Many countries are experiencing declines in either the percentage of teenagers learning to drive or the actual number of teenagers learning to drive. It was once considered a rite of passage to get your driver’s licence. It represented freedom, time with your mates, and a sense of achievement. It also opened job opportunities as a large number of jobs still require a valid driver’s licence.
The process of getting a driver’s licence is reasonably simple, and most developed nations follow some kind of graduated driver’s licence process which begins by getting a learner licence (usually a theory test), and ends with one or two practical tests which are spaced to ensure that a driver can acquire adequate experience.
However, the young people of today have significant headwinds into car ownership and see it as an unnecessary burden. As the world becomes urbanised, access to public transport becomes easier and more convenient, while the cost of garaging your car, or the difficulty of finding a free on-street parking space increases.
Ridesharing services provide a low-cost alternative to owning a car for those who don’t travel much outside of public transport routes.
Younger people are more aware of the environmental impact of owning a car – the energy cost of producing it and the air pollution that influences climate change. This leads them to choose less impactful methods of transport such as electric scooters, bikes, walking and public transport. They may even prefer those modes of transport for a variety of reasons such as time saved, health benefits and convenience.
The costs of owning a car have accelerated out of control. While buying the car itself is relatively cheaper than it was thirty years ago, petrol, insurance, parts, maintenance and parking fees are all an order of magnitude more. Other cost pressures come in the form of sky-high rents and food prices that suck the disposable income from the often meagre pay packets that the younger generations can attain.
More and more people are remote working and don’t need a car for commuting. They might use ridesharing once a week to get groceries, and use public transportation for everything else. Online shopping makes it easier to get things delivered to you rather than driving to shopping malls and big box stores.
Finally, we are delaying life’s milestones more and more. Go back 50 years and most people were married by their early 20s. Many people had bought a house by their mid-to-late 20s, and had kids. This societal delay may be contributing to people feeling like they can just delay their driver’s licence; why encumber yourself with the cost of a car when you can use your money to have fun?
These reasons may not all be applicable in all of urdu techy the places in the world. Certainly, in rural areas, the impetus to learn to drive is strong. Many kids help their parents out with vehicle duties on their properties (e.g. farms), ferrying younger siblings around or even driving to school. When there’s no other way to see your friends or your girlfriend/boyfriend because they live 15km away, the emotional pull of learning to drive is stronger.
There is also a disparity related to socioeconomic factors such as status, family wealth, family habits, family opinions and other individual circumstances. If no one in the family has ever owned a car, it may be ingrained in their minds they they, too, will never be able to own a car.
The implications
There are implications which you could see as positive and some that are negative.
Fewer people driving creates less demand for cars and auxiliary services (mechanics, for example). This may result in regionalised job losses (for example, the panel beater in the middle of the city). It doesn’t create an equivalent increase in the total number of buses or trains, although it does spur demand for them. This increased demand creates a need for more bus drivers, which, as we’ve seen, can become somewhat of a catch-22 given that fewer people are learning to drive. statusborn
Transportation infrastructure experiences more demand for public transportation which then must be taken into account when designing new urban areas, and redesigning existing ones. Fewer drivers overall means governments don’t need to invest as much in roading infrastructure.
The insurance industry relies on a large cohort of drivers pumping money into its coffers. Reducing the number of clients exposes the existing clients to more risk.
Access to transportation plays a huge role in social mobility. A serious threat to a person’s mental health is isolation. A car is liberating.
Finally, not having a licence reduces job opportunities. It’s not just driving jobs that require a driver’s licence. Many employers put driver’s licence as a prerequisite, and it does show a level of initiative in a young person. However, it’s driving jobs that are suffering more. There is already a global shortage of truck drivers. If people aren’t learning to drive cars, where are these people going to come from?
As we’ve seen, younger people are broadly more apathetic equiim towards learning to drive due to financial and social pressures, but that life choice can have some serious consequences down the line.
