Why kids don't drive

It's hard for our son Willie to get a ride. None of his friends want a car.
We tried to give Willie a car.  He declined.

In another 21st century development perplexing to adults, more kids don't like driving. We first reported this here, but now there are statistics out showing this is a big trend. 

So last week I asked Willie why kids don't like driving.  His three point answer:
1. "Hassle" (his word).   Parking, upkeep, and so on.
2. Cost. Insurance, gas, repairs, and so on.
3. "Annoying" (his word). This is about the actual driving part. 

The downside:  hard to find a friend who can drive, and is willing to drive.
Upside: Bus is cheap, bike is cheaper and fast, trains are great, planes good too.

Comments

[Mark Dockery]

I am soon to be 17 and I will be attending the local community college 6 or 7 miles from my house.

I do not have my license, and I do not want it. Besides my anxiety, it is just not appealing to me. I would rather find another way to get there.

The only means of transportation powered by a gasoline engine is a motorcycle, which would:

1) Cost too much for me.
2) Insurance at such a young age is huge.
3) I would have to start with a smaller CC bike to learn how to ride first.

Hey, if I have to, I will ride a bike back and forth. What's wrong with not driving? It's not like I have to travel 20 miles. Now, after I get my 2 years done here, I will have to travel 22 miles one way. Solution? Move into an apartment near there. Lala.

[gemi]

My son had the same reasons for not getting a license or car. Too much hassle.

We were recently looking at condo's for him to purchase and he immediately began to look for employment opportunities around the unit he was interested in purchasing. He wants to live within walking or biking distance to work.

We don’t have public transportation in our area so walking or biking are the only alternatives.

I can see major social/cultural changes taking place in my own home and it is exciting and very interesting to watch the future unfold.

[Stephen Downes]

I live without a car (in urban Atlantic Canada). My reasons are similar:

- cost - yes, I could afford it, but it's terrible value for money, especially things like insurance and fuel

- convenience - I got out of the habit of driving when I was younger - I had a car and would always find myself going to retrieve it from outside whatever pub I had spent the evening. And yes, I hate searching for parking spots - valuable life minutes wasted

- safety - driving is the most dangerous thing you can do, and your life is literally in the hands of people you wouldn't trust to walk the dog

[Stacy K.]

When I was growing up, I knew kids who said the same things about driving. Seems like we're accepting it nowadays, but back then, we called them 'mooches.'

It wasn't that they weren't capable of driving or couldn't afford to, they just wanted a 'free ride' and wouldn't get their own car until they'd used up everyone’s generosity.

While having a bus and/or train available from every point-A to every point-B, round the clock, sounds like a great idea; it's just not practical for today's society. Sure, driving can be a hassle, I detest nearly every minute of my daily commute, however, my half hour drive is a 1+ hour bus ride and then I would still need a car to get to the bus terminal.

You mention planes being good and I agree, they are a good means of transporting large numbers of people, however, when it comes to managing the logistics of air travel, we've got a long way to come; when was the last time you've seen a flight being listed as 90-100% on-time? I don’t know about you, but being on-time ninety percent of the time isn’t going to be acceptable to my boss, and I don’t want to arrive at work one-half an hour early just so that I’m on time.

[Harold Jarche]

Maybe the demand from this generation will give all of us more options. Not many alternatives to the car in rural Atlantic Canada.