Car driving on an empty road surrounded by trees

Is driving becoming less popular with teens and young adults?

Survey reveals that anxiety and fear may be delaying young adults from getting behind the wheel

The percentage of people with a driver's license is down among people aged 25 and under. In the early 1980s, 80% of American 18-year-olds had a driver's license, but in 2021, only 60% did.

The youngest licensed drivers — those aged 16 — saw an even more dramatic decrease over the same period, down from 46% licensure in 1983 to only 25% in 2021. Those statistics held mostly true for 2022, according to the most recently available data from the Federal Highway Administration, but licensure for 18-year-olds dropped another point to 59%.

To better understand what's driving teens not to drive, we surveyed 534 people aged 16 to 25, including drivers and non-drivers. Nearly half of the survey respondents didn't have their driver's license (unlicensed), and 46% of those who were licensed had delayed getting it (late licensure).

Our survey showed that many young people's view of driving was affected by the pandemic. It also revealed that anxiety about driving may prevent some teens and young adults from getting a driver's license or feeling comfortable driving. Employment also plays an important role in the decision to get licensed.

Key Takeaways

  • Respondents who were aged 14-16 during the pandemic were most likely to report that the pandemic changed their attitude toward driving. Unlicensed respondents in this age group were more likely than other age groups to cite fear of driving as a reason they didn't get their license.
  • Among those who have a license but delayed getting it, the most common reason was anxiety about driving (40%). Of those who delayed a year or more, the figure is 49%.
  • Getting licensed is closely related to employment — 78% of young people with full-time jobs have a license, while only 26% without a job are licensed.

Pam Shadel Fischer Senior Director, GHSA

Pam Fischer is the Senior Director of External Engagement for the Governor's Highway Safety Association (GHSA). She is an expert on teen driving and behavioral safety research and authored the GHSA Spotlight Report on Young Drivers and Traffic Fatalities.

Doug Herbert National Hot Rod Association

Doug Herbert is a former drag racing driver with the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). He founded Put On The B.R.A.K.E.S. (Be Responsible And Keep Everyone Safe), a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to teaching teen drivers and their parents about safe driving. His program operates nationwide and has helped over 150,000 young people learn safe driving skills.

Did the pandemic shift young people's attitudes towards driving?

The pandemic seems to have had the greatest impact on those who came of age during 2020 and 2021. While 31% of respondents said that their views on driving changed after the pandemic, the figure was noticeably higher among respondents aged 18-20, who would have been 14-16 at the height of social distancing and lockdowns.

However, how the pandemic changed their views appears complex. We received dozens of free-response answers that revealed both positive and negative changes in teen driving attitudes, including:

Online Car Buying Screen on a Computer

Some respondents reported enjoying the freedom that driving afforded during the lockdown. Even some non-drivers wanted to spend more time in the car. Olive Gardner, a 25-year-old non-driver, says:

"When I was in Chicago and the trains weren't running at the same cadence and you didn't want to be on a packed train with people, I wanted to find a friend with a car. I got more used to my first instinct being, 'Can someone take me?'"

However, others reported increased concern about the driving behavior of others. The Governor's Highway Safety Association (GHSA) says this is a valid observation. According to the GHSA, empty roads during the pandemic encouraged some drivers to drive more recklessly and at dangerous speeds.

"We've always had risky drivers out there," says Pam Fischer, senior director of external engagement for the GHSA. "Aggressive driving is not a new issue. But I think that, with the pandemic…the people who [were] still out there driving, some of them were driving at crazy rates of speed and being incredibly aggressive. And it hasn't gone away…there's been a change in mindset by some drivers."

Anxiety about driving is a major cause of licensure delays

Of those we surveyed, anxiety or fear of driving was the most common reason given (40%) for delayed licensing. Among male respondents, the rate was even higher (47%). In contrast, only 15% of unlicensed respondents reported fear of driving as the reason they chose not to get their license.

Exactly what young drivers fear most about driving seems to differ by gender. While both male and female drivers who delayed licensure listed "getting into an accident" as their biggest driving-related fear, females were 20% more likely to list accidents as a fear than males were.

Overall, females were more likely to report fears related to driving skill than males (accidents, driving in bad weather). In contrast, male respondents reported higher levels of fear about things outside of their control (bad drivers, breakdowns).

Top 5 biggest fears about driving for females and males

Our survey also indicated that most young drivers (75%) who delayed getting a license due to fear of driving report that they "hate driving" now that they have their license.

This data suggests that other factors may be enough to push anxious teens and young adults to learn to drive even if they aren't comfortable doing so. Without sufficient practice behind the wheel and access to resources and training to reduce anxiety, driving may be an ongoing burden.

Employment and socioeconomic factors influence some young drivers

The costs of getting licensed, completing practice driving hours, and eventually owning a car add up.

It's not surprising then that our survey results showed that young people are much more likely to have a license if they're employed. In fact, the survey revealed that young people with full-time jobs are about as likely to have a license (78%) as people without a job are not to have a license (74%).

It's worth noting that older survey respondents (ages 23-25) were most likely to report having a full-time job, while those aged 16-17 were most likely to be unemployed, showing how working and driving both become more essential over time. Correspondingly, unlicensed minors are more likely to rely on family to get around compared to older unlicensed drivers.

How young people without a license get around

Adia Thomson, a teen driver from Pennsylvania who's been driving for about a year, confirmed the importance of being employed in her decision to get a license. "I drive a lot," she says. "Probably four times a day: I have a job and drive to work, and I drive to and from school. What I like is that I can get where I need to go on my own."

Her job also plays an important part in being able to afford the ongoing costs of driving. Adia says her insurance costs about $3,500 per year, a cost she splits with her parents, paying $150 per month herself.

Tips and advice for teen drivers deciding whether to get licensed

Confidence plays an important role in young people's decision to get licensed. Parents can help address their anxiety by talking realistically about the risks of driving and helping future drivers build confidence. That's especially true because many people will need to drive regardless of their comfort, so increasing confidence can help them enjoy — or at least not fear — their daily commutes.

The cost of adding a new driver to the household is another important factor for many families. Some states have resources to lower the cost of licensure and training for those in challenging socioeconomic situations. Non-profits like BRAKES and other philanthropic programs offer free education — even online training — that can make teen driving safer, too.

Practical driving tips to instill confidence in young drivers

According to Doug Herbert of BRAKES, there aren't many "one-size-fits-all" tips for new drivers.

"We depend on our instructors to analyze the students. Some students need their confidence level brought up, but some have a little too much confidence, and we need to bring them down," he says.

However, he's clear that it isn't hopeless. He suggests parents should model calm and give their children time to acclimate.

According to Herbert, driving behaviors that might inspire anxiety are more visible than good ones. "Road rage, stuff like that, it's really easy to recognize. But parents can be a commentator, saying things like, 'See that guy up there? This is what we need to watch out for now.' That commentating can help them in their early driving career."

This sentiment was echoed by Adia, the confident 17-year-old we interviewed, who believes that this kind of coaching from her parents made her more comfortable behind the wheel.

"My dad taught me to 'look through.' That means if I'm behind a car, I shouldn't be watching that car, I should be looking through — so if the car in front of them is braking, I should be braking, you know? And my mom taught me not to trust too much — to wait and see what people actually do."

Herbert agreed with this approach, saying that anxious drivers are more likely to miss traffic cues because they're worrying about their own car:

"Probably one of the biggest ones we see is driving off the hood of the car instead of looking ahead…You should have been looking up the road and seen that 10 cars up there, they started putting their brakes on…[Anxious drivers often act] like they're the only person on the road."

Doug Herbert

BRAKES

Parents of anxious drivers can set their teens up for success by staying calm and being proactive about the driving experience, says Herbert.

"Make sure they're rested, mentally ready. Making sure their frame of mind is right in the first place to start…Then you've got to learn to coach them out of making those mistakes, not ridicule them about a mistake they didn't know."

Both Adia and Olive stressed the importance of practice.

"Just practice as much as you can," says Adia. "And be patient with people."

Olive described her teenage driving experience, saying, "We lived in downtown Charleston and didn't go many places. We would drive 15 minutes to the supermarket, stuff like that. So I wasn't doing enough driving to start feeling confident about it."

Teen driving licenses: worth it even for non-drivers

While many media outlets have covered aspects of the decline in teen driving licensure, such as changing social norms among young people — favoring online hangouts to in-person events, for example — our survey data indicate a complex interplay between factors including anxiety, gender, socioeconomic considerations, and lingering effects of the pandemic, which put our collective driving habits under a microscope.

Despite the recent surge in anxiety among young drivers, data from the GHSA show that teens are actually safer and less frequently involved in serious crashes than they used to be. The improvement in teen driver safety stems from a mix of safer cars, monitoring apps, and a variety of initiatives focused on teen driving safety.

So, should a young person who doesn't want to drive get a license? Olive thinks so:

"If I could go back, I probably just would have gotten my license. I don't think I would necessarily have gotten a car and been a big driver, but my experience now is that it is useful to have a license. Just go ahead and do it. You don't have to use it, but it's good to have."