Oh man, this has been eating at me for years and I think I'll explode if I don't let it go.
In the country I live in, 95% (I am not kidding, very serious) of the population has bribed to get their driver's license when they turn 18, the examiners also go out of their way to purposefully fail you no matter how well you drive. I stupidly failed my drivers test when i was 18 because the guy just failed me for and I quote "Not openning the door with the correct hand". I don't tell this to people because they know me as an amazing driver compared to my experience, I say "I didn't have the time", which was partially true as you'll see soon. Because of this and some other factors, many drivers here are idiots, complete morons. No situational awareness, road rage all the time, speed and show off in crap cars, can't park, think they own the road, tint their windows to 100% cuz fuck visibility. The list goes on. Jaimie Lannister could count on his one hand how many drivers I've seen who came even remotely close to the skill of my dad whos been driving for nearly 40 years and has shown that skill multiple times in saving our lives from idiots on the road.
I don't like the meme that women and girls are bad drivers, because it isn't true. My country though, is an exception to that meme. NONE of the girls that drive can drive well at all. You can almost always tell which car is being driven by a girl. I think it may be the strong gender roles here, but still, I wish they got a bit more confident and trained more. All the girls have their licenses and cars bought for them when they turn 18 by Daddy and it's always a fucking right hand drive car in a country where the roads are right side!!!! Why? Cuz the right hand version is cheaper lol.
So since my dad refused to bribe (literally a $400 bribe, not even much by bribe standards) because he wouldn't give in to the mentality being from the US, and me preparing for my Medical school entrance exams, I didn't have the time to go back and try again. Doesn't help that there is only one DMV in the entire city and it's ON THE FUCKING OUTSKIRTS! So I finally got my license 3 months ago... when I was 20. And I did it all legally, the examiner made me drive around the course 7 times when by law it's supposed to be only 1 time trying to find anything minute to fail me, but no lol. When everyone else was playing around and buying their way to their licenses, I EARNED it through years of hard work and training.
Honestly, I consider myself better than everyone else by default for doing so and I already am a MUCH better driver than most here according to my dad who is always honest in evaluating me. His opinion is all I need, he's the best and most experienced I know so if he says it then IDGAF what anyone else says their arguments are invalid. I'm not one to be bitter about things, truly, but I missed out on 2 years of driving in the prime of my life while everyone else had their Daddies buy their license for them, quite a few of them even got a car of their own. Granted they're crap cars, but still having the freedom to drive anywhere you want without having to ask your family first to see if they're going anywhere, having to hear "Why don't you just go by the super cheap buses/taxis and avoid the headache of taking the car with you?", "Why don't you let your friend drive you around? She has her own car", "Do you seriously feel better and superior by picking your GF up in the car?". No and No and ABSOLUTELY! I'd rather never drink again on a night out and take the car everytime, I absolutely refuse for me and my GF to be driven around by our friend who's been driving for 3 months but drives like it's the first time she's in a car everytime because she had no prior training and bribed for her license, it has never been a headache for me to take the car, in fact I feel better and more comfortable, and yes I do feel more confident in myself and better when I pick her up in the car rather than a taxi.
This summer, I plan on making up for my lost 2 years AND then some, so they better start getting used to taxis and buses like I've had for all the years I've been here. Sorry for the wall of text, these have been my feelings for many years and I just needed to get them out.
Thanks for listening.