Have an Older Person Who Doesn't Drive? Show Them the Way to a License and Independence

Just as you might be surprised by the relatively high rate of adult functional illiteracy, you may also me amazed by how many adults - especially adult females 40 and other - do not know how to drive a car, truck or SUV. After all, many of us thought the non-licensed, not-driving female went out with our mother's or grandmother's generation.

In truth, however, especially among those who grew up in school districts without a driver's education program in high school or those who grew up in largely urban areas such as New York City or Los Angeles, the rate of those unable to drive a car may strike the rest of us as amazingly high. On the one hand, it's great because these people may use less fuel by taking public transportation. Yet, on the other, not being able to drive oneself - unless the person has a fair amount of money to pay professionals to drive them - can seriously curtail one's life outside home as well as their independence.

My mother, for example, never learned to drive. Oh, she tried, with many different teachers. During these lessons, she not only took down countless garbage cans, roadside guard posts, mailboxes, and the occasional fence, but she suffered an untold number of panic attacks. The result was that she, as a rural widow, was forever dependent on others to provide her with transportation to and from the grocery story, the doctor's office, and literally anywhere and everywhere else she wanted and needed to go.

Do you have someone in your life who doesn't know how to drive? Perhaps someone for whom you are often called upon to provide rides, whether it is convenient or not?

If so, despair not. There is hope. But the post teenager can require some special patience, consideration, and the right conditions to finally tackle the difficult obstacle of preparing to become a licensed driver.

Here are some tips from the experts: