I can drive, but I’m like a sponge for everyone’s road rage — I don’t often get angry myself but all that negative energy just drains the shit out of me, I have an autistic meltdown almost every time I drive.

I stopped driving regularly about 20 years ago (10 years before I was diagnosed with autism) and I saw a huge reduction in my day to day stress.

About 15 years ago, I moved to a city where I can walk or bike everywhere, and driving just isn’t an issue. Highly recommended.

I drive. I like driving. I have apparently always liked the car – as an infant my parents would throw me in my car seat and drive up and down the road to make me fall asleep – though I am very, very, very much not a “car person”.

I still didn’t get my license until I was 18, though, because learning to drive was very stressful for me. But once I got a handle on it, I think I’ve become rather good at it.

When I moved to Europe everyone said (and continues to say) that I really need to have a car. It’s not just my family, it’s friends, colleagues, acquaintances… Strangers on the train. I did transfer my license and have rented a car a handful of times to move furniture or clean up after moving out of my last place.

Everyone here is convinced I need a car for my daily life, but my kids, my spouse, and I all have bikes. We have a large bike trailer for big purchases at a distance, and we can do what we need to do in town or on the trains. I don’t see the point in owning, fueling, and maintaining a beast of a machine just for some minor conveniences.

I drive, but that’s because I live in the US where most cities have shit public transit.

Also, I haven’t seen to my crazy ass judgemental Trumper parents in 5 years, so that’s not a problem for me.

I drive. I was super excited to. When I was 14 I started mentally preparing. I would pay attention to street names and intersections and directions, which lanes did which. I spent time on an early version of Google Maps practicing navigation- how to get from my house to my friend’s house, the school, my grandparents, the mall, etc. I would walk or ride my bike and try to purposefully explore and learn the entire southern half of my city and suburbs. I got a copy of the state-issued driver’s manual and read it multiple times. I bought a cheap MadCatz Mini racing wheel + pedals for the PS1/2 and practiced using it in tons of games- Grand Theft Auto, Mercenaries, NASCAR Thunder, Gran Turismo, etc. I went and took the test to get my Learner’s Permit the very first day I could. I was a year younger than most of my friends, but still one of the first to get a license.

I drove a lot until I was almost 30, when the pandemic hit. Then I started working from home. I had recently got a relatively new xar in 2018, but my wife’s car waa old, so she started using mybcse mostly. One day I went to start her car and found an electrical issue. After a bunch of investigating… We went down to 1 car, and her old car is still sitting in our garage, waiting to be traded in whenever we do get around to buying our next car.

Furthermore, my retina in my dominant eye detached itself. I had surgery to re-attach it. It was successful, but my vision in that eye is only about half of what it once was, and my brain swapped to my other eye. I can drive, both legally and safely, but I do sometimes struggle to read street names or exit signs. So nowadays I mostly just drive the same familiar local streets that I know.

Also my wife gets carsick as a passenger, so even before all that she would often insist on driving.

I tend to drink less than most people so i’m occasionally DD.

I love in a city with decent public transport and have planned to minimize the need for a car as much as possible. So basically i don’t even have license, basic services are within a walking distance, public transport is free and rather good and workplace has their own transportat as well.

Maybe my mother is disappointed, mostly because the remnant from society era and a car being a status symbol, but at the same time we’re not close enough for me to notice it or care.

Yes. I can drive around in cars and I like it. But public transport and bike are generally the better options for me. Mostly because it’s cheaper and it gives me the daily dose of training. It would be different if I lived somewhere without good public transportation and long distances to commute.

My parents don’t care. Why do yours? Is it about the topic of driving itself or do they have something else in mind?

I drive. I used to drive a school bus, too. Basically can drive anything on wheels so long as it’s not hauling toxic waste.

I don’t. I tried learning but it was overwhelming and stressful and I didn’t want to make a scene, so I quit.

My parents thought it was (both dead now, they didn’t change their minds) pathetic and stupid that I don’t drive. They also assumed a bunch of shitty things about why I quit the lessons too.

I drive, my parents and peers pressured me a lot and I got my license as soon as I could at 16. Now I’m 30. In the past couple of years I’ve started living on my own and work remote. I hate driving and have started to realize I am really bad at it. Each drive feels like I’m rolling the dice.

I think if I had been less insecure when I was younger I would have never gotten my license. It’s a real shame to me that driving is necessary for so many. We need better public transport🫩

Best of luck stranger. Not driving is a shitty thing for your parents be disappointed over. Stay safe

I have a license and access to a car. I’m in America so I sort of have to.

I live in London. I dont feel I need to. My parents are indifferent. I could imagine I would want to if I was not living in the city though

I need to drive where I live.

It is kind of liberating for me. Plus I don’t get motion sickness/vertigo if I’m the driver, unlike being a passenger. I follow the rules so well (unlike everyone else on the road), one of my favourite ways to unwind is driving with music.

That said, going out costs money. I cant afford to go on a Sunday drive…

I don’t drive. I used to, but I’m not fucking rich, and I don’t want to kill anyone. I can walk, so I do that. Just moved to a place with busses. They even run sometimes, too!

If I told my mom, I’m sure she’d quietly nag me about it every time we interacted. She’s got a very right/wrong dichotomous viewpoint, and driving is good, while having to walk is for those with moral failings (like poverty!).

I drive. I really enjoy it most of the time, but I don’t do a whole lot of city driving which does get annoying if there is a lot of it.