DRIVING MEANS FREEDOM Rising expenses and regulatory hurdles limit Americans' mobility..

• Author: Tuccille, J.D.
• Position: LIFESTYLE

WHEN I STARTED driving, my folks planted me behind the wheel of a nearly unbreakable late-'70s Jeep Wagoneer. "The tank" got me to work, rock concerts, and parties. It got me through snowstorms that stranded lesser vehicles on the roadside. In a pinch, it could fit me, 10 of my friends, and a keg of beer in relative comfort (at least for the keg).

I miss the tank. Unlike our newer SUV, it would have barely suffered a scratch when my 16-year-old son hit a signpost. But I'm glad my kid, even without the tank to learn in, has taken to life behind the wheel and the freedom that comes with driving.

His experience, to say nothing of my own, is becoming less common. In 1981, the year I turned 16,1.7 million Americans my age were licensed to drive. In 2019, the latest year for which the Federal Highway Administration has data, just over 1 million 16-year-olds had licenses. During the same period, the country's population rose by roughly 100 million. Justin Fox described the situation succinctly in a 2020 Bloomberg News column: In 1984, nearly half of America's 16-yearolds could drive legally; as of 2018, a quarter could.

The cause of the decline in teen driving is a matter of debate. In 2013, National Geographic's Marianne Lavelle noted the rise of virtual engagement as a substitute for face-to-face meetings and the increasing hassle and cost of driving. Another factor: Youth employment had declined, which meant fewer teens could afford the costs of owning a vehicle. "Paying for their own cars, gas, and insurance is hard if they can't find a job," a representative of the insurance industry's Highway Loss Data Institute told Lavelle.

Meanwhile, cars have become more expensive due to new technology. "The new extras also make cars more expensive to repair," which "drive[s] up car-insurance costs, another deterrent for many teens and 20-somethings," Wall Street Journal reporter Adrienne Roberts noted in 2019.

At the same time, graduated driver licensing laws have spread across the country. Many of these laws require teenagers to spend a certain number of supervised hours...