14, rural communities have different rules I guess. My grandpa at 6 put me behind the wheel of his F350 while pulling a 20’ trailer so he could stand in the trailer and buck hay for all the livestock.

So by the time I got my license I already knew how to control a car and just had to learn the rules of the road.

I’m 30 and have never learned. I live in a city with adequate public transit.

13, special license in some US states for kids who live out in the middle of nowhere so they can get to school.

Learned from parents, grandparents, siblings, being around trucks and tractors and motorcycles since I was a toddler. I knew how to drive long before I got a license.

18 from a school. Letting 16 year olds drive is insanity.

::: spoiler

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Late 30s ~ early 40s. From a school as it is mandatory here with twelve hours of theory and 16 hours of practice classes, followed by two years of probation with zero tolerance ABV and maximum of four demerit points.

I had probably close to 100,000km of experience on the road as a cyclist before that.

I didn’t get mine until 24. Lived in a city with public transport from 18-26.

I was late to riding a bike, too, though. I didn’t pick that up until 18.

I don’t have a license, because I live in a country with great public transport and never really saw the need to driving, especially in regards to outweighting the damage it does and the danger it poses.

I got mine at 24.

My parents flat refused to allow me to get a driver’s license, I assume because it would have given me the freedom to leave their house under my own power. I didn’t end up getting one until after I went to and came back from college.

I learned from a driving school, since my parents seemed uninterested in teaching me.

The experience of trying to hold a job or get to and from class between the ages of 18-24 is one of the primary experiences driving me to the idea that American public transportation sucks absolute asshole and desperately needs improvement. It used to take me two and a half hours to get to work. My work was a 15 minute drive from my house, but since my wonderful father refused to drive me to and from work, I would have to take a bus all the way across town to the central station and then hop another bus to take me all the way back across town to damn near the same place I got picked up at.

18. Mom was busy with school when I was 16, so I had to wait. I’m really lucky I had her to teach me at all!

In my 30s and never learnt, didn’t have the money so just continued to walk or cycle around. Plus I could cycle anywhere I wanted to go anyway, why spend multiple £1000s to cut 5 minutes off the time it takes to get to Tesco?

I grew up in a small town (15k people) so everything was fairly close. Could probably walk across the whole town in 15-20 mins. Now live in a large town (80k) so cycling is more necessary as walking across town can take almost an hour.

Looking at all the stress cars cause other people I am actually happy as I am. Listening to people complain extensively about problems caused by cars and I just nod along. That car stole your space again, tight fitting in that space, your car is too big but apparently that is someone else’s fault, everyone else is driving too slow or too dangerously. Driving looks so fucking boring too, looking at the car in front of you as no one is moving and you are surrounded by a sea of concrete. Fuck that, walking or cycling down the old railway surrounded by trees and bushes is so much better.

Never. I live in a city with proper public transport, and I live close enough to the city center that I can easily walk there, or go by bike if I prefer.

I am considering getting my driving license, though. It’s useful for certain jobs, but it’s really expensive.

I got my licence 2 years ago at 35! I initially tried at 16 but my mother was just horrible to drive with and scared me off learning for a long time. When I actually got it I did lessons with an instructor for a long time and that was much better for building my confidence.

Like 14. Was driving at probably 11 ish? Just cane natural. Played a shit ton of racing games as a kid ha

Don’t worry, i know a kid who’s 23 and has mever driven. Id recommend you learn though, its a good skill to know.

I took driving school at 14, parents also tutored me. Got my learner’s and six months later my limited operator’s license (IDK if other states do this, but SD used to let 14- and 15-year-olds drive alone but only during daylight hours). Got my full license at 16.

I don’t use it. I rarely drive. I grew up getting around by bicycle, and I still do at 40. You can go places with a bike you can’t in a car, and you’ll have more fun getting there, and be in a better mood when you get there.

I had drivers ed in high school (over 2 decades ago, in PA) and my parents took me out to drive in addition to that. I learned on an automatic first, but my parents also taught me to drive manual. My daily driver for the last 2 decades had been a manual, until this new car we bought last year. We have 2 kids now and my wife can’t drive manual, well she could but doesn’t like it, and it’s more important we can both drive the vehicle, but I digress. I haven’t looked into it, but I’ve heard that there is no drivers ed classes in the school district we’re in now, that learning is done through driving schools, not sure how I feel about that

When I took the written exam for the permit, it was pretty easy. Most things make sense. You’ll still want to read up to know symbol and sign meanings, and to understand more niche rules.

For the actual driving, the more practice you get in the better you’ll be. You’ll get used to the car your driving, start understanding usual patterns of other drivers, and different driving conditions. It’s funny looking back and whenever I drove by a semi on an undivided highway I would be so far over on the shoulder because I was nervous.

I also have ADHD which is often cited as a risk factor for driving but it mostly works out well for me. It’s a lot of stimuli coming at you requiring a lot of small focus switching and I find it really engaging. Generally the thing that gets me is if the passenger tries to have a serious conversation with me, that is when my driving ability diminishes.

Personally I feel the US needs more density, with walkable neighborhoods, and better mass transit. Cars shouldn’t be a necessity, instead of being freeing, they are a yoke on the working class