learning to drive as an adult

i'm learning to drive at age 35

i got my learner's permit a month ago and currently take weekly lessons at a local driving school. i had to take eight weeks of theory lessons on zoom. everyone else in the class was fifteen years old

i had never driven before in my life, so i was pretty nervous, but it's been fun. at first i was very anxious behind the wheel, but i'm slowly starting to relax and get comfortable

i haven't gone on the highway yet or parallel parked. we mostly cruise around residential neighborhoods. i'm trying to master switching lanes atm

one thing i initially struggled with was having spatial awareness of the width of the car. i kept underestimating how wide it was and nearly hitting parked cars, occasionally would bump against the curb

i live and work in one of the most walkable neighborhoods in the world and will probably remain a pedestrian-cyclist-public transit commuter forever, but i would love to be able to go on road trips with my partner (who also doesn't drive lol)

anyone else learning (or learned) to drive as an adult?

I learned when I was 39, surprised myself with how easily I took to it. My instructor was a terrible communicator & clearly thought I was a wuss for driving an automatic transmission, but it was really hard to find an instructor who was free and affordable, so he had to do. I didn't go to any classes, just had I think eight lessons and drove around with my wife, who had a licence already but was less confident than me on UK roads. I still hate driving culture but have to admit that I do enjoy the freedom it gives me to just go anywhere.

my sister in law grew up in stockholm, and, now living in LA with a toddler, recently got her license. I am pretty scared of being in the car with her tbh lol but I’m sure you’re gonna do great. the nice thing about learning as an adult is you won’t have the frontal lobe of a teenager and be tempted to do reckless things. tbh the age to get a license should probably be 21

I took the written test first and failed the hazard perception section, the one bit I hadn't really prepared for, it was this that led me to getting glasses for the first time. Passed the practical first time but think I was very lucky to not pick up a major fault.

I first got my driver's license at 20, but I was a very bad, easily distracted driver and got into several accidents, so I gave my license up (literally wrote a letter to the NJ DMV, enclosed my license in the envelope and they took me off the records) and didn't drive for 30 years. When I moved to Montana 3 1/2 years ago, that was no longer feasible - there's no public transit here, nothing within walking distance, and most things are a half hour or more away. So I had to get a driver's license.

I studied for the initial "written" test using a phone app created by the Montana DMV, and between my memories of driving in the 90s, common sense, and Mario Kart, I passed on my first try. Then I had several months of driving on a learner's permit, which I was only allowed to do with my wife in the car, and I took the road test.

I failed, because Montana has some idiosyncratic traffic laws (lots of left-turn-only lanes and middle lanes you're supposed to use for pulling into traffic and/or making turns) that I didn't fully understand. I was OK at parking, though. I took the test again a few weeks later and passed. Now I'm pretty comfortable driving, though I don't really enjoy it. It helps that my car - a 2024 Subaru Crosstrek - is practically a space capsule and will beep and flash at me if I get too close to another vehicle, or if I'm lingering too long at a green light after the car in front of me has already pulled away; it's got a backup camera; stuff like that. Also, there just aren't as many people on the road here as there were in NJ.

flopson, you're picking me up next time you're in town.

i learned at 23, so late but still early? i remember making some mistakes on the license test but they still gave it to me, which didn't really assuage my fears about driving but maybe they're harsher on teenagers idk. i was somehow perfect at all the "hard stuff" like parallel parking and backing up in a straight line though.

i'm now 39 and still have never owned my own car and haven't been behind the wheel in several years but it's nice to at least know how if i need to.

I know a lot of younger folks (teens, early 20s) that have zero interest in driving. It was a total rite of passage in my own youth, but I guess with the proliferation of e-scooters, Lyft, public transport, they just don't see the point. Which is probably a relief to their folks but also a burden when they're 19 and you're still picking them up

What's funny is that my wife has now basically retired from driving. I run all the errands, and when we go out somewhere, I drive. It's gotten to the point that I have to take her car (a 2009 Nissan Versa) out once a week and just put a couple of miles on it, because did you know that if you don't start your car for a couple of months, the battery dies? It's true! (Something to keep in mind the next time you're watching a post-apocalyptic TV show and someone just finds a working vehicle in an old barn somewhere.) But she really enjoys being a passenger, so I'm fine with it.

I recently got a motor scooter and learning to drive it has reminded me how grateful I am to have learned to drive a car when I was young. Driving a scooter felt like an absolutely pants-shitting experience the first handful of times, and is getting easier but still not the easiest thing for me!

I shamelessly love driving tbh. I am the family driver.

flopson, you're picking me up next time you're in town.

― boners for bombs (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, September 16, 2026 12:09 PM (eleven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

haha, deal! hope it's soon :)

I am pretty scared of being in the car with her tbh lol but I’m sure you’re gonna do great

a lot of my friends have said they will refuse to be driven by me lol. must be something about my personality. but i am taking this as a challenge and am striving to prove them all wrong. i have a couple friends (who've had their licenses since their teens) who are terrifyingly bad drivers--like multiple near-death experiences with each of them--and i hate being at their mercy when we need to drive somewhere together

my dad made be learn to drive in a 1965 GMC pickup with a manual transmission (and no heater - those were optional!)... It was a pain but now I know how to drive a manual (though I rarely do, except for motorcycles)... could come in handy someday