<p>Emaheevul07-as someone who went car-free for several years as part of a family decision to save money, I urge you to at least keep your license current and drive occasionally, no matter how much you dislike it, to keep current. I let mine lapse and H did all the driving when we rented a car for trips, etc. Five years later when I went to renew it, I had to take a driving test and failed-there are specific things they look for that you forget over time. If you keep renewing your license you won’t end up in that situation. It’s worth it to pay the $30 or $40 a year it will cost you to do that-I spent much more than that taking a refresher course so I could pass the driving test. You’ll have to take the written test too but at least you can study for those.</p>
<p>I definitely would not be able to give up my car or let my license lapse. I legitimately love driving.
My fiance OTOH would never drive again if it was possible (it’s really not).</p>
<p>I consider knowing how to drive to be an essential Life Skill, right up there with knowing how to swim.</p>
<p>Even if you don’t have or want to have a car, you should know how to drive. With Zipcar and Hertz By The Hour, cars are inexpensively accessible on many places for when the need arises.</p>
<p>My first job out of college required some travel, often to places out in the middle of nowhere, often hauling a lot of equipment, where driving was the only option. Not being able to drive would have been career-limiting.</p>
<p>My college doesn’t offer spaces to students in their first two years. Because of that, the money, everything being fairly close, and pollution, I doubt I’ll get a car until after college.</p>
<p>Sally…yes I agree with you that it’s all about perspective. But you said that they’d rather have their kids staying up late doing a heck of a lot of extracurriculars and taking hard classes. I would argue that teens should be able to find time to manage all of that while they work part-time as well. I did it and it was really, really tough the first couple of months but I eventually found ways to juggle my time. But there is of course no need to do this if the student doesn’t need money…but I believe that working helps teens learn the value of a dollar and creates a sense of independence</p>
<p>musicprint - Don’t take what I said the wrong way…I’m sorry that I come off as I did! I do agree that many kids are doing great things while they’re not working!! I’m not saying ALL high school students are lazy, but I definitely would say that a nice handful are. There are also those that aren’t lazy but could definitely handle the extra workload of a job. I did it and it was rough at first but I got used to it…I still managed to get good grades in my AP classes and maintain my leadership positions in extracurriculars. Don’t get me wrong though…there are some kids that do A LOT and can’t work…I get that. But I truly believe that most can handle it, whether they know it or not. And you are right about the economy…you should read this book called The Great Divergence. It shows how the economy has marginally hurt teen employment. It is still rather easy to find minimum wage jobs though</p>
<p>The logistics of getting a driver’s license in Texas are a deterrent. Besides all of the training and driving hours before getting a license, the waiting time at the driver’s license offices is terrible. Its a two month wait for an appointment, and of course they are open “late” only one night per week. The only real option is to get your license during a vacation week, or during the summer. The place is packed when school is out for even a day. The majority of the wait is outdoors, regardless of temperatures below freezing or over 100. Many kids who get their driver’s license during the school year have it because they called in sick to school that day.</p>
<p>I really feel sorry for the old and disabled people who have to wait in these conditions. While I was there in the heat the paramedics showed up for one girl who passed out.</p>
<p>Eventually kids get their license, but it is often a few months later than they would have liked.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>However, many people’s idea of “walking distance” is a very short distance. I once worked at a place that provided a shuttle for people who did not want to walk the 1 km from the train stop.</p>
<p>My oldest son waited until a month before HS graduation to get his license – he just had too many things going on to take behind-the-wheel, which is required by our state laws. He got plenty of experience driving to and from school or work with my husband or me in the car. He never had a car while in college, but he would pay for the gas when he needed a ride.</p>
<p>Driving has never been something he really loves to do, he walks to work daily, as he lives at the edge of DC. He also loves public transportation.</p>
<p>Now, my younger son is old enough to drive, but again, his schedule limits when he can take behind-the-wheel (he is a three-sport athlete). He will not have a car when he goes to college, and he’s fine with that. He does not need it. He’s a runner.</p>
<p>Besides busy schedules, the other reason why my kids waited on their licenses is that they go (or went) to schools where I taught. So I drive in the morning, and they study or look over their homework.</p>
<p>I never understood the virtue of a teenager owning a car and then having to have a part time job to subsidize the gas & insurance (and in many cases, the car payments themselves.) </p>
<p>A teenagers JOB is to do well in school. The circle of working to pay for car/gas to work to pay for car/gas just doesn’t make sense. But no, the kid wants a car of their own. A car means “freedom.” </p>
<p>Oftentimes they are too tired from work to do schoolwork or pay attention in school.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Oh, I know. Suburban mall culture has made sloths out of a lot of people.</p>
<p>My 84-year-old dad does the opposite–something I think is great for his health but questionable for his safety. Whenever he goes anywhere in his car he parks in THE most remote corner of the parking lot, just to ensure that he gets exercise (he also likes his car to be less subject to dings from other people’s doors). While this is great from an activity perspective, I am not so thrilled about him walking late at night sometimes to his isolated vehicle. He lives in a big city with a lot of crime and it makes me nervous. But he is incorrigible.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>My daughter does well in school. Most of her work hours are on the weekend, because most of her after school hours and weeknights she is at dance. She manages. Again, it’s not WANTING a car for the sake of having one, it’s needing a vehicle to get where she needs to go. If not for the dance studios here being completely inaccessible by public transportation, it might be a different story.</p>
<p>I should have issued a big old disclaimer saying I am not talking about people like sally305’s D.</p>
<p>I just have seen too many kids frittering away their time & money to ultimately support the used car industry. And their parents are fine with it because that’s what THEY did. No one (in some circles) sees anything wrong with this. Of course, most of these kids aren’t going to college. They don’t have the grades or the family tradition.</p>
<p>The irony of “suburban mall culture” is that often people walk close to a mile through the mall and the packed parking lot, whereas in the city they may well have walked less. But they no longer live close to the city and there is no public transportation to get them there. :(</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That is not the experience we had.</p>
<p>That’s not the experience we had in Texas either.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Actually, studies are showing that cars are less popular. The auto industry has been scrambling the past few years to try and figure out how to interest young people in cars again. </p>
<p>[Teen</a> drivers less interested in cars than technology - chicagotribune.com](<a href=“http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/automotive/used/sc-cons-0314-autocover-teen-driver-20130316,0,385955.story]Teen”>http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/automotive/used/sc-cons-0314-autocover-teen-driver-20130316,0,385955.story)</p>
<p>[New</a> study suggests fewer students want to drive | USA TODAY College](<a href=“USA Today Educate - Teacher & Student Resources & Guides”>USA Today Educate - Teacher & Student Resources & Guides)</p>
<p>It’s not as much about pent-up demand based on finances as a cultural shift away from cars. </p>
<p>That said, I agree that everyone should learn how to drive, even if they don’t own a car. In big cities today, you can rent cars, do carshare, take transit, bikeshare, etc., but not being able to drive limits those options.</p>
<p>
In high school, I solved that problem by putting a “gas jar” in my car - a can, covered by a plastic lid with a hole cut in the top. It had pictures on the side - a car, ice cream cones, the lit mag, whatever it was that involved me driving and paying for gas. I would usually just ask that people throw their change into it.</p>
<p>We live in one of the least pedestrian-friendly states in the US. I occasionally bike to/from work (5 miles each way) and have encountered incredible hostility and am frequently yelled at that bikers and walkers should only be out on trails and have no right to be on the road (regardless of state law that says we have every right). I have one friend who was killed on a bike and we routinely read of other fatal crashes. There aren’t any shoulders, much less sidewalks or bike lanes in most areas around me. There’s no public transportation, and communities were not built with the notion of getting anywhere any other way than by car.</p>
<p>D got a car when she got her license, and S will as well. I also live in an area with a weak public school system, so the kids have a lengthy commute to Catholic high school. There is a bus available, at a cost of $200/month. Both kids were anxious to drive, and I was anxious to no longer have to drive so far for ECs at school. Grandparents helped with the cost of a reasonably new, small but safe car for D. I paid the insurance, and each month provided pre-paid gas cards to cover the cost of gas to/from school (with what I save by not having to pay for the bus). Other driving she was responsible for the gas. Their lengthy commute and multiple ECs make holding a job during the school year difficult, but both spend their summers living/working at a nearby Scout camp and are frugal with their earnings.</p>
<p>Right now D is at a college in an urban area that does not allow cars for freshmen. She’s learning to navigate the readily-available public transportation, and I’m hoping she won’t want the car next year so S can have it :)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Parking somewhat away from the stores or whatever has other advantages as well:
- Takes less time, since you are less likely to be stuck behind others parking and leaving, or pedestrians walking across the parking lot.
- Less risk of crashing into something for the same reason.
- Can find spaces to pull through so that you don’t have to back out of the parking space (annoying if two big vans are parked next to your car before you come back).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Perhaps the crime is not as high as assumed. Also, if an isolated vehicle is parked under a light, there is no place nearby for robbers to lie in wait, compared to behind other vehicles parked around yours. (Is it really a “big city” if he drives all over the place? Although suburbs can be high crime.)</p>