Disclaimer: I’m not from the US.
As a student in a relatively large-ish city, I’ve been doing fine with public transportation. I’m not particularly interested in driving because of (no particular order):
- environmental impact (in part mitigated by EVs)
- ‘severe’ ADHD; I would never be relaxed driving
- safety; I don’t trust other drivers to follow the rules properly
Should I still get a driver’s license sooner than later?
I currently live in the very definition of downtown in my city. There’s no parking spaces and nothing. Everything is within 10min walk. But I still value my driver’s license since I can rent a moving van when I move apartment or if I need to get some new furniture in IKEA.
Having a driver’s license opens up opportunities even though you don’t have a car. I’d say go for it if you want to spend the money.
In my opinion, it would be convenient to have one just in case there’s an emergency (hopefully not) and you hypothetically would need to drive to resolve that emergency. I would personally get it even if I’m not planning on driving any time in the future, just in case.
A future job might require it. Depends a bit on the type of jobs you are looking to do in the future.
Probably getting a licence would be useful. You don’t have to own a car in order to maintain a licence, but it could be handy to have the ability to drive should you ever need to.
In some parts of the world, a driver’s license is another form of ID, so it may be worth it to get it.
Sometimes it’s also a peer pressure thing, if everyone around you is getting their driver’s license, then you may feel pressure to get it.
It’s a good thing to have if you will ever in the rest of your life need to drive anywhere.
It might be easier to learn to drive while you’re young. And even if you don’t need a car, there’s still times you might want to do carsharing or rent a car for a short while. Or your situation might change and you might move to somewhere where public transport doesn’t stop near your place. I’d personally do it, but it’s entirely possible to live without, in your current situation.
The longer you’ve had a license, the cheaper your insurance is.
Are you currently located in the US? I think getting a driver’s license in the US is unfortunately necessary because of all the car-dependent places that there are.
As the other comments suggested, getting a driving licence even of right now you don’t need it is a good choice for the future. You might decide or be forced to move somewhere where not having a licence, so not driving, might be impossible for day to day life.
Also, since you are a student you have probably more to time to prepare for the exams, so I’d suggest taking it soon.
It can’t hurt, but then again, I know a couple of people who have let their licenses expire because they never drive anywhere, and they seem to be doing fine.
