More Americans are steering away from driving their own cars. The growing trend is becoming widespread in middle-aged people in the United States and is reaching a point where fewer people are even bothering to renew their driver's licenses.
This style, however, has been prevalent among Millennials for a long time.
In the past decades, fewer people are getting driver's licenses especially the younger demographics, said University of Michigan researcher Brandon Schoettle who conducted an experiment on the trend.
Study findings revealed that in 1983, nearly 90 percent of young adults aged 19 years old have a driver's license but in 2014, the percentage dropped to just 69 percent. In the past 30 years, the percentage of adults in their twenties who have driver's licenses dropped by 13 percent. Moreover, there are fewer adults in their thirties and forties who have driver's licenses. The report was published in the University's Transportation Research Institute last month.
Twenty-five-year-old Peter Rebecca is one of the younger Americans in Chicago who doesn't have a driver's license. He doesn't have a car either and finds it unnecessary.
"I mean, I live in Chicago, there's really good access to, you know, public transits for pretty cheap," said Rebecca, a Harold Washington College student. Rebecca's home is just a few blocks away from a Northwest side rail stop with several accessible grocery stores. Rebecca bikes during the warm months and takes the bus if he needs to go to farther areas.
Starbucks manager Susan Schell is another Chicago resident who has a driver's license but doesn't own a car. She used to own one but it was too much of a hassle so she got rid of it. Apart from the prevalence of parking tickets, the car maintenance, gas and insurance costs add up. Schell's driver's license is due for renewal this February.
Schell and her husband take public transportation on their way to work. Her husband allowed his driver's license to expire since they also take Instacart and Uber when they go shopping.
Schoettle said that over the past few decades, the older age groups revealed large surges in licensing. It seemed that the trend has finally reached its peak and has started to decline.
"And so, for the first time in the series of reports that we've done, we've kind of seen a decrease in the percentage of people with a license across all age groups," added Schoettle.
Photo: Sascha Kohlmann | Flickr
