Business & Tech

Study: Fewer Northern Virginia Teens Getting Behind the Wheel

Virginia sees 50 percent drop in 16-year-olds getting a driver's license compared to 1995 statistics - but why?

Is America's car culture in the rearview mirror?

Look around Northern Virginia this summer and you're not likely to find many teens hanging out in area parking lots sitting on the hoods of their cars, peeling out or cruising around town.

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For decades in America, teens gathered in parking lots, diners and drive-ins on summer nights to hang out, to see and be seen.

It was a time immortalized in film and music. In 1973's "American Graffiti" two high school boys spend their final night out cruising before heading off to college. Don McLean sang about driving his Chevy to the levee and Steve Miller was crazy about his Mercury. 

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These days though, teens are more likely to be texting or Skyping than squealing any tires. 

Fewer than 30 percent of 16-year-olds and only about 45 percent of 17-year-olds have a driver's license, according to a study by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. 

In comparison, in 1983, the study notes, 50 percent of 16-year-olds had a license and almost 70 percent of 17-year-olds had a license.

As of June 30 this year in Virginia, 20,965 16-year-olds had a license. Eighteen years ago, in 1995, that number was 39,681, according to Sunni Blevins Brown, Public Relations and Media liaison for the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.

In addition to social media playing a role in the trend, other reasons fewer teens are on the road now include the high price of gas (the average today is $3.67 per gallon, but factored with inflation, it may be other financial factors in the household budget holding families back) and car insurance, and the higher probability of getting into a car crash. 

In 1983, the average cost for a gallon of gas was $1.24. 

Adding a teen to your car insurance will increase your bill by 44 percent, according to a story by AOL Autos.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, kids ages 16 to 19 are three times more likely to be involved in a deadly crash then their 20-year-old counterparts.

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