I would like to say it's because I am passionate about environmentalism.
Perhaps if I were morally opposed to driving it would be looked upon as noble. Sacrificing my comforts for the greater good. While I care about the environment --or at least convince myself I do-- I am not outraged by the act of driving. Maybe a little grossed out by ginormous, unnecessary tank-like vehicles on the road but definitely not against humans needing cars.
Or even to be able to say I have a physical handicap that makes it literally impossible to drive. But that would be a lie. The truth is I have a mental handicap that makes it hard to drive but I know it can be overcome.
Driving causes me to have severe panic attacks. I am from CA but lived in FL most of my teenage/adult life. I now know drivers in FL are just about the worst according to studies. Perhaps, this made my anxiety while trying to learn worse. I recently got my learner's permit. IE - took the super easy written test but didn't find a car to use to take the driving portion.
I think it started with never having money to get a car to learn but as time went by and my anxiety/agoraphobia got worse it became a real fear of driving. I never expected it to get so bad that I would be pushing 30 and wishing I drove a car. I just kept telling myself next year was the year I would get it. Now I am 28 and, feeling like a pleb, watching 16 year olds whizzing around town.
What happens exactly is that when I get onto the main road I am filled with panic and start violently shaking. I feel like I am about to go down the drop on a roller coaster, but the heart-in-gut feeling doesn't slow down, only intensifies.
which I feel can't be very safe on the road.
If you are in your 20's and have no car --and don't live in a huge city with great public transport-- you are pretty much regarded as the lowest form of loser.
Just to be clear my phobia isn't actually about the danger of driving. It's an extension of my social anxiety and the fact that I feel so insecure when I go anywhere in public to the point of getting panic attacks. It's an extension of being agoraphobic. I am going to be starting therapy soon and hopefully that, coupled with anti-anxiety meds, can get me to overcome this damned phobia so I can start living my life like an able-bodied adult.