To be able to drive is independance. Einstein couldn't. What, if anything, does it say about someone who doesn't drive?

I call shenanigans on the opening postulate ;)

First, I do know what you mean about not having a car. I do feel more “life” claustrophobic without knowing I can get into my car and go wherever I want easily. On the other hand, you could just as easily be free with walking places depending on where you live. Plus, it may bring you more freedom to not have a car. You need a car to socially conform. One of the main questions on a job application is if you have transportation. So in essence, you could be more free without a car because you choose to live in a way that isn’t like most people.

Einstein lived in a time and location where driving was nothing like it is now, in the US. Today, if someone doesn’t drive, I say they either live in New York, or in a where public transportation is still readily available.

Sorry. I meant a driver’s license specifically. The ability to drive.

i dont drive, i dont enjoy it , it stresses me out greatly, plus it doesnt help me much, i cant stand it

- They don’t like cars?
– They don’t want to be complicit in creating pollution due to the vehicle’s exhaust output?
– They’re afraid of operating a motor vehicle?
– They don’t drive because they are Amish?
– They’re inclined to ride bicycles instead?
– They’ve had their driver’s license revoked?
– It stresses them out, like it does to @kevinhardy, for example

i dont ride a bike, same reason , plus i fall down alot

I don’t think it says anything, well it may say something but not always the same thing. For example someone is leagally blind, or can’t aford a car, or many other things good and bad. Also it yes can provide freedom but people who don’t drive can still have the same amount, or less, or more freedom.

Nothing. I only say that because I didn’t learn to drive until age 24. I’m 26. I LOVE being able to get to point a from point b in my car. But to be honest I don’t have the thought that I could flee or I could go to NY if I want to because I don’t have the money to do that. So it hasn’t given me that kinda independence. And before I had a car I would say I was better off in many ways. My health was MUCH better because I biked and walked everywhere. I also didn’t have the stress of driving on a road with people who are dangerous. And I wasn’t providing that extra harm to the environment. It has given me the freedom to shop for groceries without the stress of worrying how I’m going to get that home. I probably would have never learned how to drive it I wasn’t put in the position where I absolutely needed to learn. I had no desire to learn whatsoever. And it hasn’t changed me in any noticeable way except for gaining weight from not walking.

@kevinhardy Stresses me out too.

It means that they don’t drive.

I would argue that driving isn’t independence in a sense. One can spend one’s travel time following freeways, highways, all marked out and ready for one to drive on. The route is made fairly straightforward. Alternatively, by walking, taking buses and trains, one has to have or get rather quickly a sense of really where one is.

For me, not driving could imply a number of things.

1. Said person considers it to have an overwhelmingly negative environmental impact.
2. Said person lives in an area with strong public transport links.
3. Said person never has to travel far off the “beaten track”.
4. Said person may be scared of causing serious accidents, or being the victim of one.
5. Said person may find car ownership and maintenance prohibitively expensive.

So, overall, I don’t think there’s really any ONE unifying statement you could make about the characters of people who don’t drive. And it certainly doesn’t make them less independent.

@qubozik You need a car to socially conform? Ah that’s a shame. Maybe it’s different in the States. Here in the UK, car ownership is really common, but one is not viewed as a pariah for not driving.

@jo_with_no_space It is definitely different in the states. For the most part, for young people especially, you are a social pariah with no car. And as qubozik pointed out you can’t even get some jobs if you don’t have a car. My grandson was turned down for a job even though fully qualified because of no car.

@Yarnlady That is a great shame. The only time I could see that happening here would be if the job expressly necessitated the need to drive as part of the duties of the role.

My partner doesn’t have a driver’s license, and he only drives forklifts. Do you know why this is? Because we don’t have a second car, and he’s lazy.

My son doesn’t drive. He doesn’t want to. He took driving lessons for some time in his teens and early twenties. Said it stressed him. He utilizes public transportation and a bicycle to get around. It probably has nothing to do with it, but when he was a toddler, he would scream in parking lots and once told he was killed in a car crash. This was when he was about three or four. I was not at all surprised that he did not want to drive.

you need a drivers licence in this century.
unless you have enough $$ to pay someone to drive for you.