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Comment by vidarh | Hacker News Reader

I'm 47, and have never bothered getting a drivers license because I've always lived places where the combination of public transport with fallback to taxis has been good enough. Add on Uber and equivalent, and my need for cars is lower than ever.

If I'd lived somewhere a car was needed, I'd have learned. It's not an ideological opposition to cars by any means. Occasionally I consider getting a drivers license, and then forget about it, because it's just never felt worth the hassle.

Like you I've just never felt that emotional association with freedom from a car. I think an essential aspect of that was growing up somewhere where I felt I had the same options without one.

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I found that not having a driver's license tremendously limited some of my opportunities for recreation and travel. I drive way more when I'm on vacation than I do when I'm home.

If you're into things that requires you to be able to drive, sure. I prefer spending my times in cities, and I like walking. The combination means I've never felt constrained even when visiting the US. On the rare occasion where I want to go somewhere where it's a genuine challenge, I can justify blowing money on getting someone to drive me.

While I totally agree with this, I think you should still get a drivers license. There's always a very real possibility that you may need to drive a car in some sort of emergency.

> I think you should still get a drivers license

Or learn to drive, at least. I don't think lack of a licence would stop you driving in a real emergency.

This might depend on location. For me, maintaining a license works out to a few USD/yr so you might as well do it if only for emergencies, to avoid a citation in an emergency (though I'll admit it's far-fetched for that to occur). In a place where licensing is expensive, I'd agree with your take.

Probably get a license though. A real emergency is when you're most likely to make mistakes behind the wheel and you're going to be in a lot of trouble if you get in an unlicensed accident.

It's a risk that is so low that if I were to invest time in reducing the top risks in my life, it'd be far outside the top 10. Put another way: The odds of me finding myself somewhere where I can't easily find someone to drive me somewhere is near zero.

Note that this is how I evaluate my risk. I absolutely accept this will be an issue for people who live in places where getting transport might be a problem. If that's a problem here, civilisation has ended.

Public transit strikes and system breakdowns happen occasionally, nothing to do with the end of civilization. Not being able to drive really limits your options, especially if you want to travel to remote locations for business or leisure. Knowing how it drive is just a basic life skill for any adult. It's something everyone should know how to do like being able to cook a meal or rewire an electrical outlet or shoot a gun or splint a broken limb. You might not need those skills every day but you shouldn't be completely dependent on others. Having some generalist skills gives you freedom and independence, and opens up a lot of options.

> drive or cook a meal or rewire an electrical outlet or shoot a gun or splint a broken limb

None of those except cooking are in any way "basic life skills". Least of all shooting a gun.

It's sad if you really believe that. Too many people in the tech industry have led such sheltered lives that they lack perspective on what happens in the real world. At a bare minimum every adult should know how to unload and render safe a firearm.

I wouldn't want to live in the kind of uncivilized, unsafe society where people are so scared that they consider that a necessary skill. Thankfully I don't.

99.999% of people on this planet have lived fulfilling lives and died at peace in their bed without doing any of that.

Public transit strikes doesn't take out the dozens of private hire car firms, minicab companies and app driven providers serving where I live.

So, yeah, it'd take pretty much the end of civilisation for it to be an issue. If I had no money, or lived somewhere rural, the considerations would be different.

And not being able to drive has never been a factor for me in deciding where I want to go.

If I had any desire to regularly go to anywhere so remote that I couldn't justify hiring someone to drive me there, I'd learn to drive, but in 47 years that has happened exactly zero times.

I live in a city in a functioning society, not in a rural location or third world country, and my interests don't include anything that will see me end up in the middle of nowhere. That this might not be true for you does not mean it isn't true for me.

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