Driving Less

Driving is definitely-down, particularly among young people:

Ever since the recession hit in late 2007, Americans have been driving less and less. ... But it’s striking that Americans are still cutting back on driving even though the economy is growing again.

... Since June 2005, vehicle miles driven have fallen 8.75 percent. The decline has persisted for 92 months and there’s no sign it’s abating.

What’s happening? High gasoline prices are one obvious factor. The price at the pump has been lurching upward since 2005 and appears to be forcing people off the road:

But that’s probably not the whole story. The correlation isn’t perfect, for one. And vehicle miles driven have continued to drop since 2011, even though retail gas prices have remained relatively stable (though still at a historically high level).

The aging of the Baby Boom generation is a second big factor here. Americans over the age of 55 tend to drive less, so the fact that the United States is aging overall makes a difference.

But another huge part of the story is that young Americans are driving much, much less. Between 2001 and 2009, the average yearly number of miles driven by 16- to 34-year-olds dropped a staggering 23 percent.

...The cost of driving has gone up. In some ways, it’s become more expensive to drive a car over the years. Rising gas prices are the most visible factor, but there are others. As I noted last week, there’s evidence that high student debt is hampering some younger borrowers from buying cars. And auto-insurance rates have soared in recent years, driven by a boom in commodity prices (which make repairs more expensive) and higher health care costs.

...It’s harder to get a license. From 1996 to 2006, every state enacted graduated driving laws that make it more cumbersome for young people to get licenses.

...Technology is making it easier to go car-free. For one, there’s Facebook: “Communications technology, which provides young people with new social networking and recreational possibilities, has become a substitute for some car trips.”