# Generation Y Really Wants To Drive After All



## [email protected] (Aug 15, 2012)

Originally it was thought that with cell phones, social media and other distractions, that owning and driving automobiles was a low priority for Millenials. However, according to a study by the Highway Loss Data Institute, Millennials do want to own and drive cars. The factor holding them back is actually not being able to afford to operate or buy vehicles, like generations did before.

I do notice a lot of teenagers walking and riding bikes, I'm sure this is the reason. Check out some key points from an article 'Millenials' on audinews.com:

_"It looks like teens just can't afford to drive," said Matt Moore, vice president of the Institute, which is an affiliate of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. "Paying for their own cars, gas and insurance is hard if they can't find a job."
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This theory diminishes the predominant role that has been assigned by popular analysis to various forms of connectivity as such a compelling force in the lives of young people that even car ownership has taken a back seat. And it gives new appreciation to the influence of the deep economic problems of Generation Y, which include disproportionate joblessness and underemployment, the growing burden of college loans and greater financial dependence on their parents.

The Institute found that, while the unemployment rate increased for both groups between 2006 and 2010, the rise was steeper for teenagers -- 11 percentage points compared with 5 percentage points for prime-age workers. This unemployment spread increased at the height of the recession and then leveled off after 2010.

_"There was an inverse relationship between the growing unemployment spread and the falling ratio of teen drivers to prime-age drivers. Population changes and changes in state licensing ages contributed somewhat to the decline in the teen driver ratio, but [Institute] analysts estimated that 79 percent of it was connected with the increasing unemployment spread."_


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