Fewer young, but more elderly, have driver's license

December 2, 2011 in Health

A lower proportion of young people have a driver's license today compared to their counterparts in the early 1980s—a trend not found among older age groups, a University of Michigan study shows.

In 1983, a third of all licensed in the United States were under age 30. Today, only about 22 percent of drivers are twentysomethings or teenagers. Further, more than half of all drivers in 1983 were under age 40, but today that number has fallen to less than 40 percent.

"It is possible that the availability of virtual contact through electronic means reduces the need for actual contact among young people," said Michael Sivak, research professor at the U-M Transportation Research Institute. "Furthermore, some young people feel that driving interferes with texting and other electronic communication."

In a new study in the journal Traffic Injury Prevention, Sivak and UMTRI colleague Brandon Schoettle examined the changes in the United States from 1983 to 2008 in the percentage of persons with driver's licenses as a function of age.

They found that not only account for a lower percentage of today's total , but that young drivers comprise a smaller portion of their age group as a whole, compared to 1983.

About 87 percent of 19-year-olds in 1983 had their licenses, but 25 years later, that percentage had dropped to about 75 percent. Other teen driving groups have also declined: 18-year-olds fell from 80 percent in 1983 to 65 percent in 2008, 17-year-olds decreased from 69 percent to 50 percent, and 16-year-olds slipped from 46 percent to 31 percent.

Drivers in their 20s and 30s also saw their ranks fall as a percentage of their age group population—down nearly 10 percentage points for twentysomethings and down about five percentage points for the thirtysomethings.

On the other hand, licensed drivers among older (those over 40) have increased their numbers, as both a percentage of their population and as a percentage of total licensed drivers.

In 2008, those 70 and older comprised the largest group of drivers on the road—more than 10 percent—slightly higher than those in their 40s or 50s. Licensed drivers as a percentage of their age group population have risen for all groups over age 45 since 1983.

In 1983, between 84 percent and 88 percent of people in their late 50s and early 60s had a driver's license. Now those percentages are in the 95-percent range. The change is even more pronounced for seniors. Today, about 94 percent of those age 65-69 and 78 percent of those 70 and older have their licenses, up from 79 percent and 55 percent, respectively, in 1983.

"Overall, the future evolution of these changes will have potentially major implications for future transportation and its consequences," Sivak said. "Specifically, licensing changes will likely affect the future amount and nature of transportation, transportation mode selected, vehicles purchased, the safety of travel and the environmental consequences of travel."

Provided by University of Michigan search and more info website

not rated yet  

Filter


Move the slider to adjust rank threshold, so that you can hide some of the comments.


Display comments: newest first

Nanobanano
Dec 02, 2011

Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
It's because they can't afford to own an automobile, or much of anything else for that matter.

The cost of a new car by the time you count insurance...

the cost of education is as much or more than a 30 year MORTGAGE on a new 3 bedroom/2 bath home was 20 to 30 years ago.

Basicly, young people are spending like half their life income on automobiles and the other half on education, because you gotta figure that 4 year degree is obsolete after 4 years, so then they get screwed anyway and have to go back to school again...

You must have a cell phone and internet to get a job anyway, so of course they want that for the job and social needs, and it's a hell of a lot less expensive than a car.

It's going to be a damn vassal state for sure in another decade or two at this rate.

Your college football coach gets paid $3 million per year, and they paid Newt Gingrich $60k to make one speech. Mom and dad are lucky if they ever made 60k combined in a year...

That's slavery.
Rank not rated yet
Relevant PhysicsForums posts

More news stories

Keep food safety in mind this memorial day weekend

(HealthDay) -- Picnics, parades and cookouts are as much a part of Memorial Day weekend as tributes to the United States' war veterans.

Health created 2 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Most occupational injury and illness costs are paid by the government and private payers

UC Davis researchers have found that workers' compensation insurance is not used nearly as much as it should be to cover the nation's multi-billion dollar price tag for workplace illnesses and injuries. Instead, almost 80 ...

Health created May 25, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Early physical therapist treatment associated with reduced risk of healthcare utilization and reduced overall healthcare

A new study published in Spine shows that early treatment by a physical therapist for low back pain (LBP), as compared to delayed treatment, was associated with reduced risk of subsequent healthcare utilization and lower ...

Health created May 25, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Cancer patients share web info with docs for insight, advice

(HealthDay) -- Cancer patients' primary goal in talking with their doctors about information they've found on the Internet is to get more insight and advice on the online information, new research indicates.

Health created May 25, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

P&G to add latches to make detergent packs safer

(AP) -- Procter & Gamble says it will change the design of packaging for its miniature laundry detergent product to deter children from eating the brightly colored packets that look like candy.

Health created May 25, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0


Travel to high altitudes tied to Crohn's, colitis flare-ups

(HealthDay) -- People with inflammatory bowel disease, which includes Crohn's disease and colitis, may be at increased risk for flare-ups when they fly or travel to high altitudes for skiing or mountain climbing, ...

Family history of Alzheimer's affects functional connectivity

(HealthDay) -- Cognitively normal individuals with a family history of late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) may display lower resting state functional connectivity in the default mode network (DMN) of the brain, ...

Transvaginal mesh op restores pelvic organ prolapse at price

(HealthDay) -- Transvaginal mesh (TVM) procedures are effective for anatomical restoration of pelvic organ prolapse (POP), but patients report a worsening of sexual function following surgery, according to ...

Of mice and mental models: Neuroscientific implications of risk-optimized behavior in the mouse

(Medical Xpress) -- Regardless of an organism’s biological complexity, every encephalized animal continuously makes under-informed behavioral choices that can have serious consequences. Despite its ubiquity, ...

Weight struggles? Blame new neurons in your hypothalamus

New nerve cells formed in a select part of the brain could hold considerable sway over how much you eat and consequently weigh, new animal research by Johns Hopkins scientists suggests in a study published in the May issue ...

Thioridazine kills cancer stem cells in human while avoiding toxic side-effects of conventional cancer treatments

A team of scientists at McMaster University has discovered a drug, thioridazine, successfully kills cancer stem cells in the human while avoiding the toxic side-effects of conventional cancer treatments.