A couple of weeks ago, at the tender age of 19, I finally got my Florida driver's license. After a three-year saga of excuses and missed opportunities, I finally sucked it up and studied hard enough to pass - despite running over a cone and failing my first attempt. While pretty much all college students and young drivers can relate to the experience, I feel like I have a unique view of the whole process.
I did not grow up in America, and the idea that it was imperative I get my driver's license was a foreign one. I had always used public transportation or asked my parents for a ride while never giving much thought to how important it was for me to drive on my own.
After I got tired of the stares when I lugged my bags of Publix groceries onto the bus and of my friends and my parents making fun me, I was finally goaded into getting one.
Yet as I was sitting in the Department of Motor Vehicles, which is perhaps the least accommodating place on Earth, I began to realize two greater truths behind this event. The first was that I am becoming an adult. In our culture, attaining a driver's license has been inexorably tied to adulthood and becoming a full-fledged member of society. I remember when people would ask for my driver's license as a form of identification, and I would be forced to hand over my scratched and ratty Gator 1 Card.
Often, the look on their faces seemed to question my own maturity and abilities as a person. I feel that, without a driver's license, people are without power and seen by society as immature and unable to make decisions for themselves.
As I sat longer in the DMV, I began to realize an even bigger truth about driver's licenses and their purpose in our culture, beyond simply making the roads safe for all drivers. In essence, they tie us even closer to the automobile and perpetuate the American car culture, a culture that has contributed to the United States being the largest consumer of oil worldwide and is seen by some as adding to global climate change.
By getting my license, I would be recognized by society as achieving a milestone and as an adult. Without it, I feel like I would have been marginalized and not fully accepted by a society that places specific emphasis on the ability to drive.
American consumer culture is closely tied to the automobile and people give their tacit consent to such a culture by getting their driver's licenses. While the push for cleaner automobiles and an all-around "green" lifestyle is gaining steam, it will take a lot more effort to wean ourselves off the gas pump and bring change to the status quo.
Regardless of your views on climate change, it is undeniable that the cars on America's roads affect the environment and us. Beyond the wide-ranging effects created by the cars themselves, it is not a far jump to view the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as the dirty by-product of America's car culture.
By making a driver's license a requisite part of adulthood and life advancement, American society is placing heavy emphasis on automobiles and keeps them on our roads. While everything must be done to find a cleaner, more sustainable future, we must realize that severing ties to our gas-burning automobiles will be a monumental task.
Joshua Lee is a political science junior. His columns appear on Tuesdays.
