Just joined up, but figured I would post here in reply....

Fear. Yep, the #1 reason I do not drive. I have been in an astonishing amount of car accidents, many of them potentially serious enough to where I shouldn't even be sitting here typing this, but instead I should probably be in a box in the ground. One memorable time i was a passenger in a car on a winding mountain road when the driver lost control. The car flipped several time and almost went over the edge of a switchback. Yikes! It was a long way down too heheh. Thankfully, everyone was okay, and luckily enough I have managed to avoid any serious injury in every one of the accidents I have been involved in.

Anyhow, ever since the age of 19 I have had a phobia concerning cars and driving. I did the whole "learners permit" thing and quickly learned that driving gives me panic attacks. After so many times shaking like a leaf behind the wheel and having to pull over just to compose myself, I figured that the world was probably a better place without me driving around in it.

It is hard to explain this to most people. It is true that a lot of people assume there is something wrong with you, that you are either lazy or just not motivated to drive. My parents, to this day (and I am 32 years old) still think that I just need to get more comfortable with driving. They have even offered to buy me a cheap used car because they think maybe it's the financial aspect. Funny since I drove for six months and hated every minute of it.

The weird flip side to all of this is that i absolutely LOVE go-carts, roller coasters, and thrill rides of any kind. I enjoy the rush, the speed, etc... and the fact that i know that i am 99.9% likely to survive them. But get me in a car as a passenger on a busy freeway and my imagination starts running wild.... and not in a good way. My wife, bless her heart, is 100% supportive of this, and when I am having a particularly rough episode she always offers to take surface streets or other less-traffic heavy routes.

I sympathize with anyone who chooses not to drive, for any reason, but I often wish that it was something other than fear which motivated me to not drive.

I am mildly dyslexic too. Not knowing ledt from right automaticly is a pain when driving.

I love that movie, however I feel that it's more important to be concerned for others safety than one's own accomplishments. I know I would be a rotten driver and endanger everyone around me. Not only do I have problems judging distance, I tend to freeze when I'm startled. I also have bad coughing fits when I'm uncomfortable. I don't want to maim or kill anyone by just trying to overcome those problems. Besides, how does driving make one a better person? Didn't Jeffrey Dahlmer drive?

Hi, Alll! Welcome, Rob! You're lucky that you can stand thrill rides--after "my" (I wasn't driving) big accident which involved hurtling down a steep hill during a brake or engine failure in an old Lincoln, I worked in tall buildings in Manhattan and couldn't look out the window! The worst episode was when I had to go up into the Twin Towers for dinner with friends.

I've just read an article about six people being killed in a plane in Ohio this weekend, when an 86-year old offered them joyride after a breakfast meeting . A mother and her four-year-old daughter were killed going on that lark. I've been railing about the danger of "joyriding" in small planes for years. They did no damage to the innocent people and property on the ground--which is not typical of this sort of accident.

I know it looks like topic-drift, but the irresponsibility of amateur flying is akin to unnecessarily driving cars--people take it lightly, when really they could be taking lots of people with them when they self-destruct.

Of course, with all the like-minded solidarity in this tribe, I know that you all feel the same way. I like that term you've used, LisAnne--"idiocracy"---I've never been afraid to point out to the spoiled sportsmen how they endanger others by their whims, no matter how many hours at the cockpit they have under their belts--it is our right. Now, let's hope that the high price of gasoline will inhibit some automotive joyriders from doing it, at everyone else's peril.

What a blessing this group is!