Let’s assume that you lose your driver’s license for 6 months. Don’t say you wouldn’t because for the purpose of this thread you did. The reason isn’t important. What would you do?
Me? I would have to keep on driving. Any penalties that I would face if I were caught would be minor compared to the changes it would take if I didn’t drive. There is no public transportation from my home to work. My wife and I work different inflexible schedules and our places of employment are 50 miles apart, I have to pick my daughter from day-care at 5:30 every day while my wife is still at work. I couldn’t quit my job because we couldn’t afford our mortgage payments on one salary. She cannot quit her job because of finances and because it is a family business.
For us, driving is a necessity as it is for the majority of people that live away from public transportation.
The first thing I would do is petition the courts to allow me to drive to and from my place of employment which is an option as per the laws of my state.
If that didn’t work? I’d drive myself to and from work. That’s it. To the letter of the law, boring-ass driving.
No, I wouldn’t drive without a license. If I need to get anywhere, I’ll have to use public transportation or bum a ride from someone. If I lose my drivers license, my first concern is what will I do for a government-issued ID. Nowadays, you can’t get on a plane without such ID. I’ll have to dig out my passport to use as my ID when I travel.
It depends so much on where one lives. I don’t have a car and I can assure you that here in Sydney, it’s perfectly feasible, and in fact rather easy, to live a non-driving life. All it requires is a bit of planning, good knowledge of the local public transport systems and a preparedness to resort to the odd taxi here and there when necessary.
It depends on when I lost it. If the six months were contained within the school year, it would basically mean I would have to bum a ride to church once a week (OR take a school shuttle, since I go to a religiously-affiliated school, OR walk, since it’s not really very far), and take the bus on the rare occasions when I needed to go outside of the immediate area. I could get by without a license.
Outside of school it might be a different story…I’d hate to be hamstrung and stuck at home because I couldn’t drive. I think I would probably risk driving at least once in a while, particularly because I’m not an especially reckless driver and haven’t gotten a ticket or been pulled over yet in the two or two and a half years that I’ve been automobiling.
I would be nervous about it, but I don’t think it would weigh on my conscience.
Similar to Nightwatch, it would depend on when I lost it. If I lost it right now, I’d be fine for three months–I currently live in the city and don’t drive anyways. When I got home for the summer it would be a little more problematic. I’d either have to have Dad drive me to work (which involves getting up too early for my liking), or have Mom drive me in and back, but that would probably only happen if she was going in for errands anyways. It would be harder to visit friends, but one of them does have a license and two more are planning on taking their tests soon, though those two won’t be able to drive after midnight for two more years.
It really wouldn’t affect me that much, actually–I don’t have my own car, and am only affected when I’m home. But even then, I’m restricted by the avaliability of Mom’s car–I can’t drive Dad’s truck (and neither can Mom) because it’s a stick shift. So, it would be annoying, but not a big change.
I live 26 miles from work and there’s no public transportation. If I couldn’t get permission to drive just to and from work, I’d see if I could find a coworker who’d be willing to carpool me, for a price, of course. Otherwise, I’d just have to drive.
Does your insurance remain in effect if you lose your licence?
Hmmm. It would suck royally. I drive pretty much to the letter of the law, so to continue to drive wouldn’t be that risky. However, my Wife could give me a lift to work, although it would be out of her way. I may be able to move my office to her building (same ‘company’[County Gvmt]different buildings).
I was just told yesterday that certain motorized scooters don’t require a DL to operate here, dunno if that’s true but my first thought was “Ha! I’d get a scooter!”
I’m a single parent, however, I’m not sure I could safely strap my child onto a scooter with me to do the babysitter run in the morning before work, much less silly little things like grocery shopping and doc appointments.
Detroit is Motor City, we don’t gots no stinkin’ public transportation here! Ok, well actually, there’s a city bus system that carts folks between the burbs and downtown, but that wouldn’t help me at all, so I’d probably break the law and drive.
My job is a 40 mile each way commute (no public transport), so frankly, I’d keep driving. I’d first try to get a conditional license that says I can drive to and from work, but if it were denied, I’d keep driving. I figure I haven’t been pulled over in probably 6 years now, so the odds are good that I’ll get through 6 months without being pulled over either.
My commute is long, but I could probably bike to the Tri-Rail station and take the train to work. The station near work is close enough I can walk the distance.
I’ve been kinda thinking of trying this anyway. I’ve gained a lot of weight in the last year.
You just reminded me of this guy, who bought a horse when he lost his license. To the best of my knowledge, he hasn’t gotten his horse back, and he plead guilty when he went to court last fall. Fortunately for him though, his house was close enough to everything that walking wasn’t completely out of the question.
It wouldn’t really be a big deal for me, either. We only have one car, anyway, and my husband has that more often than not. Everything I need is within walking distance (grocery store, bank, KMart, beach) and we have a bus stop practically in front of our house. The only crimp it would make in my life is that I’d have to get my husband to drive me to the yarn store and then he’d be all in my yarn-buying business…what colors he likes, it’s too itchy, why don’t you make me a hat? Blech.
