Living Car Free - Drove a car for the first time in a year

I had to go to Spokane for a doctors appointment so I rented a car. SCARY!!! Way too much sensory input and confusion about the rules of the road. Took about an hour to get the hang of it again. It was cheaper and more convenient to rent than to use Greyhound.

I drove my gf's car a few months back. My experience was similar to yours, except I felt like I suffered from too little sensory input. I just couldn't see as much, or hear as much, and I had no confidence that I actually knew what was going on around me.

Awful experience.

Yep,

It's actually good for the car-free to take a break and do a little driving every once in a while to keep your skills up. My last time was in May. Two 600 mile days. Little Rock to Atlanta, and back.

I feel closed in and the car simply seems too large. I haven't driven a car now in 7 years. Still ride motorcycles sometimes, but even they don't get used much anymore. I simply prefer to ride my bike. My licence expires sometime this year. I'm considering not renewing because I simply have no use for a car.

I used to drive my elderly parents around quite a bit. But since they died, I drive less than 50 miles a year. When I do drive, I get nervous and mentally cuss out other drivers and cyclists who do stupid things.

I drive maybe once a month. Always takes about 20 miles before I get comfortable with the speed again. I also feel myself getting impatient and frustrated as soon as I get behind the wheel. So unpleasant.

The last time I rented a car, I was terrified driving a new vehicle in New York City traffic!! Not only are my skills off, I felt like dare devil on the highway having to maintain 70 mph to keep from becoming a road hazzard. There are too many drivers taking a lot of chances with their lives! Having been a bus/train commuter all my life, there is no way I'll ever become a car commuter.

I drive maybe once a month. Always takes about 20 miles before I get comfortable with the speed again. I also feel myself getting impatient and frustrated as soon as I get behind the wheel. So unpleasant.

I used to drive 20,000 miles a year, mostly on the interstates. I recently had to drive a few hundred miles (well, I only drove about half the distance), and I couldn't get over how boring it was.

Did you ever ask yourself "what did I just see?" after driving? I usually found that I was on autopilot the whole way and I don't remember the actual driving (or riding when its a motorcycle). On a bike however I tend to more alert because I'm constantly putting out energy.

June 9th is the last day I drove at work. Some time in August I'll drive again. The longest amount of time I went without driving a four wheel vehicle was between September 2007 and August 2010. I got to drive a mini-van about three times between then and October 2010.

The next time I drove was in January 2011. It was a forty foot school bus. Big buses and little buses are the only things I've driven that I can't carry up stairs since 2010. The transition from bicycling to driving has no effect on me. All of my perceptions are the same. I'm just moving faster.

There is one trait that I've kept from driving the bus. Sometimes I forget that I can turn right on a red light when I'm on my bicycle. School buses aren't allowed to do that per company policy. When a car turns right in front of me while I'm at a traffic light or honks at me, I suddenly remember I'm allowed to do it. :o

I haven't driven my own car in a little over a year but my license is still valid and skills haven't gotten rusty yet. :-p I stay practiced by being a designated driver for friends or just driving when we go somewhere together and they want me to drive. I probably drive a car once or twice a month.

I drive a couple times per year, if it's necessary to help a family member get to the airport in a neighboring city or if I'm helping somebody move, and I have very similar feelings to what many of you describe. I really enjoy driving on freeways, but in city traffic or neighborhood streets I feel somewhat nervous. More than anything else, a car feels like a cage when you're used to riding everywhere - the car may be faster, but it feels unpleasant to be isolated in a little box away from the natural environment, the places you pass through, fellow travelers, etc.

Did you ever ask yourself "what did I just see?" after driving? I usually found that I was on autopilot the whole way and I don't remember the actual driving (or riding when its a motorcycle). On a bike however I tend to more alert because I'm constantly putting out energy.

+1

I haven't driven my own car in a little over a year but my license is still valid and skills haven't gotten rusty yet. :-p I stay practiced by being a designated driver for friends or just driving when we go somewhere together and they want me to drive. I probably drive a car once or twice a month.

Your skills won't be too rusty. You may find yourself a little giddy when you get over 20mph and you're not breathing heavily. :)

June 9th is the last day I drove at work. Some time in August I'll drive again.
There is one trait that I've kept from driving the bus. Sometimes I forget that I can turn right on a red light when I'm on my bicycle. School buses aren't allowed to do that per company policy. When a car turns right in front of me while I'm at a traffic light or honks at me, I suddenly remember I'm allowed to do it. :o

Whoo for school bus drivers! Last year it was nearly all I drove- school bus or bicycle. Oddly, it doesn't feel weird to transfer from one to the other (perhaps because those two were daily), but going to a lower-deated position in a car and without all the mirrors, I felt very trapped.
Only during my first year of driving a school bus was I working outsourced where red-light right turns were not allowed, but it is still ingrained into me not to do that. I usually end up paused at one for far too long and then remember and go when its clear. When I finally did get back into a regular car, I had to have my husband poke me at railroads to keep me from stopping. And lastly, going over 55mph feels WEIRD! Even in a car, its too fast. Now my new district doesn't even have the 55mph rule, speed for a bus is just limited at (obviously) speed limits. I expect to have trouble with that too.