Fewer 16-Year-Olds Hit the Road

According to The New York Times, young drivers are in less of a rush to get their driver’s licenses when they turn 16. A study from the Federal Highway Administration found that less than a third of 16-year-olds in the United States have their license. Nearly half had theirs in 1998.

The Times points to numerous factors in this decrease. State laws for teen drivers have become stricter, public high schools are less likely to include driver’s ed in their curriculum and insurance prices for young drivers have risen sharply.

It now costs between 80% and 100% more for a parent to add a teenage driver to the family’s insurance policy. Teenage drivers are the riskiest drivers to insure and the most dangerous on the road; a third of all deaths of 16- to 18-year-olds are car-related.

The decline in teenage driving has impacted this statistic. The number of fatal crashes involving 16-year-olds has declined by 11%, with the average increasing to a 20% decline in states with the toughest teen driving laws, according to a study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

While many of us here at KickingTires would have mourned if we had been denied our licenses much longer than the day after we turned 16, the safety benefits of keeping kids out of cars longer are hard to deny.

Fewer Youths Jump Behind the Wheel at 16 (The New York Times)

Comments

Heck yeah I got my permit the day I turned 15 and have been driving ever since!

What about the price of gas and lack of parking in some areas? I bet that contributes as well.

"the safety benefits of keeping kids out of cars longer are hard to deny."

Well that's kind of a catch-22. Theoretically keeping them out of cars longer would allow them to mature before they drive, but the only way to gain experience is to drive. My wife drove very little until her senior year of college and it's been a very steep learning curve...for a while there was some white knuckle passengering (is that a word?).