A neighbour of my parents was either - and I forget which - one of the last men to obtain a driving licence without having to pass a test, or one of the first to have taken the test, shortly after it was introduced. Whichever, it means that he started driving in about 1935. The chap in question is, perhaps not surprisingly, long since gone. On the other hand, Mrs Ash, mentioned above, is slightly older, and if she'd applied for a driving licence at age 17, she certainly wouldn't have been required to take a test, as there wasn't one.
The title of this thread is rather poignant and thought-provoking, but I guess that was Rynner's intention in starting it. With my own father dying last month, I've found myself thinking a lot more about the passage of time, and that it's more than likely that I have less life ahead of me than I do behind. Carpe diem, I guess.