Young Americans are driving less

The Internet.
Moving to places with more walkability and public transit options.
The high cost of buying and maintaining an auto.

Uh, "Why are young people driving less, Alex?" Beep beep beep.

Nice to know there's academic research to support what Metromode has been claiming for the last five years. Even nicer to know it came from the University of Michigan.

Excerpt:

"From 1983 to 2008, the share of 16- to 39-year-olds with driver's licenses declined markedly, with the greatest decreases among drivers in their late teens and early 20s, according to a study at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute in Ann Arbor. About 69 percent of 17-year-olds had a driver's license in 1983. By 2008, that had dropped to 50 percent. Among Americans ages 20 to 24 in 1983, nearly 92 percent had driver's licenses. Twenty-five years later, it was 82 percent.

The older the age group, the less dramatic the declines, the Michigan study found. But even among 35- to 39-year-olds, there was a 3.2 percent decline in the share of licensed drivers."

Read the rest here.