My kids were hot and cold on driving initially. Eager to get that learners permit, then reluctant to put in the hours of training to actually learn to drive. I made them get their licenses before junior year. They had crazy schedules with lots of early practices.
What helped with them I think was a steady diet of short, routine trips that built their confidence. To school and back. To church and back. We did the routes together, then they did them on their own.
We live in suburbia, where you’d expect the kids to want to drive. But, a lot of them put it off or resist. Some end up with learning to drive as their summer-before-college project. Our son bikes to school and work and says it’s good exercise. The weather is almost always good, so that’s not a problem that would make him want to drive. (See: California drought.) He’s learning now, but only because my husband nags him frequently.
@Ynotgo
Your CC handle is eponymously perfect for this thread… 
Does she have a license now? It is not clear tome if the restricted one she had overseas carries over to the US. If she doesn’t then I would push her to get it, even if she does not use it, expecially if she needs a refresher course. Lets face it, there are more demands on our time as we age, if she waits she may find it difficult to get in time to practice, the refresher course, etc.
She has a license from our overseas location, a US military base where she could drive within the base. She took driver ed there. I think it will be next summer’s project. We have a minor surgery to get through before we leave her at school and leave the country without her.
I don’t like to drive but I do like to get from where I am to where I need to be so I do drive.
I was reluctant to drive. for those that don’t know me since I haven’t been around in a while, I am 26 so it wasn’t all that long ago for me. I got my learners permit at 14.5 or whatever the proper age is in Michigan, then I didn’t drive until I was 18. When I was going to be starting community college in the fall and needed to commute, I was more mature and more motivated and I got my license and it wasnt as scary for me. I still don’t much like to drive but I’m comfortable and it’s fine. My younger sister ended up doing the same thing. I think some kids just aren’t ready right away. If you think about it, the ages we start teaching kids to drive are really young… it’s a big responsibility, and the smart ones know it especially when they’re not ready for it yet.
When I did get my license, my parents forbade me to drive on the freeway, so I never did again after my road test. At least not for a long time. So then I was terrified of it and had hardly any experience, not very many of my permit practice hours were freeway and they were back when I was 14. Believe it or not, as a college graduate, one of my coworkers at my first job took me for a spin after work and taught me to drive freeway so I could get to and from work faster. Nobody died. I lived in an area with no public transportation, so when I really needed it I had to hop to and get going, but I didn’t really need it right away. Had I not gone to community college and needed to commute it could have waited until after college without it being the end of the world. But around here, it will raise an eyebrow socially because most kids are licensed at 16. I survived!
Thank you all for the supportive words. I have little doubt that she will meet the challenge when she needs to. Even I am so intimidated by the size of the vehicles, the speed, and the fact that now I am used to driving on the other side of the road in a tiny car. It is an important skill that is good to have if needed.
I’m 18 and have never driven/gotten a license. It’s not that I’m afraid of driving, but I find it useless since I’ll be going off to college and a car’d be unnecessary. I’m probably going to start driving near my senior year or after graduation.
I have a license but got it later than most in my neighborhood (also Northern Virginia). Driving stresses me out and while I got a parking permit to drive to school senior year, I didn’t drive myself to school even once. I drove other places, but the road that I would’ve had to take to drive to school was absolutely awful- it was narrow and there were always trucks and tons of teen drivers, so accidents were very frequent. I recently moved to more of a city environment and have yet to drive anywhere, especially since I don’t know how to parallel park yet.
When I was first learning, my parents harassed me about it. My brother had much more of a need to drive, so he got his license very early. It’s still my biggest pet peeve when my parents bother me about driving or talk to my grandparents about how I don’t drive. I CAN drive, I just choose not to!!