Are young people driving less?

[KCMax]

Two factors could lead to young people driving less:

1. The increase in portable computing devices (and the ban on using them while driving). Young people want to stay wired, and driving is not compatible with texting, watching podcasts, reading blogs, etc.

2. A trend among states to restrict or ban driving for those age 16-18.

Other possible factors: public schools cutting back on offering driver's ed; the economic downturn means fewer young people have access to cars; urban revitalization over the last decade has made it easier to go without a car

If this trend continues, it would obviously spell a greater need for more mass transit and denser communities.

Younger People Driving Less, Auto Industry Getting Nervous

Is Digital Revolution Driving Decline in U.S. Car Culture?

[aknowledgeableperson]

Of course, the percentage of miles driven could be result of the increase in older people and that group driving a greater % of miles instead of fewer miles actually being driven by the younger age group.

[scooterj]

I know three people under 30 who do not drive.   

One is 29 and used to drive but stopped 5 years ago.  He's working on getting re-licensed, though, as he now lives in western JoCo and cabe fare is killing him.

The second is 26 and has never had a license -- never had any interest.  He's gradually trying to learn now, though, after discovering how much fun he has when he's downtown but the cab fare costs too much.  (Another JoCo boy.)

The third is a 19-year-old southern JoCo boy who started driving at 17, was terrible at it, hated it, and quit by 18.  He doesn't use cabs, though.  When he needs to be anywhere, he sets out 2-3 hours ahead of time and walks to wherever he's going.    He has absolutely no geographical skills and doesn't even know where he lives, so he uses pre-programmed addresses in the GPS on his iPhone to get to where he's going.

[mlind]

I know people who have lived in NYC for their entire lives and have never learned to drive.  One guy was proud he'd never been west of Pennsylvania.

Maybe the economy has caused parents to limit the use of cars by their kids or the ability of kids to get jobs to pay for their own cars.  And, hopefully, younger people are becoming more conscious of their carbon footprint. 

Whatever the reason, it's good news.

[kcmetro]

The third is a 19-year-old southern JoCo boy who started driving at 17, was terrible at it, hated it, and quit by 18.   He doesn't use cabs, though.  When he needs to be anywhere, he sets out 2-3 hours ahead of time and walks to wherever he's going.    He has absolutely no geographical skills and doesn't even know where he lives, so he uses pre-programmed addresses in the GPS on his iPhone to get to where he's going.

[KC Sporting Life]

^  Sounds like a character in a SNL sketch. 

[Highlander]

My 17 year old son does not drive yet.  He grew up in Europe and thinks it's pretty stupid that you need to have a car to get everywhere you need to go.  A surprising number of his 17 and 18 year old friends do not drive either, especially surprising since we live in Car-Land, suburban Houston.  I am OK with it.  He'll be more mature when he starts (this summer) and Houston has the highest auto insurance rates in the country so his waiting has saved me a bit of cash.  I think a lot of kids don't drive here because they are so focused on getting into the collegeo fo their choice that they do not have that much spare time anyway. 

[dangerboy]

People are driving less across the board.  The total miles driven in America starting declining in November 2007, the first time that has ever happened since they started tracking it in the early 1970s.  It's a combination of rising gas prices, the recession, and more interest in sustainable and healthy active transportation.

Millennials in particular represent a cultural shift from viewing driving as means of freedom to viewing driving as an often evil necessity.

[TheSmokinPun]

I try to drive as little as possible. I really hate driving my bland PT Cruiser, so when I need to go somewhere I just hop on my bike or walk to the bus stop area right on Boardwalk, works going anywhere basically.

[phxcat]

I have noticed that trend as a teacher.  We have a lot more kids who take the bus (which is much easier to do here, despite complaints about the public transportation system- so what does that say about KC?) but there is no stigma about seniors taking the school bus or getting picked up by their parents, as there was when I was in school.  The urgency to learn to drive and to own a car is just not there.  We are in a lower income area, so fewer kids can afford cars, but I also know of kids are in higher income areas who choose not to drive.  Its all anecdotal, but I've noticed enough of it to believe that it is a generational attitudinal shift.

[mlind]

Neither of my kids got their licenses until they were 18.  In my dense urban area, kids don't seem to have cars and can't drive to school because there is no place to park. 

Here is something scary - in the 1950's, you could get a daylight drivers license at 14 in Kansas.  As the oldest of 5, my mother was delighted to have me take over carting my siblings around, etc..  To practice my driving, all the neighborhood kids would pile into the car and I'd drive around the church parking lot on the corner. 

Of course, gas was 19¢ a gallon.  Different times...

[jdubwaldo]

Here is something scary - in the 1950's, you could get a daylight drivers license at 14 in Kansas.  As the oldest of 5, my mother was delighted to have me take over carting my siblings around, etc..  To practice my driving, all the neighborhood kids would pile into the car and I'd drive around the church parking lot on the corner. 

I grew up in rural Nebraska, and had my school permit which allowed me to drive to any school function at the age of 14.  As you can imagine, about my freshman year I became very interested in attending every game, track meet, play, etc possible.  That is pretty scary as an adult to think of being on the road with this sort of thing going on, but it certainly was great at that time for myself and my parents.  Well, maybe not so much for my parents other than me driving myself to and from school every day.

[chingon]

Choosing not to drive car is awesome. Restructuring American society around the availability of that choice should be a real societal priority.

However, choosing not to learn or teach your kids how to drive a car is willfull ignorance, not cause for self-congratulation. (Not that anyone here was doing that, but I meet people all the time who wear their lack of certain skills as a badge of honor, especially when those skills are read as markers of perceived cultural inferiority. Philistinism its a pretty despicable trait in any manifestation.)

The most dangerous things are also the most important things to teach young people how to handle and use responsibly.

[KCFutbol]

My 17 year old son does not drive yet.

Same with my 16 year old daughter. She got her learners permit when she was 15, practiced driving a few times and decided that she didn't really want to drive all that much.

She started her summer job this week and is walking 2 miles each way.

[chrizow]

The most dangerous things are also the most important things to teach young people how to handle and use responsibly.

i look forward to teaching my boy how to safely handle plutonium. 

[loftguy]

i look forward to teaching my boy how to safely handle plutonium. 

Might I recommend a foreign exchange student experience in Iran, then?

[chingon]

i look forward to teaching my boy how to safely handle plutonium. 

Yes, how preposterous of me to suggest that a parent should guide their children in making risk/benefit analyses!

After all, it's not as if our culture has a history of teaching children to abstain from risky but universally available experiences. And its not like this educational philosophy has had sundry and profound negative societal ramifications. 

[chrizow]

i'm with you.  i was just amused picturing an earnest father/son talk about radioactive materials.

[chingon]

That sounded snarkier than I intended. I'm in a bad mood because my kid wrecked the car parallel parking yesterday at his pre-school. Use your mirrors, Linus! Damn.

[Highlander]

However, choosing not to learn or teach your kids how to drive a car is willfull ignorance, not cause for self-congratulation. (Not that anyone here was doing that, but I meet people all the time who wear their lack of certain skills as a badge of honor, especially when those skills are read as markers of perceived cultural inferiority. Philistinism its a pretty despicable trait in any manifestation.)

For the record, my son doesn't drive because he returned from the UK to a very competitive high school environment and just hasn't had the time.  When he gets his license this summer, however, he will take driving very seriously or won't get the keys.