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One thing that no one has touch on is.... (At least for WA and some other states) Its getting more tougher and restrictive for young kids to be getting their driver's license. Not that I'm saying it's unnecessary-- I applaud the effort on making it more of a privilege rather than a right. It used to be when during my time, I just needed to pass my Driver's ed, then the written/driving test, then bam got it done-- get license and good to go. Now, kids have to have about a year of "practice" after Driver's ED before they can get to the licensing part (to fulfill the legally required 500 hours of practice part)... then when they have their license, its restricted, they're not suppose to drive with their peers in the car for a year, et. c
I have noticed this myself! I honestly don't know what to think of it. My sister is 19 now and she still doesn't have a license. One of my cousins is 17 and I think he finally got his permit after my mother dragged him to the dmv one day.
I got my license and first car at 16, but I do hate driving. I love living in the inner city where my commutes are short. I even walk to the grocery store with my eco friendly bags. lol. I'll definitely be one of those younger Americans who drives less. No mansion in the burbs for me. I would much rather live in a smaller place but have it in a more convenient location.
I'm very much in favor of young people driving less. For one thing, a lot of them simply don't have the maturity. It also makes sense from the standpoint of fairness -- the young are best equipped for walking long distances, so let them do it. It also frees up roads and gasoline for those of us who truly need and/or prefer to drive. It's a win-win.
Location: Cleveland bound with MPLS in the rear-view
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My wife was 25 before she got her license.....weeks before she was due with our first child! Now in our family, women didn't really drive and this wasn't such a big deal, but I realize she is WAY behind the times and women don't necessarily "let" men drive anymore, and frankly, I NEEDED her to drive sometimes!
Well, there's several factors for this. I really don't feel technolagy has been as big a deal in this as some would make it seem to be. I think it has to do with the high unemployment rate among people in the 16-30 demographic. The high gas prices, are another obvious one. The price of cars new or used, and the cost of car insurance for us younger folks. I do think there is also an increasing amount of young people that want to live in the same neighborhoods where they work, and be able to walk to their destinations rather than drive. I'm 20, and I don't drive. I live in a city, but in a suburban part. Personally, I don't mind living in either suburban or urban areas. I like both. Harder to get around in suburbia though, thats for sure.
Another thing I saw was how many suburbs are going to have finance issues in a few decades when all that infrastructure needs replacing and they only have a fraction of the population per square mile to foot the bill. Of course there might not be as much infrastructure, but in many ways their could be just as much of a lot of it. You can have 10,000 people in a square mile with water pipes and roads, and you can have 1,500 in square mile with almost as many roads and water pipes to connect everything. Police, fire, vehicles, parks. A lot of stuff to spend money on with a fraction of the population per area covered. It hasn't been a problem now because the oldest sprawl burbs are just getting to the end of their initial lifespan.
Also many houses built from the 1960's through the current period weren't really designed to last 50-100 years. I see neighborhoods built in the 70's out in the burbs that I lived in and the houses are really going downhill much faster than stuff pre WWII. Roads are needing to all be rebuilt, etc.
Last edited by Chicago60614; 04-12-2012 at 07:55 AM..
Of course there driving less. There poorer, everything costs more and gas is thru the roof. Most of them have no choice but to drive less.
This and the fact that unless you manage to talk a sweet payment deal with a private seller, a slightly new or used vehicle is being driven off with a sizable down payment.
Credit is everything these days and as much of a chore/task/pain saving money has become, many youngsters probably won't drive anything until late 20s/early-30s when enough money has finally been able to be properly saved up.
As far as fuel prices going through the roof, you'd think the price would come down on some of these lifted monstrosities, but many keep "holding on".
Also many houses built from the 1960's through the current period weren't really designed to last 50-100 years. I see neighborhoods built in the 70's out in the burbs that I lived in and the houses are really going downhill much faster than stuff pre WWII. Roads are needing to all be rebuilt, etc.
I don't see why they wouldn't, my house was built in 1973 and it's not falling apart by any means. The only thing I hate about newer homes is the vinyl siding, but that started in the 90's.
I do notice that younger generations don't seem to take care of their homes as well as older generations. In my area, the best kept homes (curbs and sidewalks edged, shrubs trimmed, etc) are owned by older people.
I would think this would depend greatly on where you live. In my hometown in Tennessee not owning a car is nearly unheard of. It's reserved for the desperately poor or people who are considered a bit weird. And it's no wonder. Everything is so spread out that walking places for errands is extremely difficult, even for those in good shape. Sure, you can walk two or three miles (or more) to the grocery store, but very few people are going to want to do that. Plus your odds of having a sidewalk to use aren't the best. Bicycling around town is doable, at least when it comes to the distances you need to cover. Two or three miles is no big deal on a bike, plus with the right equipment you can haul a lot more than you can carry on foot. But then you have to worry about the lack of bike lanes and/or shoulders to ride on, along with the number of motorists who want nothing more than for you to be off the road (and some are not above throwing things at you). Then, when you reach your destination more than likely you won't find a bike rack to lock your bike to. Then there's public transportation. Haha, just kidding! In my old town of 110,000 there was no bus service at all until 2007, and when I left in 2011 they only had a handful of buses with very limited and poorly planned routes, and plenty of people complained about how it was a waste of money. So for most of the population there, that's not an option either. I actually went without a car in TN for about three years. It was doable, but difficult and frequently irritating and even frightening. I can't see too many teens and twenty-somethings there voluntarily forgoing cars for transportation, and in that environment I can hardly blame them.
My current town is a different story, though. I can combine walking and riding the bus for all of my daily needs here. If I want I can ride my bicycle without being harassed. Part of this is probably due to a different mentality among the motorists, but I think it also has a lot to do with the fact that there's much greater cycling infrastructure here, so cyclists get in the way of cars less often. While the development here isn't exactly dense, it's noticeably more dense than my hometown. I hadn't even realized this until I visited my parents over Christmas and everything back home suddenly seemed really spread out. There seem to be more grocery stores here, or at least, they're better distributed and I think most are smaller. Back home you'd have a few enormous grocery stores sprinkled here and there around town, most near the outer edges of town. Where I used to live, the closest grocery store was a couple of miles away, another about 2.5 miles away, another 4 miles, etc. And I lived in the middle of town! Here, there's a store half a mile away. If I go the other direction there's another store about a mile away. If I take the bus downtown there's three more (of varying price categories). And there are several others on the other side of town. And those are the actual grocery stores; there are more specialty shops within easy walking distance where I can buy more specific types of food (albeit, for a price). The two towns are similar in population but could not be more different otherwise. And not surprisingly, here I see lots of people walking, cycling, and riding the bus. I'm sure they do it for a variety of reasons, but at least they have options. Back home, there weren't many options, so everyone drove everywhere. Here I see younger people out everywhere on foot and on bicycle. When the schools let out in my neighborhood, you'll see tons of kids walking and biking home, without adult supervision (they don't seem to require it). Back home, except for a few children who live especially close, most ride home in cars or on the buses. Even when I was that age 25+ years ago, almost no one walked to school. I knew kids who lived a quarter mile from school and their parents would drop them off and pick them up every day.
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