Decline in Drivers Licenses in U.S.

[Ben]

I know the story is about "more women than men having licenses", but I'm interested in reading beyond that. It's surprising to me that drivers licenses overall are in decline. My first thought was that unlike when I was a kid, part of the loss is 16-year olds not getting licenses anymore. However the story indicates there's a 10% drop in the 25-29 male crowd. With growing population, you'd think we'd at best see a leveling off, versus decline. The numbers in the story seem to be raw numbers, so it doesn't appear to be percentages of populations being measured.

People still need to get around. I'm curious as to whether public transportation numbers balance this out. Or maybe it's like around here, where 40-something manboys ride skateboards everywhere instead of driving.

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/11/13/more-women-have-driver-licenses-than-men-in-us/?intcmp=features

[RoadKingLarry]

I'd like to see the numbers broken down by state and by metro Vs. rural/urban.
Where I live we simply do not have public transportation. If I want to go somewhere I will get there in a private vehicle or walk. My town has a smallish grocery store and 1 gas station (and 27 churches, really) the nearest town of any size is 20+ miles in any direction.

I've also seen where the younger generation isn't quite as eager to get behind the wheel as I was. My kids were seniors in high school by the time we pretty much forced the issue.

[Marnoot]

One of my nieces is 20, and still has no license. She uses a combination of bus and ride-bumming to get around. It does seem to be getting a lot more common. It's all suburb here, and really is a pain to get around without a car, but number of people without a license seems to be rising here as well.

[BryanP]

They break it down pretty well in the article.  A lot of kids (male and female) socialize on the internet now instead of face to face.  Add to that the cost of owning and operating a car, the higher unemployment rate, and you have less reason to get a license.

Add to that parents who don't want to pay insurance. The guy I work with all week keeps saying that he isn't going to let his daughter get a driver's license until she's 18 because he doesn't want his car insurance rates to go up. I doubt he's alone.

I expect we'll see more use of mass transit, bicycles, and scooters as time goes by.  Are they cool?  Nope.  Are they a helluva lot more affordable?  Yep.  In theory I could get by with a bicycle if I took the bus to work. I do live in a suburb, but there's a bus route that picks up a couple miles from my house and drops off right across the street from my office.

Attitudes are changing in general. I have one stepdaughter who is licensed but she hates driving.  Another is about to get her license, but she doesn't seem particularly excited about it. Me, I couldn't wait to get mine when I turned 16.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

i lived licenseless for 18 years
in areas where it wasn't convenient at all
it can be done

[zahc]

Cars are nothing but a ball-and-chain. Between fuel, insurance, licenses, inspections (in some places) they add up to a lot. If there was a way I could NOT have a car, I wouldn't. I actually have two right now because my wife used to work. Now that she's a stay-at-home mom, I'm trying to convince her that we only need 1 (or maybe 1 car plus a motorcycle) but haven't been successful yet.

[gunsmith]

A lot of native new yorkers never ever learn to drive or get a license.If you park a car on a new york st it will get vandalized and broken into to. Unless you live out of town a space in a garage will cost you minimum 500 month

[AZRedhawk44]

It's all about fuel and maintenance costs as a component of the monthly budget.

Youth predominantly have junk jobs right now due to too many Boomers still being employed, making the sub-30 crowd a bit less professionally empowered in the workforce than most other previous generations.  Very few achieve management or mid-tier technical/professional status, most are still low-paid worker ants.

The handful that truly have drive above and beyond the average moderately successful person are capable of professional success... but most just are loafing, waiting for opportunity to surface.

When you make $10/$12 an hour, it's hard to afford $200/mo car payment + $100/mo insurance + $200/mo fuel costs.  That's $500/month.  Out of $25k annual pre-tax, $2000/mo pre-tax, $1600/mo post-tax... that hurts.

[Boomhauer]

When you make $10/$12 an hour, it's hard to afford $200/mo car payment + $100/mo insurance + $200/mo fuel costs.  That's $500/month.  Out of $25k annual pre-tax, $2000/mo pre-tax, $1600/mo post-tax... that hurts.

AZ gets it. And that's just car costs, not including housing costs.

[Lee]

My girls have been working toward getting their licences for a year and a half. They both failed the driving test, then let their temps expire. They bum rides from friends, but the friend drivers pool is decreasing all the time because of speeding tickets and a crash or two. I don't think they are in any hurry now. That works for me. The city is not forgiving of inexperienced novices. Maybe next year.

[Tallpine]

Not to mention all the illegals who don't need no steekin license 

[Hawkmoon]

Around here we just have an increasing percentage of illegal aliens who can't (or don't choose to) get drivers' licenses. They also don't carry insurance on their cars (required by law) or register their cars, or bother with emissions inspections.

May of them don't even bother to buy cars -- there are so many parked on the street every night, not being used by anyone ...

[MechAg94]

My nephew got his license recently.  I think he is still 16.  Driving an old 4 cylinder mustang.  Watch out up near Spring, TX.  He had to drive 50 or 100 hours of time with my brother to qualify for his license.  I think I took a driving course in the summer.

Being able to drive myself to school and work at 16 was a BIG deal to me.  Riding the bus sucked big time living a few miles outside of town.  I guess with higher fuel costs, it is a lot more expensive to just cruise around.  In my quiet home town, there wasn't always a whole lot else to do.  Commuting to junior college for 2 years 45 minutes away would have been a bit more expensive also.

[Declaration Day]

I have noticed this trend myself, especially in my own family.  Most of my theories as to why have been mentioned here: Low job prospects, high fuel costs, and the proliferation of social media.
A few more probable factors, at least in Michigan, are the graduated licensing system, the higher cost of drivers-ed, and the higher requirements in drivers-ed that have been instituted in recent years.

I'm 34.  I paid $150 for driver education at age 15, needed six or eight hours on the road (IIRC) and when I got my license on my 16th birthday, it was as good and restriction-free as my mom and dad's.  Back then, we all had pagers, which tethered us to a home phone or a pay phone if we wanted to get in touch with somebody.  Cell phones existed but were prohibitively expensive for most people.

As I recall, all of my friends and I considered our driver's licenses to be our ticket to freedom.  In my case there was that, plus I hated my home life and fought viciously with my mother, so the ability to get in a car and leave did wonders for my sanity.

[BlueStarLizzard]

I was pretty eager to get mine, and my parents pushed it hard, as well.

Of the three amigos (there were three of us that stuck together throughout HS) me and Ashley had our licences ASAP. My birthday came early, so I didn't get mine until I'd been 16 for a few months, due to the Drivers Ed program not taking sophmores in the fall session unless the juniors hadn't filled the slots.
We both had junker cars, my first car was a $500 wonder (mercury Lynx), and the second was a Chevy Cavilar that was older then me. Ashley went through two (?) Cougers, through HS. Our parents would cover most the costs.
My mom was about sick of driving me back and forth between her and my Dads house, sick of activities, and the bus ride to and from school at her house was over an hour, so I hated riding the bus from her place. Dad didn't like it much better.

Beanie, on the other hand, still (i think) doesn't have a licence. She had a learners, but driving freaked her out. It didn't help that a girl she had been BF in elementery school with died in a really bad wreak leaving school one day. The other girl was paralized. Beanie was also always in the car when me or ashley got into acceidents (i only had one!) Which probably didn't help.
Most kids at my school were pretty keen to have a car, but there were plenty who did without. I can see not having intrest if you live in a city with good mass transit, but, even with the rising prices, I can't see how others in more rural areas wouldn't want it. Even if the kids don't, the parents who have to drive them all over for activities would.

[zahc]

Inspection and emmisions laws where I live severely limit the junkers that are available. I junked my beloved $500 99 corolla simply because it would not have been cost-effective to replace the emissions components that would have been needed to get it to pass inspection. I drove that car all over the country and used it hard in a pizza delivery job that paid my bills in college. Then I move to commie-texas and had to sell it for scrap.

[De Selby]

Cars are nothing but a ball-and-chain. Between fuel, insurance, licenses, inspections (in some places) they add up to a lot. If there was a way I could NOT have a car, I wouldn't. I actually have two right now because my wife used to work. Now that she's a stay-at-home mom, I'm trying to convince her that we only need 1 (or maybe 1 car plus a motorcycle) but haven't been successful yet.

Seconded.   I left my car behind as soon as I could and I've never regretted it.  A car is a massive bill waiting to happen. 

[seeker_two]

I expect we'll see more use of mass transit, bicycles, and scooters as time goes by.  Are they cool?  Nope.  Are they a helluva lot more affordable?  Yep.  In theory I could get by with a bicycle if I took the bus to work. I do live in a suburb, but there's a bus route that picks up a couple miles from my house and drops off right across the street from my office.

This was probably the greenie-weenies' plan all along.....

[AZRedhawk44]

This was probably the greenie-weenies' plan all along.....

And the freedom oriented counterpoint to that is the motorcycle.

A good sub-1000cc used bike can be had for less than $5000.  Often times, a LOT less than $5000.... A friend of mine bought a BMW 1150GS for $2500, and I bought a Honda XR600R for $1000.  It'll get 50mpg.  It'll carry all the clothing and minimalist personal property you need for several days.  You can drive cross-country one way for $200 in gas. 

Though, entry barriers to motorcycling are high, too.  Typical drivers license stuff, then add to that the endorsement process.  For me, $250 motorcycle class and test.  And then add to that, most motorcycle dealerships won't allow you to test ride a bike you're shopping for if you're a first time buyer or if you don't show up on a motorcycle when you pull into the lot.  Same thing seems to go with private party sales, too.  So test riding anything is damned hard to do. 

But auto insurance is cheap... mostly because they tend to not cover bodily injury or property for motorcyclists they insure.  In my 20's, I was paying like $120 for full coverage on my little Dodge Neon I had back then.  I'm paying $25 or so for liability for my Honda Shadow right now, and $18 for my XR600R. 

I think the cost differential between moto insurance versus auto insurance is enough for a motorcyclist to purchase private health insurance.  I bought my own health/dental insurance last year for $80/month, for a 3 month gap period between employer coverage during a job switch.

[Tallpine]

I just got my DL renewed.

A motorcycle is not much use up north, and on these gravel/dirt roads.

A lot of folks up here have 4-wheelers and drive them all over the neighborhood.  Sheriff never patrols up here and half the roads are private anyway.

We have 2 older trucks/suvs with permanent plates and the insurance is about $150/year (plus the 2006 car and I don't want to talk about that  ).

Except for supply trips to town and an occasional x-country trip for work or visiting, most of our driving is on our own property where we wouldn't need plates or insurance at all.

You can't exactly do without some sort of motor vehicle when you are 40 miles from town.

[Cliffh]

The decline in drivers licenses could be attributed to public education and/or the MSM.  They're both teaching kids that man is killing the planet; everyone needs to take public transportation, walk or bicycle - internal combustion engines are bad!

I actually have two right now because my wife used to work. Now that she's a stay-at-home mom, I'm trying to convince her that we only need 1 (or maybe 1 car plus a motorcycle) but haven't been successful yet.

Stay at home Mom presumes kid(s).  Say you're out and about with the car, she's at home with the kid(s), a medical emergency arises at home.  What's she gonna do?

Or, one car family.  Car breaks down.  It can be a long walk to the store....

I occasionally stress over having just one vehicle suitable for driving around town.  One of my doc's is 50 miles one direction, one of SWMBO's is 55 miles in the other direction.  The motor-home or riding mower aren't exactly the best choices for a drive like that.

[Boomhauer]

the story is about "more women than men having licenses"

Something else I've noticed lately is dudes are having chicks drive them around everywhere. My dumbass sister dated 3 losers in a row who did not ever have a running vehicle, money to pay for a date, etc (but they always had plenty of money for the latest video games and crap). She'd drive them all over the place and pay for everything. And I see in town and at work that she is far from being alone, it's very prevalent.

[Jamisjockey]

Something else I've noticed lately is dudes are having chicks drive them around everywhere. My dumbass sister dated 3 losers in a row who did not ever have a running vehicle, money to pay for a date, etc (but they always had plenty of money for the latest video games and crap). She'd drive them all over the place and pay for everything. And I see in town and at work that she is far from being alone, it's very prevalent.

Fat nasty I work with is the same way. Deadbeat BF with multiple DUI's and no license.

[AZRedhawk44]

Something else I've noticed lately is dudes are having chicks drive them around everywhere. My dumbass sister dated 3 losers in a row who did not ever have a running vehicle, money to pay for a date, etc (but they always had plenty of money for the latest video games and crap). She'd drive them all over the place and pay for everything. And I see in town and at work that she is far from being alone, it's very prevalent.

Yup, growing trend there.  Heck, my little brother was one of those.  Finally manning up now, though.  He got a DUI about 4 years ago, and just decided to go without a car.  He had crap work where he was waiting tables and such, and the cost of a car plus the cost of the interlock breathalyzer for a year, plus the rise in his insurance premiums, made it impossible for him to afford a car.  But, he still had his XBox.   His girlfriend drove him around, too.

He just got out of HVAC school a month or two ago and has his first entry level job into something that doesn't suck, though... got himself a used S10 pickup and did the interlock thing for the last year, he got it out about 2-3 weeks ago.  There has been a giant sucking sound of a head being removed from a sphincter, and he's turning out to be an alright fella.

[Viking]

I'm 27. I don't have a license. I do know how to drive, I just had some disagreements with the theoretical test needed to get a license here...