Basic Trope: A character doesn't drive.
- Straight: Bob is a non-driver and doesn't have his own car. He gets about by walking, cycling, or using public transit and taxis.
- Exaggerated:
- In addition to being a non-driver, Bob gets to his destinations by foot only.
- Nobody drives at all.
- Downplayed: Bob knows how to drive, but doesn't actively drive nor does he own his own car. When he needs to drive, he'll borrow a friend's car or use a car share service.
- Justified:
- Ongoing car ownership costs are steep. Even without a car loan to repay, said expenses don't fit everyone's financial circumstances.
- Bob's circumstances don't necessitate frequent driving and it would be more efficient for him to get about using other means of transportation.
- Bob was involved in a traffic accident during his childhood, which scarred him and swore him off from driving.
- Bob is an affluent member of royalty and is considered too important to do any of the driving himself; those duties are instead designated to someone else transporting him.
- Bob is conscious about the ramifications that driving has on the environment.
- Bob lives in a large city where a person can get around without learning to drive, using buses, trains, taxis, bicycles and walking.
- The city already has so many cars that traffic has become something of a nightmare, and Bob finds it much more comfortable to get around by other means even in cases where it takes longer to reach his destination. Even taking the bus is much less stressful just because he's not the one driving.
- Bob has a disability which makes driving impossible for him. Alternatively, it makes it so he would require accommodations that are too expensive or otherwise inaccessible for him.
- Inverted: Bob frequently drives his car and doesn't use any other means of transportation to get about.
- Subverted: ???
- Double Subverted: ???
- Parodied: Bob does not know how to drive. He travels everywhere by unicycle.
- Zig-Zagged: ???
- Averted:
- One's driving ability (or lack thereof) isn't brought up.
- No cars or equivalent means of transportation exist in the work's setting.
- Enforced:
- Bob lives in a city or country where cars are banned.
- The production doesn't have (or desire to spend) the money filming Bob driving a car, so the writers claim he doesn't drive.
- Lampshaded: "I never see you driving. How do you even get through life without your own car?"
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: ???
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed:
- Bob arrives late to work either because he failed to catch the bus, or because the bus itself was late.
- Bob arrives late to work because the train was delayed by train traffic.
- Bob is ridiculed and seen as immature by his friends because he never learned to drive.
- Women reject Bob because he lives far away, cannot drive them home or even visit them.
- Reconstructed:
- Bob moves so he can live closer to his workplace and always arrive early on foot.
- Extraordinary circumstances make driving not an option to get somewhere, and the people who had always mocked Bob now have to swallow their pride as they rely on him due to being the only one among them who knows how to get around the city without a car.
- Bob meets Alice on the train, a daily commuter who also doesn't drive.
- Played for Laughs: ???
- Played for Drama: Alice went to work and has to give a presentation, but forgot her memory drive with the slideshow at home. Bob realizes this and must get it to her before the hour of the conference, but because he can't drive, it will be a close race against time.
Back to Does Not Drive
