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[squeakyReaper]

I'm 19, almost 20, and I'm not fond of driving. So, I don't have a license. I'll probably get one later, because life is all about making you do things you're not fond of, but for now I ride the bus and my bike.

What is your general opinion on adults who do not have a car or license? Do you respect them less? What age did you get your license?

[Funk]

no i dont think less of you for not haveing a license (i dont and im 21)
car insurance will cost you an arm and a leg, over here in the uk is like £3000($4500) for a year on a car worth £600($900).

[Levi]

What is your general opinion on adults who do not have a car or license? Do you respect them less? What age did you get your license?

Nah, If anything I respect them more!

I got my license early(although I don't remember exactly when, I was probably 18), but frankly I don't like driving either.  I haven't driven in about 7-8 years and probably never will again, so for me there really isn't a reason to have one.

[Josephus]

I'd advise you to get a license, not for the purposes of driving, but rather for the purposes of identification.

Plenty of things require you to have two valid pieces of ID, and in most countries your driver's license is one of the accepted ones.

Therefore, bite the bullet and get it now before you run into inconveniences regarding identification.

Nonetheless you aren't any less of a person for not having a license at your age.

[Funk]

the id part of get a license that is great(u.k. licenses conme in two parts, training and trained)

[anzki4]

I have just turned 18 and I don't have driver's licence and I'm not sure whether I am going to get one.

Also if you don't need the driver's licence ie. are not planning on getting a car, you should probably get some other ID card; it most likely will be cheaper.

Fun fact: in Finland driver's licence is not official ID, although it can be used as one in most places.

[Seriyu]

I am 24 and don't have a drivers liscense (but am currently working on getting one). As long as you're willing to deal with the negatives of not being able to drive, there's really not much downside (except for the ID thing). People might dislike you for not doing it, I'm sure it depends on locality, I haven't had any issues (and I live in a small town in the middle of nowhere, so maybe people WON'T have a problem with it), and if people do have issues with it, well, they're kinda jerks anyway, so who cares?

I do reccomend getting it for identification purposes as people earlier in the thread said though yes. Nothin wrong with just riding a bike places, it's fit, and saves on money considerably too. Might be an issue in more urban areas I guess, but I don't have much experience with that.

[nenjin]

I'm 19, almost 20, and I'm not fond of driving. So, I don't have a license. I'll probably get one later, because life is all about making you do things you're not fond of, but for now I ride the bus and my bike.

What is your general opinion on adults who do not have a car or license? Do you respect them less? What age did you get your license?

I got mine at 16. I lost it due to traffic violations when I was 25. I decided not to drive for 5 years, even though I think my suspension was only 6 months. (I refused to pay high risk insurance rates as a further penalty for my driving habits.) So, I tend to sympathize with adults who don't drive. That said, people who choose not to drive even though they technically can, can get kind of irritating. When I didn't have my license, I avoided asking people to take me places, come pick me up, whatever. I know people who don't drive, that treat people who do drive like a taxi service. And that does get very, very annoying if it goes on too long.

[Strife26]

I got mine at sixteen, if memory serves (you can get one ridiculously early in North Dakota) and there aren't many things that I enjoy more than being able to take my car and drive to another city if I choose.

Now, how big of a social norm it is not to drive really depends on where you live, I  think. If you can get by on public transportation, then you're good. I will very much back up the annoyance of being treated as a taxi service, so try not to ask for rides overmuch, and please say thank you at least if you get one.

Really, it's not a terrible idea to learn how to drive and get a license, just so you have it available if  need be.

[Aqizzar]

Texas gives out licenses at 16, but you have spend a couple hundred bucks and a bunch of hours at some state-approved driving school, or get your parents to notarize like a hundred hours of practice and fill out a shitload of paperwork.  Due to circumstances, neither of those things were in the cards for teenage me, and I didn't get my driver's license until my 18th birthday.  Actually, the day after my 18th birthday, because I whiffed the parallel parking test and they only let you try once a day.

Now, how big of a social norm it is not to drive really depends on where you live, I  think. If you can get by on public transportation, then you're good. I will very much back up the annoyance of being treated as a taxi service, so try not to ask for rides overmuch, and please say thank you at least if you get one.

In my area it had nothing to do with public transportation, but on who you could bum a ride from and how often, or ditto for borrowing the Parent's Car..  Of course, I hung out with deadbeats so most of them didn't have their own cars until well into college, even though they all had driver's licenses just to get around.  Had odd circumstances when I was seventeen since my grandmother bought me a (really cheap) car, so I had no license while everyone else had no wheels.  You do the math.

[penguinofhonor]

I recommend you get one. It's fine if you don't drive normally, but you might have to sometime. The choice between being stranded and unlicensed driving is not a good one.

[The Fool]

I have a strange phobia of driving, so I'd rather not drive. I still have a learners license though, and I'm not a bad driver. Thankfully Montreal has a metro system, so I can use that in about a year instead of catching rides with people.

I respect people who don't use their cars all the time, or at all. My city has way too much traffic without everyone else driving. We actually have more registered cars than people living in the city, which is a strange statistic.

I recommend you get one. It's fine if you don't drive normally, but you might have to sometime. The choice between being stranded and unlicensed driving is not a good one.

Agreed. I could walk home from downtown, but it'd take a good several hours if I wanted to avoid the bad neighborhoods and stick to main roads. Unfortunately I don't like the choice of driving.

[Ancre]

I got a license in the US when I was 18 (or 19 I don't remember) during the one year I lived in Los Angeles. I never got to use it, as I couldn't afford a car (I still can't, actually).

I never had one in France, and I never needed one either. Public transportation (subways, buses and trains) are good over there, so much in fact that I think that less than half of the people in Paris own a car. (Or it might have been from a specific age group, anyways, you don't need one).

Now I live in the US again and I don't have a car. I don't intend to have one for as long as I can, really. I just can't justify the cost. I own a moped, and it does around 90 mpg, and insurance cost me 75 bucks a year. So, no, I don't look down on people who don't have cars. In fact it's kind of the other way around, I can't understand the US fascination with cars. Especially large ones. Why do people feel the need to own a huge jeep to commute from their suburbs ? Why ? Why did they built their cities to make them so dependent on cars, for that matter ?

Having to rely on somebody else to drive you around is actually a pain to both of the sides involved though. For them, because they have to play taxi, for you, because you depend on someone else, and have to adapt to their schedule. Everything have to be planned. There is no "oh let's suddenly decide to go see a movie with friends" anymore. And sometimes you have to wait hours before someone can pick you up.

[Josephus]

In fact it's kind of the other way around, I can't understand the US fascination with cars. Especially large ones.

Not that this'll explain the fascination or anything, but American car culture is pretty ingrained. A good chunk of American films and literature
(trashy and otherwise) either revolve around or prominently feature cars. At this point asking why Americans like cars is like asking why the sky is blue: plenty of them just... like cars.

[ed boy]

I know plenty of people in your demographic that don't have a driving license, and nobody thinks any less of them for it. The only time it comes up is when we're asked to provide proof of age (e.g. for bying alcohol) and then they have to use alternative ID, which may be problematic, depending on who it is and what they have on them.

I would recommend getting one even if you're not planning on driving in the near future. Not only do you have the flexibility for unexpected situations, but lots of insurance gets cheaper once you've had your license for a number of years, no matter how much driving you've been doing, so if you do start driving in the future then it can be a lot cheaper.