Is Driving All It's Cracked Up To Be?

Wednesday, February 28, 2018



As a teenager, you would have dreamt about the lure of driving. Not having to rely on anybody but yourself to get from A to B. But is driving all it’s cracked up to be? No, it definitely isn’t. Just like with most things in life, there are some serious downsides to it. But at the same time, driving is sort of a necessity if you want to live a full life. It enables you to have so many different experiences that you might not have usually had, and in a way, it opens you up to adventure. We don’t want to make driving seem all negative, but we have go to show both sides of the story. There are millions of 15-18 year olds getting ready to get their learner's permit, and there are even more mature people attempting it too. So here is a bit of advice with regards to whether driving is all it is cracked up to be.




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The Positives


For a lot of people the positives far outweigh the negatives. When you’ve spent your whole life relying on someone else to get you where to you need to be, it is easy to see why people can just shut out some of the really big negatives. So the first positivity we’re going to talk about is independence. For younger people wishing to drive soon, independence is everything. It helps to put them in the transition from a teenager to a young adult. Because in many aspects of their life, they’re still regimented to follow a routine. They’ll have to get up, have breakfast, spend 6 or more hours in school, go home for dinner etc. There is a huge lack of indepence here, and they’ll rely on others for absolutely everything. Driving strips some of that reliance away. Suddenly they’re in control of where they’re going to. They can choose whether they go to the shops or the cinema because it is just so easy to get to.


Another positive is how easy it is to get your licence. Actually getting on the road with a car is another story, but the learning to drive but really isn’t that hard if you put the effort in. The first step for anyone of any age is taking the learners permit test. This is the practical side that will allow you to get that all important learners ID. Different people can take it in different places. For example. Teenagers can take a learner's permit exam with American Safety Council, whereas older people will have to find a different route. There are plenty of places available however, you just have to do a bit of googling to find your local test center. As long as you revise, this test should be really easy to pass. Then comes to harder part for a lot of people, actually learning to drive. The fear of being on the road with so much traffic is a lot to put some people off, but eventually confidence will build, and they’ll be test ready. You’ll most likely be no different. Nerves in the beginning are totally normal. Eventually they will pass!


The Negatives


The negatives are something we’ve got to talk about because they’re just so damn big. Driving is amazing, don’t get us wrong, but you have to be prepared for a few things. The first is the financial side of things. As soon as you start to drive you’ll notice your finances getting worse and worse, especially for young drivers. The cost of insurance is so high, they’re still in school so they can’t get a proper job to fund it, and they’re most likely out all night with friends using a lot of fuel. For more mature people, it is no different. Even with a full time job, trying to find the funds to run a car is just hard. Because it isn’t just the fuel, insurance and tax you have to pay for. Like most things in life, a car will break, and when they do, they can cost a seriou amount of money. This is often something a lot of people aren’t prepared for, and it can set them back hundreds of pounds. For a lot of people they can’t even scrape together the money to fix it, meaning they’ll be off the road for a long while.


Another negative is the roads that you’ll be driving on. There are so many points we could talk about with this, but the first is definitely traffic. Sitting in traffic in the passenger seat never seems so bad. But when you’re a driver who’s got somewhere to be, or you’ve just spent a long day in the office, or have been behind the wheels for hours, it’s an absolute nightmare. Traffic often leads to anger and stupid decisions, even if they’re not by you. Accidents are caused by people dipping in and out of lanes trying to get home quicker. If you’re ever involved in an accident, we would hope that the other driver was at fault. Most of the time when an accident occurs it is due to speeding, lack of attention, or influences such as drugs or alcohol. The biggest negative of driving is definitely the danger posed by the people around you, or even by yourself. If you had friends or children in the car who were tapping you to look at something, the second lapse of concentration is what could get you killed.


So Is It Worth It?


At the end of the day, driving is a necessary evil. It might drain your money, and it might be dangerous, but it gives us the freedom we so badly need and want. Even the simple things like being able to fill the boot of the car with shopping rather than carrying it to the bus is something you’ll take for granted. When you have children it becomes even more important to be able to drive. As long as you’re prepared with money, and know you can be a safe driver, then yes, it totally is worth it.
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