Thursday, February 11, 2010

Fewer Teenage Drivers? Huh?


I remember the day I turned 16 I got my driver's license. I went to the Cobb County Police Force office on South Cobb Drive there and took a written and driver's test administered by the Georgia State Patrol. Everybody I knew got their license as soon as they turned 16.

If you knew someone 16 or older that didn't have their license you thought it was a little bit of an oddity.

It is not so much of an oddity now days.

In 1988, only 44% of teenagers got their license as soon as they came of age.

In 2008, the figure dropped to 30%.


Maybe the insurance as skyrocketed for teenagers*. Maybe they want to be seen driving only status-type of cars which is out of their allowance-range.

Maybe there are not as many teenagers in the part-time work force as there used to be to pay for their vehicles. Possibly immigrants are doing the lowly status jobs the teenagers used to seek and also regular adults having a difficult time making ends meet in today's economy.

I don't have any answers. I'm just wondering. I also wonder who wrote the book of love.

*I once heard that it is not "If your child will have his/her first accident, but when".