Today's my fifteenth birthday, and for the past week I've been a nervous wreck over the driving test. Last night when we were getting everything ready, we found out that I can't even get my permit yet. We lost my social security card. So woo hoo. Happy birthday to me. Disappointment's a great gift.

While I do not want to belittle your frustration, I do hope that I can put this into perspective for you. I did not get licensed and mobile under my own power until I was 25 years old (and for the stupidest reasons, t'boot). So while I completely understand your frustration, y'know, about a hundred times over, just be aware that it can be a helluva lot worse.

You'll get your permit, you'll get your license, and you will have the freedom of independence at your hands all too soon. In the meantime, just keep practicing. A lot of states will let you get away on driving practice with just your birth certificate.

May I put it into even more perspective? I'm too nearsighted to drive, even with corrective lenses. I just tell myself that one less car on the road is not a bad thing at all.

Well, I can't drive either (almost blind), but I totally understand your frustration. It SUCKS being disappointed, no matter what, and especially on your birthday. I feel for you. *Petpet*

You don't need your SS card do you? All you need in my county/state is 2-3 items of identification, B-Certificate and school ID.

I want it to be next week, then I get my license.

Happy birthday btw ^_^

It's not as good at putting it into perspective as everyone else's reasons but think about the fact that in some places (ie. Aus) you don't get your licence until you're eighteen anyway. And a lot of people don't bother getting it that first day. I only started getting professional lessons after I turned 18 - though I'd been learning before.

A few more months won't hurt. As Arakis pointed out - public transport is there for a reason. I had my licence for about five months now and I've caught public transport every day and driven maybe thirty times. It really does save money.

Is this a learning licence? And Deps, don't you have to be sixteen? Because I was very happy because I could get mine before my cousin, who's a year older than me. Maybe sixteen and a half?

Don't be too sad, Patronum. Most people I know get their learner's and then spend the next two years not doing anything until they are forced to anyway, so a few less days won't affect that two years much. Unless you are one of those uber-driven people who gets their real licence the day they are able to. Either way you'll be ahead of everyone else.

And while driving is pretty useful, public transport is cheap, not too difficult and much nicer on the environment.

I know there's a lot of different spins on the entire perspectives of having/not having your license situation, but for me it just didn't seem worth it. It's different for every person, but I live in pretty much an area where everything is either within walking or biking distance or can be reached via public transportation. I got my permit at sixteen, naively thinking that either my parents would let me use their car or would buy me one and gas was only around a dollar ninety something. I practiced with my parents, felt confident, but just decided not to take the road test. I kind of came to the whole reality of what getting my license entailed: buying a car, filling it up with gas, car insurance, paying for breakdowns...and when I did the math, it added up VERY fast (mommy and daddy wanted to make me responsible and do it on my own :]) and I didn't want to drain my college money so I could drive.

My advice is it usually doesn't hurt to wait. Public transportation is a wonderful thing if you have it in your area, that and a bycycle. Heck, at least where I am, tons of people are taking them out and using them for small trips. Being able to drive is nice if you're looking to go a long distance or go to school/work quite a ways from where you live, but if everything's right in your area, a five minute drive's about a a twenty to a half an hour walk and about a ten to fifteen minute bike ride. Plus, there's always the risk of having to play constant chauffeur/go-fer when you get your license while you're in high school.

As most of you have stated, public transportation is much more cheaper, but that's the thing. I don't have a bike or any public transportation around here. Not to mention the fact that if I want to get anywhere I have to drive.

That's like where I live. There technically is public transportation, but it's not very cheap, and it only runs a few times a day and crazy hours. Plus, if you want to get anywhere good, you're looking at 45 minutes at the least to get anywhere.

Don't feel too bad. I got my permit when I was 20? 19? And didn't get my drivers license until I was 22. It was ridiculous. All because my dad said I wasn't ready yet. Which really meant he wasn't. lol

And you can get a new SS card, not that hard. And I didn't have to have mine in order to get my permit. Call your local DMV and double check if you HAVE to have it. A birth certificate should be good enough, along with some sort of picture ID. But it's different everywhere.

i'm seventeen.
i don't even have my permit thing yet.
you know, that stupid piece of paper you could carry around saying i could drive with an adult but not by myself?
yeah.
i could've had a car by now.
but noooo.
my parents told me to wait when i turned sixteen.
we'll go in the summe,r they said (i turned sixteen last year in april)
then summer came.
i got sick.
well, i was gonna go when i wasn't sick anymore.
by the time i wasn't sick anymore, tennis started.
we'll wait until tennis is over.
then school came.
then winter.
now, my stepmom claims she kept asking me if i wanted to go in the winter, but she didn't.
because this past christmas, my dad lost his job.
two christmases ago, i was fifteen.
go figure -.-
so my dad was gonna get a job.
i thought yay, permit in the summe.r
well, tha tjob didn't work out fo rhim.
now he's selling cars.

i'm now a senior in highschool, seventeen years old, and onlyone of my friends doesn't drive.
see how it turned out for me?
the cons of not driving?
i can't go anywhere wen i'm alone.
i have to walk everywhere (which isn't that bad. the place where i work is down the street)
i can't order food (because half the places i like don't deliver or they're not open until 4 or 5)
i can't go visit my mom whenever i feel like it (my parents are divorced. my mom lives 15 minuts away, plus i have a tweleve year ol dand a ten year old)
my real mom offered me to take her but i said no because then what i fi do get my permit?
i don't want to do something behind my stepmother's back.

I'll get my liscense in due time, mostly because it's just one of those things that is good to have if you need it for some reason, but I probably won't drive that much even after I get it.

I'd much rather just get a bike (which I probably will look into this summer since I'll have enough money to get one) over having a car...

Where I live is a small part of a bigger place, but everything is kind of in the same area. The longest walk (with no stops) is to my school and that's about forty-five minutes usually. Everything else is about five to ten minutes away.

Public transportation can take five, ten minutes to get there, and sometimes it may take an hour (so that's why I probably really will just get a bike).

But permits and liscenses are more work and money than they are worth. Permits are even worse than liscenses since you have to have a eighteen-year-old or older in the car with you who has a liscense and most parents aren't going to be willing to let you drive their car. Plus, as it has been said, it could make you a carpool person in high school. And most parents aren't willing to let their kids use their car either... So you do have to pretty much get your own car, pay for your gas, pay for the car insurance, paying for repairs.... and have your liscense.

All in all, it really is cheaper to walk, ride a bike, or take a bus/train/subway or whatever versus having a liscense and using it.

Wow, that's weird.

In Florida when you get your learner's permit (at fifteen) you don't have to actually drive. You take an online drug-and-alcohol test and then a road signs/rules/etc test and they give it to you. Then when you turn sixteen (or at least one year after you got your permit) you come in and take the driving test to get your real license. You have to have something like 50 hours of driving experience with your permit before you're allowed to take the actual driving test.

I was so nervous, but it was totally easy.

Yes, I do have to be sixteen - I thought she meant her P's :p Nah I got my L's about a week after I turned sixteen but it didn't matter since I didn't actually get a chance to drive for a month or so.

Eighteen?? Wow - it's twenty one at least here. Or older. They have to be off their probationary licence.