High School Seniors Once Rushed to Get Licensed After Exams... Why Young People Now Put Off Driver's Licenses [The World Meets Gen Z]

(50)More Gen Z in the US Are Delaying Getting a Driver's License
Rising Fear and Psychological Burden Around Driving
Online-Centered Lifestyles Reduce the Need for a License

Editor's NoteGeneration Z (those born from the late 1990s to the early 2010s) is leading culture and trends in a rapidly changing era and is drawing attention as a generation that is setting new standards across society. In [The World Meets Gen Z], we shed light on the lives and values of Gen Z around the globe and explore how they are transforming society.

In the United States, where driving is considered essential, more and more members of Generation Z are putting off getting their driver's licenses. As online-centered lifestyles spread, the need to travel has decreased, and it also appears that a sense of burden about driving itself is having an impact.

"Gen Z meets people online, so their need to travel has decreased"

Getty Images

Recently, U.S. business outlet Business Insider highlighted the decline in driver's license acquisition among Generation Z and the reasons behind it. The outlet analyzed, "Gen Z is starting dating, marriage, and family formation later than previous generations," adding, "They are also going out and drinking less, and across various social indicators, their overall pace is slower." It went on to say, "As people are now meeting online and can easily shop and order food, the very need to travel has changed compared with the past."

In the United States, people can generally obtain a driver's license starting at age 16. There was a time when getting a license as soon as one turned 16 was regarded as a symbol of "true freedom" and treated as an important milestone. However, as the proportion of people in their teens and twenties who hold driver's licenses has fallen in recent years, a pattern different from that of their parents' generation has emerged.

Colton (16), who lives in California, has also postponed getting his license. While driving with a learner's permit, he failed to properly obey traffic signals and stop signs, which heightened his fear of driving, and he ultimately decided to put off getting his license indefinitely. "I'm really scared of getting into an accident," Colton said.

Colton's mother, Christina Mott, also confessed that she feels uneasy about her son's driving. "Colton lacks observational skills and tends to be absorbed in his own world," she said. "Without GPS, I don't think he would even know how to get to the grocery store from the house we've lived in for eight years. When I imagine a kid like that driving among traffic lights and other drivers, I get worried too," she admitted.

Even a quick glance at a smartphone while driving worries parents

Recently in the United States, there has been an increase in cases of Generation Z not obtaining, or postponing obtaining, driver's licenses. The photo is unrelated to any specific expression in the article. Pixabay

This kind of anxiety is common among other parents as well. Many parents are struggling with the question of whether it is acceptable for their children to start driving before they are fully prepared. In particular, in the case of teenagers who are very accustomed to smartphones, there is concern that their attention may wander while driving. According to a study last year by Mass General Brigham in the United States, teenage drivers were found to glance at their phones for about 21% of their driving time, and 26% of those glances involved taking their eyes off the road for more than two seconds.

On top of this, the spread of ride-hailing services such as Uber and growing expectations for self-driving cars have reinforced the perception that driver's licenses are not as essential as they once were. In some households, when they factor in driving school fees, insurance premiums, and the cost of gas, they conclude that using ride-hailing services whenever needed is actually more economical.

Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, a psychology professor at Clark University in the United States, said, "A substantial part of the reason 16-year-olds wanted to get driver's licenses 30 to 50 years ago was to go out drinking and to date." He added, "The current generation does not necessarily think they will need a car in the future," and noted that this shift in attitudes toward driving could have a positive effect on the spread of self-driving cars.

Decline in license acquisition continues in South Korea... Later entry into the job market also plays a role

Citizens are passing through the turnstiles at City Hall Station on Seoul Subway Line 1. Photo by Kim Hyunmin

South Korea is showing a similar trend to the United States. According to data released last year by the National Police Agency, as of 2024, the number of young people (ages 16 to 29) who obtained a new driver's license was 452,463, a decrease of more than 10,000 from 465,352 in 2023. Compared with 627,094 in 2020, this represents a decline of about 30%. In the past, it was common for third-year high school students to obtain a driver's license after finishing the College Scholastic Ability Test and before entering university, but nowadays there are many cases in which people do not get a license even after entering the workforce.

The decline in driver's license acquisition among young people is attributed to a higher age at first employment and a worsening economy. As the timing of the first job is delayed, car purchases are also postponed, which in turn reduces the incentive to rush to obtain a driver's license. In particular, the rising cost of driving school tuition and other related expenses is no small matter, and critics point out that this is creating an additional burden for young people.

Meanwhile, the spread of integrated season ticket systems such as the "Climate Companion Card" and "K-Pass" also appears to have influenced this trend. As an environment has been created in which public transportation can be used at relatively low cost, young people are showing a clearer tendency to choose public transportation over private cars. In fact, a survey by the Seoul Institute of 5,068 users of the Climate Companion Card found that the number of times they used public transportation increased by 17.6%, while the number of private car trips per person decreased by about 0.68 per week.