Quote:
Originally Posted by TorqueDog
^ Having such a cavalier attitude toward getting one's license is so foreign to me. It was a huge deal for us when we were in high school that we get our driver's licenses as soon as goddamned possible. Manitoba allowed you to get a learner's permit at 16, unless you were enrolled in an accredited driver's ed program through your school, which would drop the age requirement to within six months leading up to your 16th birthday. (I know AB allows it even earlier, age 14.)
People who otherwise wouldn't piss on each other if the other were on fire would relay experiences with the road test, strategies for the parallel parking test, 'gotchas' where they failed, etc. It became a massive unifying thing we all wanted to accomplish... almost more important than graduation, and had no correlation to whether someone knew or gave a crap about cars as a hobby or otherwise. A driver's license was a step toward freedom, and autonomy, and adulthood.
For someone in this country to be a fully-fledged adult and not have a driver's license (exempting for extenuating circumstances, of course) is just weird and comes off -- to me, at least -- as someone who doesn't really have their sh-t together. You don't have to plan to buy or own a car, but to not be able to at least operate one in this world should the need ever arise is just not being prepared IMO.
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Yeah, I grew up in a home with both parents working, I played a lot of sports, other activities with friends, my sister was the same so for us it wasn't even an option.
14 - Learner's Permit + Job
You save the job money for the inevitable crap-car you're going to get after you get your license.
16 - License + Car
Mom & Dad: Chauffeuring you around is over. You're on your own now.
My sister got the job of driving me around until I was old enough for my license and car.
It may have helped that my dad was a Professional Driver with Greyhound and for him its a mandatory skill.
But yeah, most of my friend group got their licenses as soon as humanly possible and if you were one of the feckless ne'er-do-wells who procrastinated on getting your license and kept bumming rides you got told to f off pretty damned quick.