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Where I teach, a rural/suburban school SE of DC, the student parking lot has gone from being packed to being nearly empty in the last 10 years. Most of my students are telling me that their parents won't allow them to drive for a variety of reasons. And God help the parent that suggests their kid drive anything but a Benz or Lexus, unless it's a retired police Crown Vic bought at the auction.
My second daughter just got her license last year when she turned 21. That was a combination of one of her best friends (and the friend's brother) being killed in an accident on the way to school 2 weeks before daughter was to take her driving test (it really shook daughter up) and the fact that someone would always haul her where she needed to go, whether ir was me or her mother or her older siblings or her boyfriend. When she got tired of taking the bus to college classes and needed to drive to student teach she decided she needed a driver's license.
As a note, the high school my kids attended still has to have a lottery system to allot student parking spaces. Different County, different demographics.
Is MTV even relevant any more? When I channel surf past it I see bad "reality" TV and rumpshaking videos with half the lyrics removed. Do they ever play actual music?
I think we've covered this one before, but the reasons pretty much boil down to it's way too expensive and more hassle than it is worth.
- They have trouble finding jobs because the economy is in the toilet, and younger workers have THE hardest time finding jobs in a bad economy.
- Used car prices have skyrocketed in the past few years due to lack of supply. Cash for Clunkers destroyed many decent ones and older drivers are holding onto their existing cars before getting a new one for much longer than they used to.
- Insurance keeps getting ever more expensive, especially at the exorbitant rates younger drivers are charged.
- Many municipalities are using traffic laws as a major revenue generation device in the poor economy. Young drivers already had a pull-me-over bull's eye painted on them, now it's only getting worse. Drivers are a gold mine for corrupt pols who slap four-digit "civil remediation fees" onto a several hundred dollar ticket that used to cost $50 with no additional fees.
- Property taxes, license fees, registration fees, plate fees, inspection fees, emissions fees, etc. all are getting more numerous and expensive.
- Getting a license is much more of a hassle and many places won't give you a "real" license until you are 18. You have to pay for driver's ed courses and/or have a lot of documentation concerning how much you drove on a learner's permit before you can get a highly restricted license at 16. Many states essentially limit a 16 to 18-year-old to driving alone between 0600 and 2200 unless you are driving with a parent. But if you waltz in at 18 years old, you can just get a real license.
- Society has extended the age of childhood to well into the 20s. It is perfectly OK today for your mommy to haul you around when you are an 18-year-old high school senior. It is also perfectly OK to live with your parents when you are in your 20s.
- With above, parents are so much more overprotective than they used to be and often won't let their 16+ year old children drive for fear of dying because one person in their class of 1000 was hit by a drunk driver. They keep their kids from driving while they text like fiends when weaving their mommymobiles across three lanes of traffic
- It is much more difficult for a mechanically-inept kid to keep an old car on the road. They have to pick up the knowledge by themselves and obtain increasingly specialized and expensive tools to do so. Inept parents can't teach their children how to do mechanical work because they don't know a torque wrench from a hammer. They also push the schools to prepare students for wasting six years in college pursuing useless majors like women's studies and 16th century English literature and gut anything remotely related to vo-tech disciplines. Oh, and cars are also a lot more complex than they used to be as well.
- Gas continues to get more expensive, but this is BY FAR THE LEAST cost associated with running a car.
So put that all together and it's surprising that ANYBODY who isn't a Real Adult in their mid to late 20s has a car today. I am so glad that I was born long enough ago to miss nearly all of this crap. About all that I saw was vo-tech programs being gutted in the '90s, although my father taught me how to do mechanical work. I honestly feel sorry for the current generation of teenagers.
Where I teach, a rural/suburban school SE of DC, the student parking lot has gone from being packed to being nearly empty in the last 10 years. Most of my students are telling me that their parents won't allow them to drive for a variety of reasons. And God help the parent that suggests their kid drive anything but a Benz or Lexus, unless it's a retired police Crown Vic bought at the auction.
My second daughter just got her license last year when she turned 21. That was a combination of one of her best friends (and the friend's brother) being killed in an accident on the way to school 2 weeks before daughter was to take her driving test (it really shook daughter up) and the fact that someone would always haul her where she needed to go, whether ir was me or her mother or her older siblings or her boyfriend. When she got tired of taking the bus to college classes and needed to drive to student teach she decided she needed a driver's license.
As a note, the high school my kids attended still has to have a lottery system to allot student parking spaces. Different County, different demographics.
Reminds me of the old "Sam's Car" episode of Who's the Boss.
- Society has extended the age of childhood to well into the 20s. It is perfectly OK today for your mommy to haul you around when you are an 18-year-old high school senior. It is also perfectly OK to live with your parents when you are in your 20s.
Yes, and this is the 800-lb gorilla in the room.
American kids are growing up in an America that resembles Europe far more than it used to. More and more kids are going to live with their parents into their 30's and even 40's. Why should a kid have a car when he can get driven around by mom or dad? If he gets a license he can borrow the family car if and when necessary. That's how it is among my ex-inlaws in Germany. They don't seem to be suffering.
But speaking of suffering: For those of you who think something is wrong with young people opting not to "work their asses off" to make enough money for car payments and various related expenses: Why do you think this is a bad thing? What good comes from kids working two ****ty jobs so they can make payments on a half-assed Korean subcompact that gives them the opportunity to be taxed and fined?
with the rising cost of new cars, auto insurance, gasoline, etc. is it any wonder that the young people are not buying cars like they used to?
consider that back in the early 90s a ford fiesta would have cost about $10,000, today they are closer to $17,000. want a mustang? in the early 90s you could buy a V6 mustang new for around $12,000 or so, now they are pushing $25,000.
add to the above an economy that is still rather soft, and not creating jobs like it should be, and it is no wonder that new cars sales are not what they used to be.
Exactly. Car prices have risen much faster than incomes for young people, especially lately. Add that they depreciate, gas only trends upward, and young people being more urban and willing to use public transport. Sorry GM, you are in a losing battle.
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