Blackberry

Well, I guess I'll sound like the curmudgeon i probably am--but I didn't have wheels until I could pay for the car and the insurance. Since I already had a ton of college bills, I didn't buy a car until I was 23. it was a 1965 Pontiac that I bought in 1978 for $450 cash. Somehow I survived all those without a car. In fact, life seemed just fine.

cerewa

I distinctly remember that I had no insurance until several hours after I got my license.

I'm pretty sure that, in alaska at least, one could get a license and not have insurance. You'd just have to refrain from driving. I think you could drive in that situation, though, if you paid for a car rental which included liability insurance.

vrkelley

Car-free would be nice but it'll be a long time before we're free of gasoline-based equipment.

My take on it is that I want my kid to learn to drive/ride many types of vehicles and also power equipment. As many as possible. skateboard, in-line blades, ski-ing...Mowers, mini bikes, cars including stick-shift and bikes.

Elvish Legion

I'm a high school student, and while I was given a car I didn't want it, never used it, and sold it. I live car free, it is much easier on the wallet (still looking for a job)

Elvish

gregas

I'm a high school student also... also in seattle just like vrkelley's kid. I'd be out of any opportunity to use a car if I got one speeding ticket and two, well then the law outside of my parents would step in. Your son's definitely going to be fine riding a bike, at least for a while. As for the social life; I've got a job and a ****load of other stuff to do and riding a bike only seems to enhance the fun I can have leeching off of my parents for the next and last year of my youth. He deserves what he got and he'll be fine.

p.s. I drive about once every couple months and I see my self very competent behind the wheel, but I guess my inferior brain isn't as developed as that of an adult.

p.p.s. Any grown ass men/women who get two speeding tickets need their licenses taken away for a while too.

Roody

I have heard that in some states you must have insurance to get a license. Here in Michigan, and most other states, I think, that is not the case. I have had a valid DL for more than 30 years, only had a car for half that time, and insurance for less than half. Here, you do have to have insurance ("no fault") in order to register a car and must maintain insurance to drive it legally.

Most places, you can get an official state ID card that is accepted for check cashing, alcohol and tobacco purchases, etc.

(BTW, I think you write OK. Better than some of the old folks. )

Roody

All true. And at least you can hold onto the hope that your "inferior brain" will still develop. It's all downhill for us "grown ass" people!

cerewa

Lauren-

you responded to my post where i said i would not pay for insurance for my kids, saying

That's not my intent at all. I don't have kids, (and i'm only 22) but I intend to in a few years, and I don't intend to protect them from much of anything not involving death or disability. I won't protect them from their own expenses. I don't intend to pay for insurance for myself-- why should they get insurance on my dime? To me, the sheltered kid is the one who doesn't have to do stuff for him/herself, like pay if he has car insurance, start covering some of her own expenses when she's old enough to work, or waste his time in school because it isn't his job paying for those classrooms and teachers.

My parents still pay for car insurance for me, and I drive occasionally but if my driving required my paying for insurance, I'd quit driving. I suggested they could stop paying for my insurance, and they didn't want to.

henryblowery

"To me, the sheltered kid is the one who doesn't have to do stuff for him/herself"
I agree, sometimes I complain when I have to do stuff but I know its for the best.

lauren, what school do you go to?
Gray

henryblowery

"UNC"
Go Wolf Pack

I don't beleave that it's in my parents job discription to pay car insurance for 3 kids. Nobodys stoping me from getting a lisence and driving I just have to pay for it.

Oh, and don't get the tattoo mabe the motorcycle but not the tattoo.
Gray

henryblowery

Sorry for getting off topic. I'm with the people that said he'll live.
Gray

humancongereel

me, too, but i also learned habits from messengers, which offers a unique combination of safety and riding very dangerously...ride fast, weave in and out of traffic, don't stop if you don't have to and don't slow down too much while you're checking BUT keep your eyes open, watch for doors on parked cars, pay attention to what drivers are doing even a few cars down, be on the defensive all the time...there are certain habits i'm trying to break, by riding more vc and paying attention to traffic laws (i have idaho's memorized now). i remember riding with a friend in portland who was going by the max train as it started moving, and he just sped up to get in front of it faster. breaking habits like that.

anyway. yes. my parents wouldn't be happy with how i ride...

Katrogen

I'm a 17 year old that has a permit that is expiring. Its a complete waste of time, I didn't even have to take Driver's Ed training but I did for the heck of it. We were living out in the country/suburbs and I needed to transport myself back and forth.

Now that I live in the city I have entertained myself with the bike all year. I will never get a car in this convenience. My parents are pushing a liscence on me and want to get a car but I refuse. Its so much more convenient on a bike. Especially money-wise as I don't want a job either.

primaryreality

My son is 19, does not have a driver's license, rides his bicycle to work, to college, everywhere. He dreams sometimes, I think, of getting a motorcycle--and I think he'll do that, eventually--but he's a college student with a part time job. The costs involved with any form of motorized transportation are, right now, out of his reach, and I have neither the means nor the desire to help him with that.

I think my example of car-free living has partly been responsible for helping him to see that getting around by bike is possible, practical and reasonable. He certainly doesn't think I'm crazy. He also takes long rides with me, for fun, when he has time, which isn't too often these days with his work and school schedule. But I firmly believe he's better for the experience of being car-free, and healthier overall for all the exercise that he might not otherwise be getting. His girlfriend and some of his friends have cars, so it doesn't cramp his social style so far as I can see.

My daughter, a couple of years older, has a car that she bought and paid for herself while she was still in high school; her dad still pays for her insurance. She will always be car-dependent, I think. Different strokes--and that's fine, but they pay for it themselves, as far as I'm concerned.

New2Cycling

Quite honestly, I think having your kid bike to different places will be a good learning experience.

pdxbikelover

i am plaing to be car free as long as i can and i am only 16. the only reasone i would get a liscince is if my friends get hammered and cant drive or somthing

Satyr

The sad part is the impetus to operate a motor vehicle exists in the first place. Teach the kid self reliance and efficiancy and they probably won't need to show off to their friends. Better to ask for a ride in case of need or want than to be a total tool.

Satyr

As evidenced in this forum, a lot of people will strongly urge you to go ahead and get the license irregardless of your plans. I think this is particular to America, or perhaps North America. There seems to be a huge link, in the thinking of these places, between freedom and motor vehicle. Thankfully this link is not a great truth, as evidenced by most of the rest of the world.

Guess I am just saying good for you, and always do what you think best while still considering the wisdom of others. You can be carfree in more places than the city, too. I personally find self contained, small towns to be the most fun to live in.

Satyr

They say about tattoos, 'Welcome to your new addiction.' I went from never thinking I would get a tattoo to having two now, and plans for probably at least one more. Figure they look good while your body is maintained, if you place them right no one has to see them, and by the time you are old and they look bad, you don't car anymore. Though my father, I believe, regrets some of his tattoos. I have not reached that point yet.