It comes as a surprise to meet someone - a senior - who has never had driver knowledge or learnt to use a vehicle. A driver's licence, whether it's a car licence or truck licence, or even a motorcycle licence, is the nearest thing we have in this country to a main stream identity card, earned thru difficult hours attending driving schools evidenced now by driving log books. Even an insignificant learner's permit is evidence you're on the path to motoring identity.
In this firmament of motoring prowess, the non-driver is the equivalent of a stateless person. The non-driver is likely to be viewed with suspicion just because the condition (that is, can't drive) in uncommon; that suspicion grows when, with no driving licence, the non-driver can produce no ready formal picture identification. Absence of the driver's licence means you're scratching to find the wherewithal to meet the 100-point identity check increasingly required by government and company officialdom. This is the condition of non-citizens, of intruders, folk with something to hide.
Never having taken the motor test or attended driver education, and therefore not motoring, has the flavour of rejecting social norms, kind of like a vegan, or a nudist. Barely cranky, but with the whiff of sedition. The importance of motoring, in Australia as in America, is that much greater because of the metropolitan expansion of the major towns, not to mention the enormous open spaces between those cities. This, mixed with the relatively poor availability of public transport, means not having a driving permit decreases your autonomy and freedom of movement. The driving test is an initiation to, and the valid driver's licence the recognition of, adult citizenship. To reject this is definitely un-Australian, and doubtless un-American.
By comparison, rejection of motoring and rejecting the driver's licence in mainland Europe, with its excessive public transport and dense city life arrangements, could be positively stylish. In the cities, riding a motorcycle makes much more sense than driving a car, and a pedal cycle is the cheaper-quicker-environmentally thoughtful style of transport. Walking is best, and safest (especially where the streets are cobbled).
Nevertheless it's never too late. While it's simpler to learn virtually anything when you are young, driving is still not too hard for the mature-age student. Discover the correct recommended range of driving schools to choose between, choose a then suitably qualified (and insured) driving instructor, and when prepared head on down to the local Road Traffic Authority office for the motor test. The good news here is that, provided you can identify English script alphabetical characters 10 centimeters (that is 4 inches) high at fifteen paces, you do not need a legit driving licence as corroboration of identity in order to be issued your learner permit.
Then, they take your photograph, apply it to the ID card, and you are on the way to driving citizenship of the Earth. Yes, truly the World: once you have got your licence, the World Driving Permit is yours just for the asking.
In this firmament of motoring prowess, the non-driver is the equivalent of a stateless person. The non-driver is likely to be viewed with suspicion just because the condition (that is, can't drive) in uncommon; that suspicion grows when, with no driving licence, the non-driver can produce no ready formal picture identification. Absence of the driver's licence means you're scratching to find the wherewithal to meet the 100-point identity check increasingly required by government and company officialdom. This is the condition of non-citizens, of intruders, folk with something to hide.
Never having taken the motor test or attended driver education, and therefore not motoring, has the flavour of rejecting social norms, kind of like a vegan, or a nudist. Barely cranky, but with the whiff of sedition. The importance of motoring, in Australia as in America, is that much greater because of the metropolitan expansion of the major towns, not to mention the enormous open spaces between those cities. This, mixed with the relatively poor availability of public transport, means not having a driving permit decreases your autonomy and freedom of movement. The driving test is an initiation to, and the valid driver's licence the recognition of, adult citizenship. To reject this is definitely un-Australian, and doubtless un-American.
By comparison, rejection of motoring and rejecting the driver's licence in mainland Europe, with its excessive public transport and dense city life arrangements, could be positively stylish. In the cities, riding a motorcycle makes much more sense than driving a car, and a pedal cycle is the cheaper-quicker-environmentally thoughtful style of transport. Walking is best, and safest (especially where the streets are cobbled).
Nevertheless it's never too late. While it's simpler to learn virtually anything when you are young, driving is still not too hard for the mature-age student. Discover the correct recommended range of driving schools to choose between, choose a then suitably qualified (and insured) driving instructor, and when prepared head on down to the local Road Traffic Authority office for the motor test. The good news here is that, provided you can identify English script alphabetical characters 10 centimeters (that is 4 inches) high at fifteen paces, you do not need a legit driving licence as corroboration of identity in order to be issued your learner permit.
Then, they take your photograph, apply it to the ID card, and you are on the way to driving citizenship of the Earth. Yes, truly the World: once you have got your licence, the World Driving Permit is yours just for the asking.
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