Some people think of driving as a great way to unwind and have some quality time with themselves. The value of cruising around, listening to your favorite tunes sometimes goes unappreciated due to the functional nature of driving. You drive your car to get from point A to point B—that’s a given. However, there’s a different way to look at it: imagine the number of thoughts that you get to entertain while driving down a scenic road or the many “what ifs” and scenarios you get to play in your head to help you pass the hours you spend stuck in traffic every day.
Now, aside from the dreamy side of it, driving is an essential life skill to master. This knowledge will serve you day in, day out for the rest of your life! This brings us to the reasons why every person of legal age should know how to drive.
Independence
After you’ve grown up to be an adult, you should no longer depend on your parents or family members for drop-offs and pickups. This ownership of your life matters will teach you how to be a responsible adult and how to manage your own time.
While most kids will ask their parents or older siblings to teach them how to drive, this will usually backfire; according to the leading driving instructors at L Team Driving School, utmost patience and consideration are needed when teaching youngsters how to drive. Your family members will tend to lose their temper and snap at you for not getting it fast enough! So, it’s highly recommended that you find an experienced, friendly driving instructor that will help you navigate this challenging undertaking with confidence and without giving you more anxiety than you already have.
Practicality
Even if you’re not very keen on being independent and don’t mind asking your sister to drive you to your weekly piano practice, it’s not practical. Everyone is so consumed in their lives that it’s hard to find some extra time to drive someone around. If you and your best friend live in opposite directions from the campus, it’s more practical if you can drive there and meet him than waiting for him to pick you up and risk missing a final exam!
Need
Unfortunately, not all countries have a decent public transportation system that one can depend on to get around. Even in the first-world countries, some regions suffer from beat-up public vehicles and irresponsible drivers that you cannot choose to count on every day. While in other rural or more secluded areas, running an errand can cost you a fortune, or you might not even find a ride at all. You will need to know how to drive and be self-sufficient when it comes to commuting and other everyday tasks.
Saving Money
Learning how to drive and getting your license will give your parents the confidence needed to lend you the family car from time to time. You will save your allowance or salary for something you want, rather than bus fares. If you regularly use taxis or ridesharing apps, you’d also be better off doing the math.
Optional Source of Income
Early on in your adult life, there may come a time when you still don’t have a reliable source of income, or when you are between jobs and still need to pay the bills. If you do not have any special degrees or certifications yet, it’s easier to use your car and join one of the many transportation network companies to drive people around and make some much-needed cash. It’s true that this is only one of many ways you can make money; however, it’s always nice to have more options, especially when times get tough.
Drastic Situations
Though not as common, this reason should not be overlooked. You might find yourself in a situation where you have to get behind the wheel. These can vary from oversleeping on the first day of a job to a more urgent situation where your friend gets into an accident and ends up being injured—you can hop in the driver’s seat and rush him to the nearest hospital. Learning how to drive can be a life-saving skill during such times.
There are many life lessons one gets to learn from driving; these include discipline, and how to respect the law and other people. Driving might be scary at first, but once you get the hang of it, it will become second nature. So don’t shy away from learning a new, essential skill; no matter how old you are, it’s never too late!
