Freedom? Independence? Wheels? These milestones have long been equated with turning 16, but many teens and college students are saying, 'Not so fast,' to getting behind the wheel. Recent statistics released by the U.S. Department of Transportation show that young people are waiting longer to get their driver's licenses than they were two decades ago.
A Jan. 24 article in the Washington Post detailed a nearly 15'minus;percent drop from 1988 to 2008 in the number of 16'minus;year'minus;olds who got their licenses, highlighting the growing number of young people who still have to call for a ride.
Tufts senior Luc'iacute;a Flores is one of these students. She has yet to get her driver's license, something she attributes largely to timing.
'I'm younger than a lot of my friends, and they all got their licenses before I did,' Flores said. 'Since they were all driving around, I didn't have to push myself to get my license, so it never happened.'
Flores, who is from Medford, Mass., said she usually can find a way to get around on her own, and if not, she can find a ride with her parents or friends.
'For the most part, someone's driving anyway, and I'm just going along for the ride,' she said. 'If I did have my license, I wouldn't have a car, so I feel like it'd be the same thing with having to ask for the car.'
But as she prepares to leave college, Flores has become more interested in eventually getting her license.
'I've been sort of trying to take steps to get it recently. Sometimes, when I'm looking for jobs, one of the requirements is that you have to have your license, so eventually I'm going to have to get it,' she said. 'But right now I'm trying to graduate too, so that's a priority.'
Another senior, Becca M., had a rocky start to her driving education, and didn't get her license in high school.
'I started learning to drive around the same time as everyone else, but I was just a really bad driver,' Becca said. 'My dad took me out and I almost rear'minus;ended a police car. He said, 'I don't really want to take you driving,' so I didn't really do it.'
Becca said that being able to drive wasn't important in her Washington, D.C.'minus;area high school, when her friends could pick her up or she could take the subway. Her parents encouraged her to get her license in college, and hired a driving instructor to teach her, which eventually paid off.
'My mom would sit in the car and scream the whole time. The driving instructor was calmer and a better teacher,' she said. 'My parents begged me to do it for a while because I'm probably not always going to live in a place where I won't need [a license].'
Becca was finally able to drive by herself by age 19, but so far it hasn't changed her life.
'I've only driven like six times since I've gotten my license,' she said. 'I drive about once a year, usually to the doctor's office. It's about 10 blocks, then I turn around and drive another 10 blocks home.'
Even though she hasn't used her driving skills much yet, Becca said that it will probably be important to have her license next year.
'My ultimate goal is to live in a city with good public transportation. It's better for the environment, it's convenient. I think it's more fun to live in bigger cities, which tend to have established public transportation, but those are the more expensive ones,' Becca said. 'Next year my salary will suck, and I probably can't afford to live in the center of a city, so it would actually be really useful if I was a good driver.'
Yale University senior Callie Lowenstein, who also lacks a driver's license, said that she prefers other modes of transportation.
'Environmentally, I don't have any great interest in having a car and cruising around. I'd rather use a bike,' Lowenstein said. 'It's a huge expense. My little brother is really into having his own car, so he works as a busboy to have enough money to buy a car and buy gas. Those are his decisions and his priorities.'
So why are fewer and fewer teenagers prioritizing driving? Rob Foss, the director of the Center for the Study of Young Drivers at the University of North Carolina, suggests that 'graduated' state licensing systems with added requirements and curfews could be contributing to the decline. But students had their own ideas.
'It might just be a financial issue. Even though I haven't set foot in a driver's ed course, taking the class is expensive to begin with, and so is insurance and owning a car,' Flores said. 'You might be able to attribute it to the green movement too, because riding bikes is no longer uncool.'
However, Becca didn't think driving a car has lost much of its importance as a status symbol.
'When I was in high school, it was still pretty cool to drive,' she said. 'It gives you a lot more freedom. You can stay out later and choose when you want to leave. Driving is still cool; I just wasn't a cool kid.'
