Fewer teens desperate to start driving — is the Internet the reason why?

[NNN0LHI]

http://skokie.suntimes.com/news/10145428-418/fewer-teens-desperate-to-start-driving-is-the-internet-the-reason-why.html

By Stefano Esposito Staff Reporter January 21, 2012 10:50AM

<snip>Older teens are also driving less: The number of 18-year-olds with licenses fell from 80 percent in 1983 to 65 percent in 2008, while the number of 17-year-olds on the road dropped from 69 percent to 50 percent.

In fact, the number of drivers all the way up to 29 has dropped, according to the study, which is based on data from the Federal Highway Administration.

Study co-author Michael Sivak says the Internet may be a big reason for the drop.

“Virtual contact through electronic means reduces the need for actual contact,” Sivak wrote in an email to the Chicago Sun-Times, adding jokingly, “My favorite characterization of the social-media explanation (with some anecdotal evidence for it) is that ‘driving interferes with texting.’ ”

[Posteritatis]

1. My IQ dropped five points just reading that argument

Yeah, I'm sure it's cell phones and Facebook that are discouraging people from driving.

[joeglow3]

13. What do you think it is?

The 16-20 year olds I know without driver's licenses are all people who live their lives on computer and get 100% of their social interaction through the internet.

[surrealAmerican]

17. It's more likely to be financial.

The costs of owning and operating a vehicle have increased, but young people have less disposable income.

[joeglow3]

21. 2 of them have parents who make $300,000 a year (my boss)

It is not financial for them.

[Posteritatis]

20. I think it's gas and insurance more than doubling in the last decade or so

I think it might also be greater environmental awareness, though that varies from place to place, and a gradual chipping away at stigmatizing other options for getting around in urban areas.

I also don't believe for a minute the teenagers you know are indicative of the whole.

[Capitalocracy]

33. These are the reasons I didn't bother getting a driver's license when I was that age

(before Facebook) because I knew a car was too much of an expense for me, I didn't like the pollution, and I could get everywhere I wanted to go on a bike.

[antigone382]

30. Easier communication also means it's easier to coordinate rides...

Here's hoping this leads to more carpooling, and maybe even gets young people attracted to areas where most of your daily needs can be met within walking distance. A car for every person is no longer an environmentally responsible choice, much less an affordable one.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

2. Among other things, (a) bucket seats w front-seat arm rests and (b) excessive traffic.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

3. I think when it became possible to play on your console online

A lot of other interaction between some kids and their peers went out the window.

When you can all hang out virtually in a MMO without having to leave your home, why bother to drive until you have to?

[TwilightGardener]

36. This is my kids in a nutshell. They socialize with their friends over XBox and Starcraft, sometimes

Facebook. No motivation to go over other kids' houses, or meet them at the mall like I did at their age.

[etherealtruth]

4. I will be 50 in a week (as a point of reference)

Back in the day we wanted to get our driver's license the minute we turned 16 ... we chomped at the bit waiting for that day.

2 of my 3 three children were 18 befor they got theirs (the third is 15) ... friends of my children are about 50/50 related to getting their licenses before or after 18.

We live in greater metro-Detroit, so its not like we have any mass transit system. I really don't know why this is .... ?

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. How much is insurance for teen drivers in the US?

In the UK, it can be perhaps 5 times as much as for a middle-aged adult. It prices a lot of teens (or their famlies) out of the market.

[etherealtruth]

10. It is extremely expensive

In all honesty my first born probably didn't have the option because I was very newly divorced and could not pay the exorbitant premiums

[apocalypsehow]

6. It's largely because, at the behest of insurance companies, most states have made it so difficult to

get a drivers license with the so-called "graduated" license. It's expensive, requires multiple jumps through hoops, and basically makes driving without all kind of restrictions impossible until a person is well past eighteen.

[Art_from_Ark]

39. That's how it is in Arkansas

When I got my learner's permit, at 14 years of age, it was basically no problem to pass the road test and then get a permanent license at 16. However, now the state has apparently gone to a graduated system where 16-year-olds can only drive by themselves, without adult supervision, to and from school or work. Once they reach 18, they are out of high school, maybe going to college where there are lots of places on campus to go on dates. And the state is also requiring insurance now (I never had any until I was 24), so that prices some kids out of the driving market.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

7. I think the internet has little to do with it.

More likely, it's the cost involved with driving nowadays, few jobs available for teenagers (now adults are doing those low paying jobs), and graduated driving being implemented is so restrictive, that many teens just don't feel the cost benefit trade-off is worth it. If getting one's license was as easy as was 10+ years ago, and the average kids could work summer jobs to buy an old junker for a first car, then this wouldn't be the case. I feel sorry for kids these days, because its a part of growing up that they are missing.

[EFerrari]

14. That's what it was for my kids.

Neither of them wanted a license in their wallets and a car at the curb like I did the day I turned 16. And I never wanted for work the way they did when they got to be that age.

[seabeyond]

8. i dont know. i dont get it. i see a lot of fear. cost and not wanting to get a job

parents telling them the scary in driving and they arent ready and the kids buying into it.

i talk to my kids about the freedom of it and tell them how 16 bday i was there getting license. and still, my oldest wnated it, but didnt get on it with the course.

so many conditions. they no longer have course in school. costs at least 300 for the class and takes forever. have to have permit for 6 months.

but you are right. i have run into a lot of kids that just gets rides from friends. which irritate me, cause they are not paying for gas.

[riderinthestorm]

9. My first guess is that it's economic: insurance costs for kids are astronomical

It used to be that kids would work a pt job and pay their own insurance costs but getting pt jobs is particularly hard these days especially for kids. There's also a basic assumption that families have a vehicle for them to drive which may not be the case anymore. Or they can't afford for a teen to have an accident in their one and only car.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

11. I'm going with buying, insuring and operating a third car is beyond the means of many families

This is the same stupid premise that young people who have been priced out of any sort of starter home are happy renting crappy apartments and are embracing a gritty urban lifestyle.

Adapting to lowered exceptions is the greatest indicator of downward social mobility.

[Drale]

12. Between the cost of insurance and gas

plus a total lack of jobs for these young people, of course there is going to be less teens driving.

[PA Democrat]

15. I think the cost of insurance is the largest factor.

My son didn't get his license until the age of 18 and our insurance still went up by around $1300 a year even with the "good student" discount. I have no idea how much more it would have been to insure him at the age of 16.

[madmom]

16. My daughter didn't get her license till she was 25 and completely

out of school. She said there were to many idiots on the road.

[Edweird]

18. I can't imagine teens wanting to get laid less than I did as a teen.

I would look at the economy and the shortage of typical 'teenager' jobs being filled by adults - which basically rules out car ownership/maintenance.
I don't see the internet replacing sex - I see it replacing hanging out at the mall/skating rink to meet members of the opposite sex.
But, I'm a 41 year old social retard with no kids so what do I know?

[laundry_queen]

22. I agree it replaces the mall/rink hangout scenario

When I was a teen (wish it wasn't a gazillion years ago, but that's what it is to my kids, lol) we lived in a small suburb (pop 3000) that had nothing. No fast food restaurant, one little convenience store, one hockey rink. Basically nothing to do unless one had a car and was able to drive 10 minutes into the big city (pop 700,000) that had EVERYTHING. You'd better believe we worked our asses off to get that car (even though we had to start out with our parents driving us to work, since there was nowhere to work in our town). We were lucky - insurance wasn't as high, gas prices were low so our parents didn't mind driving us, there were lots of part-time jobs for us students to take, and our parents often had a little bit saved up for us so we could buy our first clunker.

Now, insurance rates are crazy for teens, it's difficult for them to find a job (especially if they don't have 'reliable transportation') because of newer age restrictions (I had a job at 14, my brother at 13. Places here refuse to hire unless you're 16), gas is really high, so parents are less likely to volunteer to drive their kids into the city for work, and kids 'hang out' online anyway. Where we used to gather in the hockey rink, they gather online, through facebook or texting. My little suburb is larger now, has more things to do, so it's not as important to get into the city for entertainment anymore. You can watch movies ANYWHERE now, online, through netflix etc. When I was a teen, if you wanted something better than a 10 year old 'cleaned up' movie on tv, you needed to find a way to the theatre in the city.

Plus, the cost of driver training, which is basically needed if you don't want a 2000% hike on your insurance rates, has also gotten expensive. My dd, who is now eligible for a learner's permit, doesn't seem to care. She doesn't want the hassle of insurance, gas, maintenance plus driving in the city is now very intimidating, with so much more traffic than when I was learning, and infrastructure spending not keeping up. Not to mention, you can't get beaters anymore - they have to pass inspection or they can't get registered. She has no interest in dealing with any of that and I can't say I blame her. She takes the bus to school, where they didn't have a bus when I was in school, so walking in -30 weather was a HUGE motivator for getting a car! Oh well, at least she likes walking everywhere and it's environmentally friendly.

[madrchsod]

19. my daughter did`t get her license till she was 18

she just did`t care to drive. ten years later when we go somewhere in her car i have to drive.

it`s not the internet it`s the cost of owning a car and the gas prices

[GoCubsGo]

24. That's when I got mine.

For me, it was the movies they showed in driver's ed, such as "Red Asphalt". I wanted nothing to do with driving after seeing those. Thirty-plus years later, and I still detest driving. My niece and nephew (the are cousins) both waited until they were in their early twenties to get their licenses. Both saw too many classmates die in car wrecks.

[Melissa G]

23. I have 2 teenage daughters.

The cost of gas, insurance and maintenance is why they don't drive.
Elder Daughter got a license at late 16, almost 17. She now lives in another city with good public transportation. No need for the expense of a car.
Younger daughter is economics and maturity level combo. Not driving yet.

[sakabatou]

25. Or it's JUST TOO FUCKING COSTLY

[bhikkhu]

26. Too expensive, especially if you plan to go to college

...and I think the price of gas has reduced the amount of pointless "driving around to places" that was pretty much taken for granted through the 80's and 90's. Or that would be my guess.

I have a 16 year old daughter, and we've hardly started the conversation yet, as there is no money in the budget for the extra insurance.

[Initech]

27. It's probably high cost and quality of cars more than internet.

I didn't my license until I was 18 for that very reason. Not only the cost of cars but insurance, maintenance, DMV fees, you name it.

[ladywnch]

28. yeah, it is expensive for kids to drive, but neither of my two kids or their cousins

'want' to drive. even just to get their hours in so they can take their driving test.....they don't want to do it. The eldest nephew had to be shoved to get his license at 18 when he got his first job.

None of them had/have any interest in driving

[The Genealogist]

29. I had to be dragged kicking and screaming to get my license

a bit over 20 years ago. I was nearly 18. I drove in Driver's Ed in 10th grade, but by the time that class was over, I was so afraid of operating a motor vehicle that I refused to get a license. We went on a trip to Florida just before I turned 18, and I was needed for driving duty. I barely passed the test, but I did, after serious time behind the wheel with very understanding relatives. I spent a huge amount of time that summer with my stomach knotted up in a ball of nerves.

I have had one ticket, for speeding, in about 1999. No wrecks (knock on wood) and I enjoy driving today. But it was several years after getting my license before I hated driving. I wonder how many teens are like I was, afraid of it?

[Seedersandleechers]

31. My son got his learners permit on his 14th BD.

He drove me around for a full year and as he was so mature for his age he did a wonderful job. At 15 he bought his own car and got a restricted license (School, Work). I felt he was an excellent driver and was okay with that.

[taught_me_patience]

32. Probably the high cost of insurance

I got my license at 15 and, man, was it AWESOME.

[whatchamacallit]

34. My kid was one of this group, so those stats really interest me

Last edited Mon Jan 23, 2012, 01:41 PM - Edit history (2)

My son didn't feel all that motivated to get mobile until he was almost 20. Finances weren't really a factor, and he had a pretty active social life, so... Before you dismiss the study's premise completely, my kid like most kids these days, is able to do that insane media multitasking thing; simultaneously chatting with several people, playing a game, listening to music, doing his homework (supposedly)... When I was a kid, if I wanted to communicate with my friends I often had to find them physically. Also, I didn't have all this time-burning instant entertainment that we do now. There are likely many reasons for the demographic shift, but there may be something to this being a factor.

[TwilightGardener]

35. My 17-year-old has had a permit for more than a year. Still no real interest

in getting his license, or getting a car. We have to nag him to practice his driving. I don't understand it, at his age, we couldn't wait to drive. I am glad to read that this is becoming more common, I was a little worried that there was something wrong with him.

[whatchamacallit]

37. Same here

wondered, had to nag...

[Posteritatis]

40. Why would not having an interest in driving be "something wrong with him"? (nt)

[TwilightGardener]

41. He was initially very interested in driving at 15/16, wanted to get his permit as soon as possible--

and then once he took to the road, his interest in ACTUALLY driving completely waned to the point where if I didn't make him, he wouldn't do it. I was concerned that maybe he'd had a bad scare, loss of confidence, etc.--something that made him afraid to drive. I've asked him, and I get the typical teenage boy eye-roll/shrug combo and an excuse for why he doesn't feel like it today. That's all I meant by that.

[exboyfil]

38. My daughter is 16 and I don't think

she has even opened her Driver's License booklet. A discussion of it has not even really appeared on the radar. With her taking a college class this summer along with a High School class, working at detasseling, and doing her Broadcast Journalism stories, I don't think she will have time for Driver's Ed this summer either.

We really don't have any money for the extra insurance etc (we will not get a third vehicle no matter what).

I think the electronic media is part of it for her. She would rather chat on the computer than call some of her friends. She spends a great deal of her time working on her school work .

Because my mom worked evenings, I had unbelievable access to a car in High School. When I got to college, I even gave up my license for a couple of years to save money. It did cause me some problems trying to get insurance when I did eventually buy a car 8 months after graduating from college. Eventually State Farm wrote my policy, and I have been with them ever since. That was a tremendous corporate decision for them given my claim history.