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<p>Having the skillmto drive is like knowing how to swim. And in an emergency, one may have to Just drive. Say your driver has a heart attack. Or friend has a seizure. My husband twisted his ankle on a hike, if I couldn’t drive home back, we would have been majorly stuck. My feeling is if you are in a car with other, you should know how to drive to safety. Its foolish not to know. I am not saying everyone has to have a car. But thinking you will never ever have to drive somewhere is foolish thinking. Teens driving is fine with me. Anyway, I know too many women who neve relearned to drive and are now beholden to others for transportation and their freedom is very limited.</p>
<p>Your husband twisting his ankle, seahorse, reminds me of when My H( when he was still my bf) & I were out fishing in the middle of a lake in a small row boat. We had been out there quite a while and he developed heat exhaustion(needless to say long before cell phones)</p>
<p>Luckily I knew how to row but getting him back to the car wasn’t fun.</p>
<p>I agree that it is important for our kiddos to have the skill and basics of driving but know their limits (as much as possible). Both of my kids have agreed to take defensive driving courses. Would appreciate any recommendation of good classes in LA and/or DC/VA area.</p>
<p>S didn’t drive much until his SR year of HS & now that he has to commute to his job. He has been rear-ended twice & he rear-ended another car recently, which totalled that car. 
He has just inherited another used car. He pays everything related to the car, including all insurance.</p>
<p>We are planning to ship D my used 2005 Volvo, so she can safely drive around LA. Unfortunately, it’s really tough getting around there without a car. Neither I nor she are thrilled about her driving around LA, but it seems to be how most folks get around there, since they don’t have much mass transit. In college, she has mostly been able to catch rides. She is a fairly careful driver, but I still worry, as there are a LOT of very fast and aggressive drivers in LA.</p>
<p>My DD did not want to learn to drive, she was scared and we live in an area with public transportation, so not a problem. However, we insisted she learn and get her drivers license before she went to college. She got a car, which she paid half for and pays her own insurance. She uses her car to travel to and from college. </p>
<p>I will say one of our rules, and something that she seems to feel strongly about too, is that she doesn’t drive anyone elses car and nobody else drives her car. It just seems to us, that is a responsibility issue. She pays for it and insurance and it drives her crazy when people ask to borrow it. I guess people that don’t have that responsibility may not understand what they are really asking, but if an accident occured, she would be the one that had to deal with it and that’s not fair for her. To be completely honest, that is one of our biggest pet peeves. </p>
<p>We feel driving is an important part of life and even though she may not have to drive, when she gets older and maybe becomes a parent, it is an extremely important skill to have and one that we will want her to have experience with.</p>
<p>5 kiddos, 1 car, 1 mom and not much money.</p>
<p>Moved to 2 vehicles about 3 years ago.</p>
<p>Kiddos each got their licenses after they were 18 and could afford to pay for their insurance. On my plan but they had to pay the difference between just me and their additional cost. After that they were on their own for the cost of their vehicles, upkeep, insurance and gas.</p>
<p>We all know 3 young males will cause insurance premiums to sky rocket so with that in mind some of the boys held off. The youngest has purchased his own car (92 honda accord), insurance, gas, repairs. Middle daughter has purchased her own new Beetle and seems to be happy with her purchase (she resides with her finacee in their new home!). Middle/oldest sons will borrow one of the 2 vehicles the family now owns but pay for gas, their own insurance and will pay to repair or fix the vehicles themselves. Old truck (dodge 90) sucks up gas so we only use it for hauling/dumping/moving. Subaru (02 outback) we all drive and son just paid for some repairs.</p>
<p>So far (knock on wood) we have all combined had 1 ticket (fix it) and our insurance premiums have not been raised in 10 years (have actually gone down since vehicles have depreciated, have $50 deductable…USAA)</p>
<p>I was the “mean” mom in the neighborhood and didn’t let them drive before 18 or buy a car. Wouldn’t let them buy a car until they were 21. But now that they are all older and they themselves are getting great rates they are no longer complaining. </p>
<p>Not that I cared when they complained, and they didn’t very often. They have all learned to really use the bus system (which is hard to do in rural NC) and each take good care of their bikes.</p>
<p>So far my rule of no driving until 18 and no cars until 21 and when they themselves can pay for it seems to have worked for us.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>Echoing dragonmom - I would love if we all could use public transportation, but, where I live there is effectively none. Kids get license as close to 16 as they are able. When kid 1 was about to turn 16, hubby voiced his opinion that getting a used car for her use would be spoiling her. I (not he) had been driving her back and forth to 6 - 9 swim practices a week (some doubles in season and summer) for 5 years. Her ability to drive gave me some of my afternoons and evenings back and allowed me to transport younger kid to his stuff without piecing together multiple carpools. The third car was more a gift for me than for kid 1! My mom (from Europe) did not drive until we had been in the States for several years. She hated being stranded or relying on others. Once we kids had places to go (lessons, sports) beyond the bus to school, she learned out of necessity.</p>
<p>Our city has public transportation but not on par with San Francisco or Portland. So a friend bought a car for his daughter who was attending college in our city & living off campus.
It was just to be used for getting to school & to work, but her parents learned after the fact that she had taken several out of state road trips. Not what they wanted to hear.</p>
<p>I am lucky. A mile and a half to the train station–though the walk is not a nice one as there are no sidewalks or even much allowance on the road, so a bit dangerous. ALso both college kids found work a mile from the house, so they can jog there, take a bike or get dropped off easily and inexpensively. I have just one car and I usually fill it once a week, sometimes less. If I work at it, I can go 2 weeks without filling up.</p>
<p>Our kiddos weren’t all that excited about learning to drive. Both took the $10 driver’s ed course offered at the public HS. Both got & renewed their learner’s permit a few times & then I had them get their license on Christmas break when they were attending college, since their permit would expire & it was their main form of ID. Both are pretty cautious and I am glad both are able to drive as needed. Will be sending D a car after she graduates from college, as it will be needed for her to get to & from work & probably as part of her job (running errands). We will be expecting her to pay costs associated with said vehicle–insurance, gas, maintenance, AAA.</p>
<p>Being totally honest, we bought our son1 a clunker to drive himself to school and other activities because we were tired of driving him around ourselves. He passed it on to his younger brother and we later donated the car to charity. After moving to NC I let son1 drive my car to the park and ride and he took the express bus to CC. Now he has my car with him at school and I share 1 car with my wife. We rarely have conflicting need for the 1 car.</p>
<p>Both my kids have learner’s permits (though the older one’s is no good now that he’s a CA resident and it was about to expire anyway.) They seem to be in no big hurry to drive. They walked to school, the train into the city is also within walking distance. I’ve never had any interest in living in an area that wasn’t walkable. </p>
<p>I learned to drive the summer after I graduated from college because I’d gotten a grant to drive across the country photographing fire stations. My partner in the project had had her license for years, but had done virtually no driving. She was a much worse driver than me and after a month or two into the trip I insisted on doing all the driving. I still get nightmares about her inattentiveness!</p>
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<p>What a luxury to be able to choose where you live. Many, many people have had to move to where there were jobs .</p>
<p>(not to be interpreted to mean that I wish we lived in a huge east coast metroplex…kind of longing for eastern Washington and the rolling Palouse country if only there were jobs there…)</p>
<p>It can rule out of lot of very lovely places to exclude living in areas that are not walkable. Much of our gorgeous state would be considered “not walkable,” as is most of LA & the parts of VA/DC where S has lived.</p>
<p>I would never consider not having my kids get a license. It’s just too limiting in most parts of the country to not have one. Also, here, kids are required to take classroom drivers education and behind the wheel with a certified instructor. I was surprised to learn how many parts of the country this was not required. As for accident rates, insurance companies are starting to look at 1st year driver accident rates and the numbers aren’t different for a 16 year old first year driver vs an 18 year old first year driver.</p>
<p>Our kids all got their licences shortly after they turned 16. They had their permits for almost a year before they got their license. We made them drive, a lot, while they had their permits and would not have allowed them to take their tests if they were not ready. They all passed on their first try and are all very good drivers. The key is practice, practice, practice. </p>
<p>Our town is considered walkable, but there is a lot more out there than our town. Our older kids didn’t need a car on campus so they didn’t have one. Our next two, DD will most likely need a car, DS it will depend on which school he attends.</p>
<p>Re drivers Ed in schools- I don’t think it was required in the suburban town where I grew up, but it was unusual not to take it. However an older friend taught me to drive, not one of my parents. ( drivers Ed in the schools gives you very little practice time)</p>
<p>My older daughter didn’t attend public school, but she took drivers Ed one winter term on Saturday mornings through the public schools.
Younger daughter was so busy with schoolwork & ecs that drivers Ed wasn’t a priority, as she wasn’t about to give up one of her sports teams or clubs. We didn’t have an extra car for her to drive& she did have friends who were happy to carpool with her.</p>
<p>I imagine that if she had felt the need to get a liscense while she was in high school she would have, as it was, I was relieved that her best friend was usually the driver, as she is one of the most level headed & responsible people,I know.</p>
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<p>Because there’s no such thing as a bicycle? </p>
<p>Wait, there is such a thing as a bicycle.</p>
<p>Bikes are VERY UNSAFE to ride because of aggressive motorists–unfortunately, this is true where I live, no matter how great the cyclist is. We represented way too many cyclists who were horribly injured through no fault of their own.</p>
<p>Ok, so my child can lug their huge band instrument, some golf clubs AND their backpacks on their bikes–works great. They ride their bikes to friend’s houses, etc. but it’s not practical to do that to and from school. We have great options for bike riding, many trails, paths, etc. so it is very safe, but not so safe if you are hauling all of that stuff around.</p>
<p>That last post really hit home what a first world problem/choice this is.</p>