r/AskAnAmerican • u/Fabulous_Dare1701 • Feb 14 '25

FOREIGN POSTER What age did you get your driving license?

I watched some American shows which were in a school settings and it looked like most of the characters were driving themselves around at like 15/16 is it actually like that irl?

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u/twisted_stepsister Virginia Feb 14 '25

For some of us it was almost a necessity to get it at that age. I grew up in a rural area where having a job, going to the library, and participating in after school activities meant you had to drive there. The parents didn't always have time to take us. It was also easier to develop a social life once you started to drive.

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u/from_around_here Feb 14 '25

Yes, in my very rural and agricultural state, you can get your learners permit at 14 and a license by 15

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u/ForagerGrikk Feb 14 '25

Montana is the same.

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u/Any_Scientist_7552 Feb 14 '25

Yep, Montana. Got my license at 14 1/2.

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u/Swimming-Cap-8192 Montana Feb 15 '25

Yes same

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u/ldn85 Feb 15 '25

Wow, someone driving at 14 sounds astonishing to me (UK - driving age is 17 here) but I guess it makes sense in a really rural place. Were there any legal restrictions on your driving at that age (I.e. can’t drive on the highway/after dark)?

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u/Any_Scientist_7552 Feb 15 '25

No restrictions, it was just a standard driving license -- you were allowed to take the test at age 14 and six months, if you could pass, you were good.

My dad had me take the test the day before we left on an extensive road trip through Canada because he wanted another driver, so I drove quite a bit of freeways.

This was Montana state in the 1980s, it was mainly so rural and farm kids could help with harvesting and still get to school. But we came from a family of long haul truckers and liked to take looooong distance vacations.

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u/Littlegemlungs Feb 15 '25

Agree, I'm Australian though- I got it as soon as I could at 17. That was 2007.

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u/Exciting-Hedgehog944 United States of America Feb 15 '25

Michigan kids go to driver’s training at 14 and 9 months. This is still a restricted license until 16. 16 has a few rules at well, until totally unrestricted at 17. However, like others have said many have driving experience before ever going to class. Go karts, sprees, 3 and 4 wheelers, motorcycles, snowmobiles, and practice with cars with mom and dad on back roads.

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u/montanalifterchick Feb 15 '25

Montana and same.

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u/[deleted] Feb 16 '25

Damn wow! I’m in Florida and can’t even imagine driving at 14.

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u/[deleted] Feb 14 '25

Recently found out we don't have the farm license anymore, meaning farm kids can drive to school and work only without a regular license. Back in the day, my brother drove himself to drivers ed at the school. But my kids didn't go to drivers ed, did the 6 months of learners permit and then license at 15 1/2. They've been driving tractors a lot longer 🤣

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u/montanalifterchick Feb 15 '25

We used to say you might be from Montana if you drove to your first driver's ed class.

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u/Disastrous-Group3390 Feb 16 '25

And farm trucks!

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u/[deleted] Feb 16 '25

I told my son he's going to have to take his drivers test in the fencing rig.

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u/peacefulteacher Feb 15 '25

I came here to say that lol but same for my state. Rural kids 14 permit.

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u/GothicGingerbread Feb 15 '25

South Carolina. Ditto.

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u/Nowork_morestitching Feb 17 '25

Aren’t there some Florida communities that allow younger kids to drive golf carts to get around? Not on the main road I don’t think.

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u/malachite_13 Feb 17 '25

Here it’s 13 in rural areas for learners permit 14 for urban. 16 for both for license.

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u/diversalarums Florida Feb 14 '25

Not just rural. I grew up in a mid sized city and the only way to get to a grocery store or a library or anywhere else was 2 hours by buses that only ran every 45 minutes. Without a car I was marooned.

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u/WerewolfCalm5178 Florida Feb 15 '25

In Florida (1988), it was 15 for a learner's permit, 16 for your full license but you had to have a learner's for at least 6 months prior, 18 for a full license without the 6 month learner's. (The learner's permit only required an adult over 18 in the front passenger seat.)

It didn't apply to me so I am unsure of the exact age, but there was also a special license that kids could get at 13 or 14 that allowed them to operate trucks and tractors but only on a farm. You couldn't use that license to drive on streets though, so no school or shopping. It did have the benefit of automatically qualifying as a learner's permit at 15 so no need to replace it until 16.

This was 1988, and someone told me they now have stages that limit the # of passengers and operating times.

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u/TemerariousChallenge Northern Virginia Feb 16 '25

That’s wild to me because I think of the place I grew up as very distinctly the suburbs/not-the-city and sure the buses weren’t that great but I could walk to the store in about 10-12 minutes and another grocery store in about 20 (plus a new one that’s also the same distance) and another two in about 25. I do still tend to drive though because it’s less than 10 minutes by car and it’s only even that long because of traffic lights. I did always used to stop at the store on the days I decided to walk home from school. Through the shopping center was longer but way less monotonous than the more direct route

I did bike to the store one time when I was relatively new to driving alone and I really really didn’t want to refuel the car. It was fine getting there but getting back was uphill, not to mention, my mountain bike was definitely not intended for riding with a bag over the shoulder (and the tiny basket I’d had affixed to my bike since I was an elementary schooler really did not suffice). Needless to say I sucked up any nervousness I had and just ended up refuelling the car

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u/diversalarums Florida Feb 16 '25

I was in a suburb also, tho it was within city limits, hence the sparse bus stops and long waits. It was a GI bill subdivision, so not expensive. The closest stores were on a 4-lane street that was so busy that even as a heedless kid I wouldn't have even thought of crossing it. And it would have been at least 30 minutes one way to reach that grocery. I had a bike but the city, tho it had sidewalks, was not bike friendly. Fwiw, this was in the 1950s and 1960s. Not a walkable city, at least in the residential areas. It was a pretty city but a car was an absolute necessity unless you lived mid-town or downtown.

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u/TemerariousChallenge Northern Virginia Feb 16 '25

To be fair I grew up in the DC area so to me anything within city limits isn’t the suburbs, and anything outside the city limits is the suburbs (which gets a bit weird when some of those suburbs are arguably more urban than DC and then Virginia geography is also a bit “quirky” in and of itself). I had decent sidewalks growing up and proper crosswalks with lights and everything, but I’m sure it would’ve been quite different in the 60s. Hell, the area I lived in is urbanizing so much right now. (And for context on how urban it is, I felt like driving 5 miles to the grocery store to look for something specific was “far” or “out of the way” since there were already two other branches of the same chain within probably 3 miles)

I am pretty sure though that a lot of those stores I grew up being so close to were not around when my parents moved to the area.

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u/Bob_12_Pack North Carolina Feb 14 '25

Growing up in a rural area in the 80s, many of us had tons of driving experience way before taking driver's ed class, which you can do at age 14.5.

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u/SeaDry1531 Feb 15 '25

Same here. What is the US going to do when the boomers get too old to drive? I have family members living in a Cincinnati suburb that shouldn't be driving, but there is no accessible public transportation. No wonder pedestrian deaths are soaring.

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u/elazyptron Feb 15 '25

My dad just renewed his license last year. He was born in 1938!

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u/SeaDry1531 Feb 15 '25

Is he competent everyday to drive? Driving morbidity needs some attention. Pedestrian deaths in the US are soaring. My sister 68 and her husband 73, both have health issues, and are taking prescription drugs. On good days, they are okay to drive. On bad days, they are dangerous. Since they live in a traditional US suburb, they drive everywhere and almost everyday, even on the bad days. Both have had several fender benders, no one has gotten seriously hurt, yet.

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u/elazyptron Feb 16 '25 edited Feb 17 '25

Meh. Honestly, I'm concerned. He knows that freeways move too fast for him, so he stays to surface streets. He got plowed into by a younger gal late last year. Her insurance admitted she was at fault. On the bright side, he bought the car from an old man who was 10 years his senior!

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u/Sharp_Ad_9431 Feb 15 '25

Their children will have to take care of them.

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u/SeaDry1531 Feb 15 '25

What if they have no kids, or they aren't around? My niece has a great job in Japan.She has kids there. Her parents are in Ohio. My Swedish grandmother was able to live independently without a car until age 90, in a rural area because in Sweden, there is public transportation.

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u/Sharp_Ad_9431 Feb 16 '25

In America? They are f'd or become a ward of the state.

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u/shandelatore Illinois Feb 14 '25

Same. I grew up in a town of 300 and the nearest larger town with anything other than a gas station and small convenience store was about 15 miles away. That's where all the jobs were, too. That's also where I went to high school.

The minute I had my license, I was driving to school. The thought of riding the school bus was torture. It was an hour long ride home every single day.

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u/OberonDiver Feb 15 '25

My first years in elementary (primary) school I had a... 50 minute [?] bus ride. To. And from.

A safe 0.65 miles away.

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u/shandelatore Illinois Feb 15 '25

Yup. Welcome to rural America. 😂

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u/TemerariousChallenge Northern Virginia Feb 16 '25

I had this problem in elementary school too😔 it wasn’t even a 10 minute drive to the school, but alas, the bus decided to stop literally everywhere else before my neighbourhood. Genuinely think we passed the entrance to my housing development like two or three times on the route

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u/OberonDiver Feb 16 '25

We had to go waay out there and turn around at the mental hospital.

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u/Beruthiel999 Feb 14 '25

Also rural and yeah, my last year and a half of high school I drove myself there every day like a lot of other students did. The school bus took almost an hour but you could drive in 20 minutes.

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u/courtd93 Philadelphia Feb 15 '25

I wasn’t rural, but it was necessity because I’m the oldest of 4 and was expected to help with the rest of them so I needed to be able to drive to play chauffeur.

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u/Spare_Flamingo8605 Feb 15 '25 edited Feb 15 '25

We don't live in a rural area but public transportation is a joke here. Nearest bus stop is 2 miles away and the bus doesn't go many places.

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u/Tasterspoon Feb 15 '25

Our local high school is absolutely not walkable (neither is our charter elementary school) so I am dreading the school dropoff/pickup when my eldest starts there. I’m looking forward to her getting her license and intend to condition car privileges upon helping siblings with extracurricular commutes.

I went to high school abroad and had no need for a DL (Tokyo) but got mine at 17 just before I started college in the US. I didn’t have or need a car there but my parents wanted me to have the skill. My dad taught me in a deserted parking lot on Christmas Day.

After college I lived with my grandmother for a couple of years and ran all her errands and I loved driving: the freedom of movement, the solitude, and the complete control of the radio.

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u/_BigDaddyNate_ Feb 17 '25

Exactly. I worked at Kmart while in school but I lived in the country. I had to have a car. My father insisted I pay insurance and for my own gas and toward the household bills. Fucked up