WHAT?! You don't drive?!
(From The Daily Camera)
No drive to drive: Some folks don't bother with a driver's license
Swanson, 52, is one of those rare Americans who doesn't drive and has never had a license, in other words NOT one of the nearly 200 million people who spent an average of 100 hours a year commuting to work each year.
"People are absolutely shocked and amazed," she says, when they find out she doesn't drive. "(They say) 'You've got to be kidding! How old are you? You've been doing this all these years?'"
Swanson's mother even has a comment to make when she introduces her daughter to someone new.
"I'm her daughter who will jump out of an airplane and go cave exploring, but won't get behind the wheel of a car," Swanson says.
Wanda Pelegrina Caldas, also a non-driver, says she gets mixed reactions.
"A lot of people are like 'Oh my gosh, are you kidding, it's a joke, right?' A lot of people say. 'That's really admirable. That's really motivating me to use my bike more, to get out of my car'"
Not driving doesn't have a deleterious effect on their lifestyles.
"The best part is that I get to be out and about and not stuck in a car," says Pelegrina Caldas. "I get to see other people and enjoy the environment around me."
Pelegrina Caldas, 33, lives with her boyfriend, who also doesn't drive. She has saddle bags on her bike for carrying small loads and the two have bike trailers for larger items.
The most difficult part? Snow.
But she says bike paths get cleared relatively quickly, and she lives less than 2 miles from her job at Columbine Elementary. If biking isn't possible, she can always walk.
Although, she says: "I don't find the weather gets bad enough."
Swanson's husband has a car, but she was single for many years, living car-free in car-loving Los Angeles for several years and in Denver.
Of her L.A. years she says: "There were buses and trains, all sorts of ways to get around. The thing then was to buy a pair of roller blades. I used to zip down to the beach and roller blade to work about 2 miles away."
Wherever she lived, she made sure she was close to work and to bus lines. She calls Broomfield "a little iffy" when it comes to transit, but she can call for transit and walk to the grocery store and work.
Pelegrina Caldas thinks biking can be faster than commuting in a car.
"If you're on a bike path, you don't have to wait for traffic lights. There are underpasses, lots of shortcuts," she says.
How does a person end up a non-driver in this car-obsessed culture?
Swanson grew up in Montana near the Canadian border. She took driver's education in high school, but found driving terrifying.
"Every time I got behind the wheel, I would break into a sweat. The driver's ed teacher would make me do it," she says. "I passed (driver's ed) with flying colors, but I was never interested in getting my license. So I never did. I always learned to get around without it."
The last time Swanson drove was when she was in her 20s, traveling with a friend who was so sleepy she needed relief at the wheel.
Pelegrina Caldas grew up in Puerto Rico and started to learn to drive, but had older friends who always drove her. She went away to college, thinking she'd learn later.
But her awareness of the environment grew.
"People were talking about climate change. I realized I didn't want to drive," she says.
Should they ever change their minds, learning to drive at a later-than-typical age, is not difficult for most people, contrary to the common perception, driving instructors say.
Michael Pettiford, president of Go 4 It High Performance Schools in Louisville, says the degree of difficulty depends on whether a person has been aware of the driving environment. Even if the would-be driver hasn't, he can still learn, Pettiford says.
"We just break (the task) down into smaller and smaller pieces," he says.
However, older drivers are not a big part of the company's business, which teaches high-performance driving, as well as how to drive in the slow lane.
Pettiford shouldn't expect Pelegrina Caldas or Swanson as customers.
"I don't have any plans to drive," Pelegrina Caldas says.
Swanson feels the same way.
"It's my way of thumbing my nose at the establishment."
Contact Camera Staff Writer Cindy Sutter at 303-473-1335 or sutterc@dailycamera.com.
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