While having a driver's license is an essential identification requirement for many, it is not for some Gen Z-ers.
In 2020, only 25% of 16-year-olds in the United States had driver’s licenses, compared to 43% in 1997, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
Daniel Knowles, a correspondent from The Economist and author of "Carmageddon," a book that discusses the negative impacts of automobiles in modern society, says this generation worries more about the damage driving is causing to the environment.
"This generation is very kind of eco. That's, you know, worried about the impacts of fossil fuels," Knowles said. "People are aware of the damage that driving is doing to the environment (...) so there's an urge to get away from that."
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Every year, cars release around 1.5 billion tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. This raises the surface temperature of the Earth, resulting in global warming, according to the Department of Energy.
Driving anxiety
But climate change and global warming are not the only reasons why many Gen Z-ers have decided to avoid driving — factors such as stress and anxiety also play a role.
"Driving has gotten a lot more stressful in, you know, the past decade or more," Knowles said "It's gotten particularly worse in the last few years since the pandemic, it seems like an awful lot of people are just driving a lot worse. We see this in the rise in the number of deaths and rise in the number of car crashes."
Gen Z-er Spencer Lynch says he does not have a driver's license because he's anxious and feels driving just makes it worse.
"I’ve really had bad anxiety my entire life, and driving definitely triggers it for me," Spencer said.
According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, the number of fatalities from car crashes increased by 23% from 2011 to 2021, with 2021 seeing the highest accident rate since 2005.
Cost to own a car
Knowles says the average cost of owning a car, as well as maintaining a driver's license, for many students is something they can't afford or prefer to spend it on something else.
"It's kind of a shock to be told all of a sudden you've got to spend, you know, an average of $10,000 a year on running and owning a vehicle," Knowles said.
Between 2010 and 2020, the average cost of owning a vehicle increased over $2,000 per year, with its highest spike occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, the Department of Transportation says.
So, maybe you can expect to see more people avoiding owning a driver's license and perhaps giving a little more use to public transportation, which may have been forgotten by other generations.
