A place to discuss problems of car centric infrastructure or how it hurts us all. Let's explore the bad world of Cars!
1. Be Civil
You may not agree on ideas, but please do not be needlessly rude or insulting to other people in this community.
2. No hate speech
Don't discriminate or disparage people on the basis of sex, gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, or sexuality.
3. Don't harass people
Don't follow people you disagree with into multiple threads or into PMs to insult, disparage, or otherwise attack them. And certainly don't doxx any non-public figures.
4. Stay on topic
This community is about cars, their externalities in society, car-dependency, and solutions to these.
5. No reposts
Do not repost content that has already been posted in this community.
Moderator discretion will be used to judge reports with regard to the above rules.
In the absence of a flair system on lemmy yet, let’s try to make it easier to scan through posts by type in here by using tags:
If you're not going to drive, you're going to need to account for that with the rest of what you do. If you move somewhere like NYC that has working mass transit, it's not a problem. Most people here don't drive, or drive rarely. Not driving (or not even owning a car) is a viable option.
If on the other hand you want to live in some suburb where the nearest food is 3 miles away with no sidewalks , you're going to have a bad time.
edit: clarity
Not driving when you feel that you cannot do it safely is a mature decision. Driving is not a requirement for a good life.
They said, should you want to continue to drive, drive like a granny and don't let anyone stress you to get out of your comfort zone. Driving like an old granny is the safest way to drive. If you need to drive slow to feel in control that is what you should do. Ignore any ass hat that gets stressed behind you. If they honk or try to force you to speed up, just ignore them. Go at your own pace. The same goes for any passenger in your car that tries to get you to speed up or go out into a crossing before you are certain you are on top of things. Ignore them or throw them out. When you drive, you decide what is a safe speed. Everyone else can fuck off.
Single smartest decision I've ever made was applying my hatred of rushing to my driving habits. I still mostly move with the flow of traffic, the faster lanes even, but when it comes to decisions, its a coin-toss between taking the absolute correct decision or hitting the brakes(brakes will suffice for 95% of decisions, and if not, you're speeding or following to close). Once stopped at an intersection, there is no reason to proceed until you're certain you should.
as someone who feels their heartrate spike just from being near loud traffic, god bless grandma drivers. PLEASE go 30km/h on 60km/h roads and force everyone behind you to atone for their daily sins
if you're going to drive like a granny, you need to be aware of the road rules around when you need to pull over and let people pass. in some places (parts of TX for example) if you are going under the speed limit and there are 5 or more vehicles behind you, you are obligated to let them pass.
Absolutely get the anxiety, though I will agree with your family that it's a basic skill. Astonishingly, a significant number of jobs here in the US require a driver's license, even if driving isn't part of the job responsibilities. A friend of mine is hitting this right now and it's making their life a lot harder.
My ex gf of 30yo(at the time of breakup) got into an accident a few months she started to drive(18yo at the time), some asshat driving a pickup decided to run the red light and hit her car, and her car flipped, almost killed her. She never drive since then. Driving is incredibly dangerous tbh and people never seems to realise that, so i can understand how oop feel.
It's fine.
It's good to know how for an emergency, but really not required, especially if you choose to live in a location with more walkable neighborhoods and modern public transit (a rarity in the US, but doable).
About 30% of US homes don't even own a car.
Build the life YOU want to have, not what people tell you is normal or correct.
It's not for everyone. About 10% of people almost never drive. Up to 20% in urban areas of countries with good public transport.
Sounds like someone who is very immature and irresponsible for their actions.
Her father? I agree. She's the one trying to act responsibly.
A responsible person would not step foot in a 2000 pound automobile capable of traveling 100 mph unless they felt absolutely confident in their abilities
Not stepping foot in it again is what she's trying to do though?
I support your decision not to drive, and I can relate to your situation, I had a simular experience back when I was fresh out of driving school. I would advise you to at least drive a bit, with someone who has experience in driving and who you trust. Roads that you know, that you feel comfortable. I'm a bit worried that you otherwise develop a more deep fear of driving all together. And depending on the region you're living in, you might be required to drove, to get a loved one to a doktor, for example. And you don't need to drive all the time, or never, you can also decide just to switch sometimes, depending on how you feel. The first time after an accident is defenetly the hardest. But I'm happy that I did it at some point. Even tho I mostly use public transport today. Just cause I knew, if I would need o drive at one point, I could.