Community Corner

Virginia Teens: Fewer Behind the Wheel

Virginia sees 50 percent drop in 16-year-olds getting a driver's license since 1995.

By Mary Ann Barton

Is America's car culture in the rear view mirror?

For decades in America, teens gathered in parking lots, diners and drive-ins on summer nights to hang out, to see and be seen.

It was a time immortalized in film and music.

In 1973's "American Graffiti," two high school boys spend their final night out cruising before heading off to college. Don McLean sang about driving his Chevy to the levee and Steve Miller was crazy about his Mercury. 

These days, though, teens are more likely to be texting or Skyping than squealing any tires. 

Nationwide, less than 30 percent of 16-year-olds and only about 45 percent of 17-year-olds have a driver's license, according to a study by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. 

By comparison, in 1983, the study notes, 50 percent of 16-year-olds had a license and almost 70 percent of 17-year-olds had a license.

As of June 30 this year in Virginia, 20,965 16-year-olds had a license. Eighteen years ago, in 1995, that number was 39,681, according to Sunni Blevins Brown, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.

Other than social media, fewer teens are on the road now in part because of the high price of gas and car insurance and the higher probability of getting into a car crash.

Adding a teen to your car insurance will increase your bill by 44 percent, according to a story by AOL Autos.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, kids ages 16 to 19 are three times more likely to be involved in a deadly crash then their 20-year-old counterparts.


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