Getting a driver’s license and more importantly, learning how to drive is something every teenager should do when they get the opportunity. In California, you can get one as young as 16 or even younger depending on the circumstances.
By getting one it opens up a new world of freedom and untethers you from the constraints of before. Wanna drive to school? Hang out with friends? Leave to get Taco Bell 12 PM? All of that is now possible.
This new world of freedom is sadly one that I and others like me aren’t a part of. Soon to turn 18, every day is a constant struggle to survive without a license.
Since I can’t drive I have to constantly ask others for a ride everywhere I go, especially when hanging out with friends. Multiple times I had to cancel plans because no one was there to drive me or having to wait out in the cold for someone to pick me up.
It’s also jarring to have no license when many of your friends do and are constantly driving. Seeing how others constantly drive to school every day when you have never even gotten behind the wheel before is sad.
The simple solution would be to just get your license but for me, it’s more complicated than that. It’s hard to find the time to hunker down and take the driver’s ed course, learning all the boring information that makes you feel old.
However, that’s just the easy part as after you finish that then you have to actually learn to drive. The choices are to hire a driving instructor, drive with your parents, or a little bit of both.
Unfortunately, neither option seems to appeal to me. I remember when my brother, only 2 years older than me, started to learn how to drive. I was strapped in the backseat while he was driving with my dad in the passenger seat.
I saw firsthand how he was mercilessly yelled at by my dad, who’s been driving for well over twenty years, about just how bad his driving was. I still have flashbacks to this day.
The other option of getting a driving instructor seems costly and awkward. Paying someone you don’t know to sit with you while you drive around might make one go mad.
Although the idea of learning how to drive both bores and scares me there are so many things I want to do with my license. Driving at night while jamming out to music and driving my friends around is something that excites me. I want to be able to do all those things. Most importantly I want the freedom a license would give me.
With how most of America is set up it’s almost impossible to get anywhere effectively without a car. Almost everywhere is filled with roads and highways.
It takes an hour to walk somewhere that would usually take a few minutes by car. As I turn 18, I hope to finally get the drive to get my license.