Young People Drive Less, Surf More

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Video killed the radio star. And the Internet is about to kill the auto industry. Researchers at the University of Michigan noted a disturbing trend: More young adults would rather surf the web than cruise the highway. In a new study, Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle of the U-M Transportation Research Institute found that a higher proportion of Internet users is associated with fewer drivers licenses among young persons.

It is a worldwide trend. Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Japan, Sweden, Norway and South Korea have seen similar declines over time.

About 94 percent of Americans in their 20s had a driver’s license in 1983. In 2008, that number had dropped to about 84 percent.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • AJ AJ on Mar 30, 2012

    I think that's good news! Keep those young punks off the road! Personally, society would have been smart to keep me off the road when I was 16. But back then, I drove an RX-7 A LOT as super unleaded was 89 cents/gal and dear old dad kept handing me $20 bills.

  • Austin Greene Austin Greene on Mar 30, 2012

    Hey Mom! Have you seen my Ham radio?

  • Campisi Campisi on Mar 30, 2012

    Internet is cheaper than driving, and a childhood of tyranny-by-parental-oversight has taught the young people that driving does not provide freedom. We can't find jobs, the jobs we do find don't pay a living wage, and many of us went to college because the aged said we essentially had to only for that same age bracket to ridicule us when our massive debt load didn't give us the leg up we were told it would. Cops and gas prices essentially bar us from any driving apart from the speed-limit traffic-snarled self-shuttling to our crap jobs anyway, so why bother?

  • FJ60LandCruiser FJ60LandCruiser on Mar 31, 2012

    When I was old enough to drive, what now seems like ages ago, the LIABILITY insurance for a young male teen was 1200 a year and gas was somehere around a buck to buck twenty. I don't think that any kid can even get on their parents' insurance these days for less that 1200 for a six month policy, there are curfews for young drivers and endless restrictions until they hit 18 and suddenly aren't supposed to be idiots anymore. Gas has skyrocketed to 4 bucks a gallon. Exactly what incentive do teens have to drive? I'd argue what incentive does ANYONE have to drive these days.

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