Teens Not Wanting Drivers License — Is this a made up trend

[Anonymous]

Uber is much better you can use your phone it's a waste of time to drive until self driving hallebs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Uber is much better you can use your phone it's a waste of time to drive until self driving hallebs

This but seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 14 y.o. can't wait to drive. Her friends feel the same way. (She also has a passport- what a weird thing to mention PP!)

Where I live close to downtown Bethesda, with buses and metro, most teens we know are international, with one or more passports, and they tend not to drive, since there's adequate public transport.
We're from Paris, friends are German, Turks, Russian, Korean, Japanese, etc, and they all know the apartment/public transport life of large capitals, despite living in close-in SFHs here. Culturally, none of us think of learning to drive as a rite of passage of high school. It's a life skill, certainly, but my friends and I learned to drive in college. My husband and I passed our test at 19. My cousin who lives in Paris didn't get a license until her 30s. Conversely my other cousin who lives in the French countryside probably drove on her father's property before she was legally allowed!

It's all a matter of culture and public transport availability.

+1

[Anonymous]

This is a real thing for a number of reasons that have been mentioned.

Anxiety plays a huge role, as young people are continually taught that one mistake will ruin their lives, making them unwilling to take on the risk.

Also, not only is there the cost of insurance, but also the cost and logistics of taking driver's ed and having paid behind-the-wheel training play a role. It's easier now that online learning is allowed, but I know that for our family in Maryland, finding two open weeks when our kids could attend in-person classes for three hours per day was not easy. Kids also need 60 hours of practice behind the wheel.

The introduction of the graduated license system in the early 2000s has significantly reduced the number of teen drivers by increasing anxiety, cost, education, and other barriers to getting a license. In Maryland, kids can't even get a learner's permit until they are 15 years and 9 months and can't get a license until they are 16 years and 6 months. Delaying the legal age for getting a license makes it more difficult for teens to get jobs, decreasing their ability to contribute toward the cost of a vehicle and insurance. For example, all three of my teens have summer birthdays, which means that none of them were even eligible to get their licenses before starting their junior year of high school. That means that any jobs they would have before that time required us to drive them (if not within walking distance).

I think the introduction of the graduated driver's license system should be discussed more in terms of how it contributes to a culture of risk aversion and lack of meaningful experiences for teens. It was viewed as positive reform to reduce accidents caused by teens, but it did have significant consequences.

[Anonymous]

Mine got it the second she could and most of her friends did as well. Do these other kids not play sports? It is so hard to get to practices, games, and the training facility without it. Same for her friend that does theater programs. At our Hs they don’t provide buses to get the kids to away games so if the upper class men can’t drive, the team is in a bad place.
She had to ditch class to get in the behind the wheel classes though—even with that, there was a 2 month wait. So some kids are definitely getting licenses!

[Anonymous]

I have 16y twins

Kid 1 - Willing, but not overly excited to drive. A lot of weekends we say, "You need to drive us to..." and his response is "no thanks." It has taken him about 14 months to get 50/60 required hours. I anticipate him getting his licence by summer.

Kid 2 - Has NO interest in driving. Had only done 7/60 hours in 14 months. He is super nervous. We are insisting that he get his license before he goes to college (fall of 2024.) We may end up outsourcing the majority of his driving to a driving teacher vs doing it ourselves. He is also considering therapy to address his anxiety re: driving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Uber is much better you can use your phone it's a waste of time to drive until self driving hallebs

We will be lucky to have self driving by the time our kids’ kids’ kids are learning to drive.

If you have any sort of regular driving, Uber will be far more expensive — especially if Uber or Lyft need to become profitable and actually cover the costs gig drivers have been shouldering.

If they will surely be WFH, have groceries delivered, and kids have no activities beyond walking distance, sure go car free. But that works in NYC and that’s it.

It’s far better to learn to drive when you are young and can hone the habits and instincts to be a safe driver; learning as an adult is like learning to ride a bike as an adult — you are just never as good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My only datapoint is my my friend’s kids in the SF Bay Area (my own kid is too young).
Two of her son’s don’t drive. I suspect it’s their parents’ stinginess that holds them back - parents also make it seem like driving is such a hassle. So yes, the costs are a factor for some.

It IS a hassle.

I personally don’t see it. Started driving at 36 and it’s not super complicated to be a car owner/driver. But I don’t live in the city.

[Anonymous]

Both my kids hate driving. My daughter got her license right away but my son does not have his at 21 (he has his permit and does know how to drive). Driving around here is kind of scary, and while we don’t have great public transportation, it’s good enough and my kids seem to be able to fill in the gaps with friends who drive (and like to do so).

[Anonymous]

Also the costs are enormous. Our insurance skyrocketed 400% when we added my daughter and her used car.

[Anonymous]

My kids are going hard back the other way. Totally excited to get licenses, jobs, freedom. I think one of them was actually born in the early 1970s and transported out of a 1980s teen movie.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also the costs are enormous. Our insurance skyrocketed 400% when we added my daughter and her used car.

So my insurance will go from $600 for half a year to $2400 for half a year?????

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also the costs are enormous. Our insurance skyrocketed 400% when we added my daughter and her used car.

So my insurance will go from $600 for half a year to $2400 for half a year?????

So, you should call your car insurance and ask, but this may be pretty realistic. For this reason alone, many of my kids' friends didn't get licenses until over 18.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also the costs are enormous. Our insurance skyrocketed 400% when we added my daughter and her used car.

So my insurance will go from $600 for half a year to $2400 for half a year?????

So, you should call your car insurance and ask, but this may be pretty realistic. For this reason alone, many of my kids' friends didn't get licenses until over 18.

I was talking to my agent yesterday and he told me delay her getting her license. Once she does, the premium will go up. As long she is on a learning permit, we don't have to add her to our insurance as she will be covered as she is in our household and considered an occasional user.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My friend lives in north Arlington, right by Clarendon and court house metro . His kids don’t want to learn how to drive and a lot of their friends don’t drive. Kids are all going to expensive urban schools like NYU, BU, etc

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