Data shows Ohio has fewer teenage drivers

Associated Press

DAYTON

Fewer Ohio teens are obtaining their driver’s licenses, in a trend related to economic and other factors, according to records from the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles and experts.

A Dayton Daily News analysis of the records found a 9 percent drop in Ohio’s 16- and 17-year-old licensed drivers from 2006 to 2010. The number of Ohio 18-year-olds with licenses fell 4.7 percent.

“The auto industry is looking at it very, very carefully,” said Dave Cole, chairman emeritus of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.

There were slight increases for 19- and 20-year-old drivers during the same period, and the overall total of licensed Ohio drivers remained steady at about 7.5 million, according to state data.

Reasons for the decline amid the high-school-age group may include a lack of job availability, technology that enables virtual contact and the state’s graduated driver’s license program, the newspaper said.

Carroll High School student Katlyn Tilt said she waited to get her license until December, when she was 17, because she didn’t need one until voters rejected a tax increase in November and school officials cut busing.

“My active schedule made it difficult to complete the driver’s-education training,” Tilt said.

Ohio’s law related to that training may be a significant factor in the decline of teen licensees, said Sharon Fife, president of the D & D Driving School and the Driving School Association of the Americas. The law requires a person to be at least 151/2 to get a temporary permit. Aspiring drivers under age 18 must meet requirements for training in the classroom and behind the wheel to get a license, but that restriction doesn’t apply once they turn 18.

The number of teens under 18 who took driver’s education dropped slightly over the past few years, from 100,843 in 2008 to 98,871 in 2011, according to the Department of Public Safety.

Some teens may be waiting to drive if they’ve had trouble finding jobs because of the struggling economy, said University of Dayton history professor John Heitmann.

who teaches a class called “The Automobile and American Life” and wrote a book by the same name. Others may not feel the need to drive to connect with friends because they can stay in contact through texting, social media and other modern technology, he said.

“They have other means to escape rather than using cars,” Heitmann said.

One study from the University of Michigan found the percentage of young people who have licenses is smaller than it was nearly three decades ago. About 75 percent of 19-year-olds had licenses in 2008, compared with 87 percent in 1983. The percentages for younger teens also decreased over that period.