My first car was a 1966 Dodge Dart. It was the most misnamed car in automotive history. It should have been named the Dodge Sloth.
However, it was my teenage ticket to freedom, and I was grateful. As soon as I could, I applied for my driver’s license. All my friends did the same.
That was then; this is now.
The surprising reasons teenagers are driving so much less
According to the Wall Street Journal, the percentage of teenagers with a driver’s license has tumbled over the last few decades. More young people are delaying the purchase of their first car, if they buy one at all.
In 1983, nearly half of sixteen-year-olds had a driver’s license; in 2017, only a quarter did.
What explains this phenomenon?
Teenagers can call for an Uber or Lyft to shuttle them around. Social media and video chat allow them to spend time with friends without actually leaving the house. Then, when they reach their twenties, many are moving to large cities with mass transit, where owning a car is neither essential nor practical.
In addition, American automakers are jettisoning many of their lower-priced compact and subcompact cars in favor of sport-utility vehicles and trucks with much bigger profit margins. And schools are either not offering drivers’ education or charging as much as a thousand dollars per course.
Yet another factor: Tesla is promising “over a million robo-taxis on the road” by next year. The company hopes to provide transportation at less than eighteen cents a mile (typical ride-sharing costs are two to three dollars a mile).
“A critical shift in American culture”
Before today, if you had asked me to explain why young people are putting off driving, I wouldn’t have thought of Instagram, SUVs, and robo-taxis.
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