Teenagers are less likely to rush to get a driver license than their parents did when they were young. And teens and young adults are logging fewer miles once they do as well, sparking debate about whether there's been a major detour in how Americans will travel in the future.
Folks discussing the trend have theories about what's driving it that range from the high cost during the recession, particularly since young people had a hard time finding jobs, to better public transportation availability.
"For most of modern U.S. history, Americans steadily drove more and more miles every year, particularly as suburbs expanded. But then, around 2007, driving went into decline, with young people driving significantly less, according to Vox's Joseph Stromberg.
He said one of the challenges to figuring it out is that the best data comes from the National Travel Household Survey. "The last one was in 2009, before gas prices plummeted and before the recession began to subside, so new data collected this year might look way different."
The last version of the survey showed that from 1983 to the survey's release in 2010, the number of 19-year-olds with a driver license fell from 87 percent to 70 percent. And young drivers were more apt to walk, bike or take public transportation.
Nearly everybody was driving less for a while, before a slight uptick in 2014. But according to The Washington Post, the drop was largest among young Americans. As early as 2013, Brad Plumer wrote that from 2001 to 2009, drivers under 34 were driving a "staggering 23 percent" less per year, on average.
"The Frontier Group has the most comprehensive look yet of why younger Americans are opting out of driving. Public transportation use is up 40 percent per capita in this age group since 2001. Bicycling is up 24 percent overall in that time period. And this is true even for young Americans who are financially well off," he wrote.
The discussion has been raging for some time. As Marianne Lavelle wrote for National Geographic just over a year ago: "Growth in 'vehicle-miles traveled' (VMT) that key gauge of America's love affair with the automobile that once reliably ratcheted up year after year will slow dramatically," the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) says in its new Annual Energy Outlook. The EIA slashed its projected annual VMT growth rate to 0.9 percent, a drop of 25 percent compared to its forecast only a year ago.
It's more than an academic question, Lavelle noted. Autos are a key part of America's economic landscape, impacting not just those who sell and service them, but those who rely on the people who drive them to buy services and products.
The Miami Herald said a study by the University of Michigans Transportation Research Institute showed the number of American teens getting their license "is dropping more and more each year. Between 1983 and 2010, the number of 17-year-olds who got a drivers license plummeted from 69 percent to 46 percent."
"The change is partly due to slower population growth, but also because of a generational shift confirmed by at least four studies in the past year. In the United States, young people are not only driving less than teens did a generation ago, they aren't even getting licenses," Lavelle said.
The Deseret News earlier noted a report showing generational differences in who uses public transportation and who would rather hop in the car and drive. According to TransitCenter's Whos on Board 2014, the article said, "Millennials love transit; baby boomers shun it."
Folks discussing the trend have theories about what's driving it that range from the high cost during the recession, particularly since young people had a hard time finding jobs, to better public transportation availability.
"For most of modern U.S. history, Americans steadily drove more and more miles every year, particularly as suburbs expanded. But then, around 2007, driving went into decline, with young people driving significantly less, according to Vox's Joseph Stromberg.
He said one of the challenges to figuring it out is that the best data comes from the National Travel Household Survey. "The last one was in 2009, before gas prices plummeted and before the recession began to subside, so new data collected this year might look way different."
The last version of the survey showed that from 1983 to the survey's release in 2010, the number of 19-year-olds with a driver license fell from 87 percent to 70 percent. And young drivers were more apt to walk, bike or take public transportation.
Nearly everybody was driving less for a while, before a slight uptick in 2014. But according to The Washington Post, the drop was largest among young Americans. As early as 2013, Brad Plumer wrote that from 2001 to 2009, drivers under 34 were driving a "staggering 23 percent" less per year, on average.
"The Frontier Group has the most comprehensive look yet of why younger Americans are opting out of driving. Public transportation use is up 40 percent per capita in this age group since 2001. Bicycling is up 24 percent overall in that time period. And this is true even for young Americans who are financially well off," he wrote.
The discussion has been raging for some time. As Marianne Lavelle wrote for National Geographic just over a year ago: "Growth in 'vehicle-miles traveled' (VMT) that key gauge of America's love affair with the automobile that once reliably ratcheted up year after year will slow dramatically," the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) says in its new Annual Energy Outlook. The EIA slashed its projected annual VMT growth rate to 0.9 percent, a drop of 25 percent compared to its forecast only a year ago.
It's more than an academic question, Lavelle noted. Autos are a key part of America's economic landscape, impacting not just those who sell and service them, but those who rely on the people who drive them to buy services and products.
The Miami Herald said a study by the University of Michigans Transportation Research Institute showed the number of American teens getting their license "is dropping more and more each year. Between 1983 and 2010, the number of 17-year-olds who got a drivers license plummeted from 69 percent to 46 percent."
"The change is partly due to slower population growth, but also because of a generational shift confirmed by at least four studies in the past year. In the United States, young people are not only driving less than teens did a generation ago, they aren't even getting licenses," Lavelle said.
The Deseret News earlier noted a report showing generational differences in who uses public transportation and who would rather hop in the car and drive. According to TransitCenter's Whos on Board 2014, the article said, "Millennials love transit; baby boomers shun it."
