to them? I’ve heard it’s considered rude. ---
**Author:** ![Dunmurry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d2c977/32.png) [@Dunmurry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunmurry)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-there-is-alot-of-pressure-on-people-to-learn-to-drive/849184/45 "2020-03-12T23:50:50Z")
Well some people would probably have a father who would say something like You’re 17 son and you’ll have to pass your driving test and their mother might think it was useful to have it if someone needed to go somewhere so they might not have much choice in the matter. Or people they know might think it was odd if they got to the age of 17 and they hadn’t learned to drive and things like this. ---
**Author:** ![cmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@cmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmore)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-there-is-alot-of-pressure-on-people-to-learn-to-drive/849184/46 "2020-03-13T03:17:51Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Used to be, but now more people believe the drivers’ seat is the only place you surrender your freedom. It’s the only placed the police can demand to see papers of identity without probabe cause and conduct a search without warrant. Young Americans are becoming increasingly cognizant of this, and resisting the temptation to drive. you’ve got to be kidding. youth nowadays don’t give a rat’s clitoris about their privacy. if they did they wouldn’t be on every form of social media posting every aspect of their lives online for the world to see. I’m also having a hard time picturing the thought of an illegal search being at the tops of anyone’s concern while driving, young or old, unless they happen to be driving with something they’re concerned would be found. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-there-is-alot-of-pressure-on-people-to-learn-to-drive/849184/47 "2020-03-13T05:31:54Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > Until the era of stripping public schools of support, Driver’s Ed was a perfectly free elective offered to high schoolers 15 and older, including a classroom component of which all I remember is a video reflex test. As I remember they also taught you how to pump gas (not that I needed that skill until gas station attendants disappeared). Everyone I knew in high school drove just as soon as they could legally do so. There was no other reasonable way to avoid being trapped in your house. It was absolutely expected, a normal rite of passage virtually everyone went through. My high school in New York just over 50 years ago did not offer driver’s ed. It would have required a gigantic fleet of cars to have done so. And I lived in a fairly suburban area. I took driver’s ed in a private school over the summer. It is true that I could have learned from my father, but learning from a stranger was far better and I think my father got a break on car insurance thanks to me passing the class. In New York at the time you couldn’t legally drive even with a learner’s permit and your parent in the car until you were 17, the same age you could get a license, so we had to go a long way for me to practice. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-there-is-alot-of-pressure-on-people-to-learn-to-drive/849184/48 "2020-03-13T05:33:55Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Operating a car is easy. Driving a car on public roads is much harder. Driving isn’t about turning the wheel and pressing the brakes, it’s about interacting with other drivers, with pedestrians, and with the law. It’s apparently very difficult to learn, seeing as hardly anyone knows how to do it. Piffle. More people can drive reasonably well than know algebra. Given the miles driven, the number of distractions, traffic, and many unexpected situations the accident rate is not bad. Especially if you remove accidents from flagrant violations like drunk driving and excessive speeding. ---
**Author:** ![Carryon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Carryon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carryon)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-there-is-alot-of-pressure-on-people-to-learn-to-drive/849184/49 "2020-03-13T06:54:36Z")
This is an aside, but I learned to drive on a stick and I am floored by how many people are even afraid to try driving one. It isn’t that hard, once you get into traffic and get stuck behind a green light, you learn how to shift it quickly ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-there-is-alot-of-pressure-on-people-to-learn-to-drive/849184/50 "2020-03-13T12:27:23Z")
> [@Carryon](#): > > This is an aside, but I learned to drive on a stick and I am floored by how many people are even afraid to try driving one. It isn’t that hard, once you get into traffic and get stuck behind a green light, you learn how to shift it quickly I learned on a three on the tree. But also drove automatics. I also had a dirt bike when I was 11yo, so I was VERY familiar with the whole clutch throttle shift thing. It’s not like I surveyed people, but I only know one person that can’t drive a stick. (I’m in the US). A coworker is looking at buying a car (her second, she’s mid 30’s) and is very unhappy with the lack of choices for manual transmission cars. I got over it. I really don’t care if a vehicle is a manual or automatic. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-there-is-alot-of-pressure-on-people-to-learn-to-drive/849184/51 "2020-03-13T18:02:34Z")
In most of America, the environment encourages people to drive, because the only alternative is mooching rides off someone else. I dated a woman who didn’t drive. At first it was fine, because I loved being around her and I don’t mind driving usually. But having to pick her up and drop her off for every date, and even driving her to and from work on a regular basis got really old, really fast. We broke up and now her parents or her new boyfriend drive her everywhere. I can’t imagine living like that, personally, especially not at age 35. > [@elfkin477](#): > > I think there used to be a lot more pressure to get a license in the US than now. Either that or kids are a lot better at resisting it because the number of teens with licenses is way down. I wouldn’t get a license if I were 16 nowadays either. In Illinois at least, and I think the trend has spread to many or most other states, teenagers can _only_ drive to school or work, and cannot drive with another teenager in the car, can’t drive at night, et cetera. With onerous restrictions like that, I’ll just let my parents drive me around for a couple more years. At 18, I think most of those restrictions are lifted and you can drive like a normal adult. But if driver’s ed is only taught to high schoolers, it might be too late for some kids by then. I couldn’t have told you how to get a taxi when I was young. But Uber is dead simple. So I can see the percentage of drivers fall a little bit from that alone. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-there-is-alot-of-pressure-on-people-to-learn-to-drive/849184/52 "2020-03-13T22:38:16Z")
I’m so glad that attitudes towards this are shifting, especially among the younger generations. At least in my area, it doesn’t seem like there’s that much pressure on learning to drive these days. A lot of people can’t afford driving lessons (I only started driving lessons in my late 20’s, as I only had enough money then, though I don’t drive anymore.) And vehicle registration/car insurance/license fees/parking/any possible traffic tickets can get expensive. I’m lucky to live in a place with good public transit, and it’s easier and less expensive to take public transit than drive. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-there-is-alot-of-pressure-on-people-to-learn-to-drive/849184/53 "2020-03-13T23:28:52Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > It’s not like I surveyed people, but I only know one person that can’t drive a stick. (I’m in the US). That’s going to be extremely age and location dependent. In my mid-40s, Chicago, my guess is maybe 10% of the people I know from here know how to drive stick. Maybe. As I cited above, the number appears to be about 1 in 5 Americans can drive stick. If you live somewhere rural, I’m guessing the number is likely much higher. Here in the city, very few people learn. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-there-is-alot-of-pressure-on-people-to-learn-to-drive/849184.md?page=2)