I’m 36 and have lived in a mix of rural and urban areas of America and I never learned to drive and have never driven a car.
Just want to make the point that not driving is really an option, just one that most people look for a way to avoid. It’s all a matter of priorities and as much as most people say they hate driving/traffic, very few actually do anything about it.
IME Waze is actually dangerous because it doesn't mind sending you on crazy maneuvers like making uncontrolled left turns across 8 lane roads only to immediately merge across three lanes and hang another turn. At times it saves a couple minutes, other times it backfires spectacularly, and at all times it disdains safety and simplicity. For me, it's much higher stress.
At some level that's true. But it's also true it significantly constrains your life choices. I've had one job in my life that I could maybe have reasonably held without being able to drive. (Business travel would still have been somewhat of an issue.) And my entire personal lifestyle would have to have been totally different.
Also, a lot of people just aren't in a position to realistically say "no" to any job that involves a need to drive.
I think it's a little ridiculous to say "I would rather not have to drive" and then make 0 life choices to reduce the reliance on driving, which is exactly what most people do.
People do often take the length of commutes into account. But, while many would prefer not to have to drive in the abstract, in practice that preference doesn't rise to the level of:
- Moving into a smaller place in a city
- Potentially putting kids into worse schools
- Passing on many of the recreational and travel activities that require driving
- Passing on job opportunities that have better salaries, career paths, etc.
- Not visiting friends and family who live places you need to drive to
All of which may be the result of not being able to drive or making a decision to prioritize minimal driving over everything else. There are a lot of things that people prefer in principle but, when presented with the actual choices, they make tradeoffs that favor different things.
It's true that I could make choices that would reduce my driving further. I could Uber, or take local buses. I could even ask my wife to drive me around, and she'd probably do it, bless her heart.
But Uber is way more expensive, local buses would add hours to my commute every single day, and I'm not nearly selfish enough to make my wife drive me to and from work every day.
Oh, and bicycling is far, far too dangerous here. Otherwise, I'd totally pick that option.
Just want to make the point that not driving is really an option, just one that most people look for a way to avoid. It’s all a matter of priorities and as much as most people say they hate driving/traffic, very few actually do anything about it.