If you’re of a certain age, you can probably remember when learning to drive and eventually getting your first car felt like a rite of passage. It signaled a transition to independence like you’ve never known, no more relying on parents, friends, or, God forbid, taxis to get from point A to point B. With a turn of a key, you could hear the engine roar to life, and you knew the world was your oyster. That sound signaled in your mind that you were free to paint the town red and blaze new trails as long as you had enough gas in the tank.
Baby boomers, millennials, and those who are part of Generation X can recall this thrill, but very few people who are part of Generation Z can relate. Studies show that the vast majority of those who make up the Generation Z crowd, individuals born between the late 1990s and early 2010s, are content with using public transportation, calling an Uber, and using their two feet to get to their destination.
Will Kids Born in 2020 or Later Need to Learn How to Drive?
In fairness, the Generation Z folk were not the first group to have little or no interest in driving; it began with the millennials and eventually trickled down to the Generation Z crowd. And it seems history is on the verge of repeating itself as the Generation Alpha crowd, which refers to individuals born between 2011 and 2025, is already showing they are not too keen on driving. Of course, most of the Generation Z crowd are still kids who are several years away from being eligible to get a learner’s permit, let alone a driver’s license, but this is the sentiment that most of them currently share.
In light of this, kids born in 2020 will probably not want to drive. And with more and more ridesharing apps and other means of transportation constantly popping up, they probably won’t need to either. With over 400,000 car accidents occurring in Florida during 2021 alone, there’s no wonder why today’s kids aren’t rushing to get their license.
The Great Shift: Why More Kids and Young Adults Are Turning Their Collective Backs on Driving
Before delving into why so many teens and young adults have little to no interest in driving, we should probably familiarize ourselves with current trends. After all, the desire to be chauffeured around instead of getting behind the wheel goes back at least 30 years. According to the Federal Highway Administration, 61% of 18-year-olds in the U.S. had a driver’s license in 2018. In contrast, 80% had one in 1983. The organization further noted a similar decline among 16-year-olds, going from around 46% to about 25% in the same timeframe. There are multiple reasons for this fall-off. Some of the more popular ones, according to those in their late teens to early 20s, include the following:
Fear of being in an accident – This fear is not unreasonable. In a study published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), researchers revealed that teen drivers have a higher rate of fatal crashes than older drivers, and they attribute this to the following:
- A lack of driving experience
- Driving under the influence (DUI)
- Driving while also using a smartphone or having too many passengers in one’s vehicle
- Immaturity
- Speeding
Anxiety – According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 38% of young female adults and 26% of young male adults suffer from some form of anxiety. That anxiety can sometimes carry over into driving; many of these same individuals say they feel nervous just sitting behind the wheel of a car, let alone starting it and driving somewhere.
Environmental concerns – Teenagers and young adults are more progressive than most might think. They are as aware as anyone else of the dangers of climate change and can appreciate how having more vehicles on the road adds to an already bad problem. So, to do their part to save the planet, many are forgoing the notion of not only driving but also vehicle ownership.
The cost – Many of today’s would-be drivers are taken aback by high gas prices, insurance premiums, and vehicle maintenance costs. All of this tamps down their interest in owning a vehicle, which, in turn, tamps down their interest in learning to drive.
How Technology Might Soon Make Learning How to Drive Unnecessary
Most would agree that the Generation Z and Generation Alpha crowd has a better grasp on technology than baby boomers and even some millennials. For this reason, many in the Generation Z and Generation Alpha camp are holding out for the full roll-out of autonomous vehicles. The truth is that they want something that Generations before them either never had or had no interest in – technology. Today’s and tomorrow’s Generation want the level of technology already available in their smartphones, laptops, tablets, and other devices. They want to be chauffeured around in a self-driving electric vehicle that is not only autonomous but also equipped with touchscreen displays, speech recognition systems, collision avoidance sensors, park assist, and the like.
Many of these same individuals say having these amenities makes learning to drive less of a priority. That said, time will tell how all of this plays out and whether or not current sentiment, advancements in technology, and other factors discussed in this article will translate to fewer vehicles on our roads in the coming years. For now, however, learning how to drive is the last thing on the mind of today’s teenagers and 20-somethings.
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