Fewer youths jump behind the wheel at 16

The New York Times 2008

The proportion of 16-year-olds nationwide who hold driver's licenses has dropped from nearly half to less than one-third, according to statistics from the Federal Highway Administration.

Reasons vary, including tighter state laws governing when teenagers can drive, higher insurance costs and a shift from school-run driver education to expensive private driving academies.

To that mix, experts also add parents who are willing to chauffeur their children to activities, and pastimes like surfing the Web that keep them indoors and glued to computers.

The national rate of licensed 16-year-olds dropped to 29.8 percent in 2006 from 43.8 percent in 1998, according to the Federal Highway Administration.

The way students learn has undergone a major change, too. Twenty-five years ago most teenagers took driver's education in their local schools. But the number of school systems offering the program has plummeted to about 20 percent today, from 90 percent in the 1980s, said Allen R. Robinson, chief executive of the American Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association, which represents high school and commercial driver education instructors.

In contrast to high schools, which offered driver's education as a regular class or for a modest fee during the summer, driving schools charge higher rates. Mr. Mortensen, who has been in business since 1990, said his average program runs about $400.

Insurance costs are also rising. Where parents used to be able to add their young drivers to their policies for a nominal charge, it now costs 80 percent to 100 percent more to add a 16-year-old to a family's auto policy, said Raleigh Floyd, a spokesman for the Allstate Corporation in Northbrook , Ill. The highest rate is charged if the teenager owns a vehicle, he said.

Over all, teenage drivers have the highest crash risk of any group. Car accidents account for one-third of all deaths of 16- to 18-year-olds, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Graduated driver-licensing laws, which delay awarding a full license until a teenager spends time with a parent or driving under certain conditions, are also keeping down the number of 16-year-olds on the road, said Frederik R. Mottola, executive director of the National Institute for Driver Behavior, which promotes driver education.

These laws, in existence for about a decade, have helped reduce the number of fatal crashes involving 16-year-old drivers by about 11 percent, according to a 2006 study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. That average increases to 20 percent for states with the strictest laws.

Forty-nine states allow young drivers to obtain restricted licenses before, on or within a few months of their 16th birthday. (The age for a restricted license is as low as 14 in some states.) New Jersey requires a driver to be 17 years old.

Illinois laws, in effect since January, set a weekend driving curfew of 11 p.m. (10 p.m. on weeknights) for drivers up to 17 years old. They also tripled the length of a learner's permit from 3 to 9 months and increased the number of training hours behind the wheel to 6 hours from 1 hour of actual driving time. (Previously, computer simulation could substitute for the other five hours.)

In Delaware , teenagers not fully licensed may not drive between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Indeed, the fatal crash rate for 16-year-olds driving at night is twice as high as it is during the day, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

At the other end of the spectrum are states like North Dakota , which allows a learner's permit at 14 and has no minimum supervised-driving requirements, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which evaluates graduated licensing laws.

My daugher's insurance was a 100% increase to my premium. I've got a second one coming along soon . . .

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

We had twins going on the policy at the same time,,,,, boy, am I glad those days are over.

__________________
95 SL500 Smoke Silver, Parchment 64K
07 E350 4matic Station Wagon White 34K
02 E320 4Matic Silver/grey 80K
05 F150 Silver 44K

once again driving is a "privalidge." (sp) what til gas creeps up to 4.00 a gallon this summer, watch out for bikes on the roads....

__________________
"It's normal for these things to empty your wallet and break your heart in the process."
2012 SLK 350
1987 420 SEL

Yeah, plus next year the college bills are starting, too. I'm thinking of selling the house. I've been out looking a refrigerator boxes the last few weekends. I may make an offer on one soon . . .

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

Yeah, before long America may not be as over weight as we have been . . . Washington is going to look like Hanoi or Bejing. There'll be more bicycles than cars . . . I know. I know, but it was fun to imagine that for a minute.

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

Yeah right, I think people would rather spend all their money on gas than ride bikes. Or at least ride the bus.

__________________
1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi

A lot of people ride bikes where I live. Mostly because I live in a state full of alkys and the folks on bikes are usually there because they got too many DUI's.

__________________
Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

In the town I grew up in, driving to school was pretty much a requirement. We had no bus service after the 8th grade! Shoot, we even had some kids born late in the year that turned 16 during the 9th grade and started driving!

It never ceases to amaze me these days when people talk about expenses associated with their kids. My only "leg up" was a hand-me-down used car I recieved at age 16. From that point in my life, I have paid for all my own insurance and maintenance. I also paid for my entire college education myself (parents helped with some books). I worked nearly full-time, lived at home, went to university (OSU) for 6 years (undecided major) and still had $100 in the bank after paying my last tuition bill.

That stuff must be way more expensive now...

__________________
-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250