Kids, Cars and Smartphones

Recently there has been a lot of chatter about how young people are trading cars for smart phones. Most of the evidence supporting such claims seems to be from this US PIRG report from the Spring. This Motor Trend article is representative of the press coverage. (When can we stop calling smart phones 'phones'? The telephone is perhaps the least useful feature for many. Will smart phone become a generic term like "Xerox"? See here and here about the death of phone calls.) One thing I don't like about the US PIRG report and subsequent coverage is that there is an assumption--sometimes explicitly stated--that people treat smart phones and cars as substitutes. I'm not sure this assumption is right, but certainly the car companies and Apple view smart phones as complements. See this NY Times story about smart phone integration with cars. Here is a story explaining that Apple just announced Siri will be a new car feature.

We certainly have to worry about distracted driving, but it seems more plausible to me that auto companies will integrate smart phone features into cars than the people will forego autos in order to use smart phones. The trends in auto ownership and usage are down for young Americans, but I'm not sure that the increase of smart phone ownership and use is the reason for this. It is also possible that by integrating smart phone applications into autos the auto experience is enhanced, leading to higher increasing utility from cars.

The World's Best Driving Test

A Belgian non-profit made this great video where people taking a driving test to get a license were told they had to prove they could text and drive safely in order to pass. We should make this compulsory!

A Couple of Thoughts About Why Kids Don't Drive as Much

A few days ago the NY Times had an article about how GM is trying to increase sales of cars to young adults. The Atlantic Cities picked up on it and expanded a bit about why auto ownership preferences have changed. I don't think any of the given explanations are wrong necessarily, but these stories miss what seems to me the most obvious explanations. For my money the most obvious explanation is that U.S. states have been making drivers licenses for minors much more restrictive since the 1990s. See this table for a complete list of restrictions. Back when I was young and foolish I got my license on my 16th birthday, and that was it. I was just as licensed as anybody else. Now, however, most states have some sort of graduated license, which means that if kids are following the law (and I suspect most do) then they get through most or all of high school without ever have full automotive freedom. Having a car you can drive around filled with friends at any hour is better than having a car you can drive alone during the day for most people.

Ultimately states have made it harder to get licensed, which should be reason #1 in the list of explanations as to why kids and young adults have fewer licenses. This isn't even an unintended consequence. It's what the policies were designed to do. It shouldn't be surprising that driving, like many other learned behaviors, is strongly influenced by the way one grew up.  Preferences for walking and neighborhoods that do not require cars  are likely derived from growing up without easy access to cars. This strikes me as the simplest explanation, and certainly a more direct connection than trading cars with smart phones (they aren't substitutes) or avoiding cars because they represent "adult" purchases (as the Atlantic article claims).