There is a body of opinion which says that you are not only not too late but, on the contrary you might even be a little too early. I know I was not yet 17 before I got my learner's permit, which in Australia is the first step towards learning to drive. However, that was the first thing I meant to do, having just completed high school. My own father, like many men of his generation, didn't learn to drive until he was in his forties. Typically for that era, my mother never learned to drive at all.

Fifty years ago all you needed to get a learner's permit was to pass an eye test and pay a fee for the learner's permit, necessary while you learn to drive, before attempting the driver's test. But by the time my daughters learned to drive, they had to also pass a drivers' knowledge test to get their learners' permit, as well as pay the fee and pass the eye test. You can see a practice version of it linked to here. Then, after aspiring drivers were considered able to drive they had to pass their driving test with an examiner and then they would have to complete a year on a provisional licence before getting an unrestricted licence.

Nowadays, people who want to learn to drive face not only passing the driving tests and a year displaying the usual red P plate signs for a provisional licence. They also have to display green P plates for a few years after that before they get a full driver's licence. Before even sitting for the driving test, one has to complete a fixed number of driving hours, some of which must be with a driving instructor. All because of the boys - and it was usually boys - who were in such a rush to learn to drive so they could show off to their mates, who then got into fatal accidents to everyone's alarm and grief.

Just because most people you know learned when they were still at high school doesn't make it 'normal'.
Plenty of people have had to wait longer, and I know some who very much older than you before they got their licence. (In fact, there's part of the brain that doesn't mature until one's early 20s, so it's probably better!)

Coracle is a good person to ask about driving. It seems that New Zealand have such fantastic methods of traffic control and driving instruction they make television programs about it, to educate us Aussies. But both New Zealand and Australia drive on the left, and you would need to know what the regulations in your own country, state and town of residence might be. Do they have leaflets there which would tell you what you need to do?

Purpleotter, happy motoring.

Take your time with that. I was 16 when I got my license but I was a reckless driver for awhile and got into a bunch of accidents. Maybe that's just me, but it wasn't until I was older--around 19 or 20 that I actually started driving safely. Nothing wrong with waiting. Plus because of my accidents I had to pay alot of insurance. Nobody's going to think you're weird. I know lots of people who waited until later. Everybody does things at their own pace.

Television programmes? Really?
Okaaaay, glad to be of service to our cousins across the Tasman.

Not weird at all! My sister took hers at the end of last year, and she's 19. I agree with what MoonlightDancer said.

My sister is nearing 20 and is still on her first stage.(she hasn't got her log books to complete her fifty hours). I have no idea how things work in any other country than Australia.

I wouldn't worry too much, IloveFauns. Just sort out the Aussies first. Although it still is interesting to see how everyone else tackles driving.

Television programmes? Really?
Okaaaay, glad to be of service to our cousins across the Tasman.

No problem, but yes it is true, just the same. The college where I was a librarian taught a lot of motor-related courses such as Heavy Vehicles, Light Vehicles - cars etc, Vehicle Painting, Vehicle Building, Panel-beating (smash repairs to learner drivers), even Transport and Logistics which in USA terms is the finer points of trucking and warehousing. As well, we used to teach driving instructors.

We had this 22 volume VHS and teacher's notes program covering everything necessary for those learning to drive, from starting the car to stopping it, what goes on under the bonnet, traffic rules, night driving, how to drive in rainy conditions, alcohol, drugs, brakes, maintaining one's car, occupational health and safety and maybe even road rage. The trouble was that it was New Zealand and we wanted an equivalent more relevant to New South Wales conditions.

I've noticed at various times, including recently, that my husband has been watching with absorption, similar programs from New Zealand about their traffic police in action, on ABC or SBS, I think. By the way, he, too, undertook the driver instruction course, and wants to add to this thread a reminder about the old Aesop fable of the Hare and the Tortoise. He said he had two pupils, both boys, who could be described in such terms, and that, as usual, it was the tortoise that won the race.

He also said that on the whole, it is preferable to get professional driving instructors for at least part of your training, because after many years of driving, parents can forget rules and finer points, when they don't undertake refresher courses like driving instructors are obliged to do. Also, parents can pass on bad driving habits to their children without meaning to do so.

Some people never get their license, such as martin freeman(bilbo) I remember in an interview him saying something like I don't waste time with things such as driving lessons.

IloveFauns, it really depends where you live in the world. In somewhere like the UK (where Martin Freeman primarily lives) learning to drive isn't necessary because public transport can get you almost anywhere. Whereas, in Australia, learning to drive is incredibly important because we live in such a vast and unforgiving country.

Wagga, when you mentioned NZ's driving programs, I thought you meant the outrageous TV series about bad drivers in Australia and NZ. Had me chuckling for a moment!

I was 20 when I got my first driver's license and I know a lady where I once worked who was 34-35 when she got hers. And we both lived in Southern California where having your own car is pretty much a necessity for getting to all the places you may want or need to go.

Definitely not too late, Purpleotter.

.. it really depends where you live in the world. In somewhere like the UK (where Martin Freeman primarily lives) learning to drive isn't necessary because public transport can get you almost anywhere. Whereas, in Australia, learning to drive is incredibly important because we live in such a vast and unforgiving country.

Yes, that is true, W4J, but wherever you live in the world, the ability to drive is still a most useful skill that can enhance one's job prospects, whilst a valid driver's licence is the most useful means of identification you can have, even overseas, other than your passport.

In UK I wouldn't dream of driving in London, for starters, and we went everywhere by the London Underground or by bus, especially on chartered journeys, to Bath, Dover, Windsor Castle etc. You see, people staying in London can get this glorious thing called an oyster card, so no wonder Martin Freeman needn't waste his time on driving lessons. You buy one for a fixed period of time, it allows you unlimited travel on bus or train for the duration, and you can top it up at the end as required. We have yet to introduce such a thing in Sydney where the powers that be think it might be just too difficult. I don't know how either you or IloveFauns get along for public transport in Perth or Adelaide, but I doubt it is much better there.

But in Scotland we did organise a hire car since we planned to visit family connections as well as tourist sites, not all of them conveniently reached by public transport. However, my husband, who had his International driver's licence with him, found that his NSW licence was inadvertently at home, when we did this, and so, after all, our daughter, who accompanied us had to do all the driving, since she had both with her. We also found that British public transport can have a few quirks, in Edinburgh, at any rate. We weren't permitted to catch peak hour trains for example.

Wagga, when you mentioned NZ's driving programs, I thought you meant the outrageous TV series about bad drivers in Australia and NZ. Had me chuckling for a moment!

My husband said the one I had seen him watching was something more like Border Patrol or RPA. Apparently the program showed the finer points of New Zealand traffic policing. Maybe a day in the life of New Zealand traffic police? He did remember the program you mentioned, though there have been others that included bad USA drivers as well as bad Australian, UK and New Zealander drivers, even, I think, South African drivers.

Purpleotter, I don't think you are too old at 19 to start learning to drive at all. I strongly suspect that the main reason for having Driver Education at USA schools is something like our extended provisional licence arrangements which make it impossible to drive on a full licence before turning 21. Both systems are directed at grabbing and re-educating those headstrong, reckless, immature and impulsive types who see driving as a mainly manly rite of passage, rather than as a skill and a legal privilege that has to be handled responsibly by all, with due care for the rights of others on the road. By putting driver education in schools those sorts of people might at least be encouraged to learn to drive legally and might even learn some common sense on the way. That course of action might even save some lives, as speed and recklessness can kill.

Thanks for clearing that one up, Wagga. You make some very good points. As for the public transport system in Adelaide, it's far better than it would be in a third-world country but rather pitiful for Western 'civilization'. Let's just say I've had some interesting experiences with buses and trains in my teenage years and early 20's (well, mainly buses) and very much prefer to drive now!

.. it really depends where you live in the world. In somewhere like the UK (where Martin Freeman primarily lives) learning to drive isn't necessary because public transport can get you almost anywhere. Whereas, in Australia, learning to drive is incredibly important because we live in such a vast and unforgiving country.

Yes, that is true, W4J, but wherever you live in the world, the ability to drive is still a most useful skill that can enhance one's job prospects, whilst a valid driver's licence is the most useful means of identification you can have, even overseas, other than your passport.

In UK I wouldn't dream of driving in London, for starters, and we went everywhere by the London Underground or by bus, especially on chartered journeys, to Bath, Dover, Windsor Castle etc. You see, people staying in London can get this glorious thing called an oyster card, so no wonder Martin Freeman needn't waste his time on driving lessons. You buy one for a fixed period of time, it allows you unlimited travel on bus or train for the duration, and you can top it up at the end as required. We have yet to introduce such a thing in Sydney where the powers that be think it might be just too difficult. I don't know how either you or IloveFauns get along for public transport in Perth or Adelaide, but I doubt it is much better there.

I actually have an oyster card(I went to london last year):). It is horrible in the underground in prime time, when you are trying to work out which tram to take and locals keep running into you. You can get anywhere you want though in london. Paris I had to memorize the spellings of the stations since many of them sounded similar to me.

My brother had his license but didn't have a car for a year when he lived in perth. Perth public transport isn't too bad but bunbury public transport is another story. Melbourne public transport is great however. I wish I lived there so I didn't have to learn how to drive.

I experienced our urban area's public transportation, where it is mostly efficient. We have reusable cards which at different options, similar to those mentioned above. I liked it and still do, but it's still such a necessity to know how to drive, because one does not stay in the city forever and sometimes it's just cheaper (and at times more comfortable, in the comfort of one's own car) to use the bus fare for fuel instead.

I got my learner's permit when I was 15, which meant I could drive but one of my folks had to be there in the passenger seat. I got my driver's license at 17 and went on my first solo drive that day in my parents' old 83 Ford Escort station wagon. Just do the speed limit, make full stops at stop signs, and check your mirrors before you change lanes and that'll keep you out of 99% of trouble on the road.

"do the speed limit" ??
I would suggest "Don't exceed the speed limit".