Social media and ride-sharing apps like Uber are causing Gen Zers, or those born between 1996 and 2012, to get their driver’s licenses at slower rates than previous generations. Unlike their predecessors, they don’t see driving as a critical milestone or the key to freedom. However, the question is whether that trend will last.

In 1997, 62 percent of 17-year-olds and 43 percent of 16-year-olds had driver’s licenses. However, those numbers fell to 25 percent and 45 percent in 2020. Though this trend is prominent in teens, it’s also becoming more common for older members of Gen Z, lagging behind the millennials. Almost 90 percent of 20 to 25-year-olds had licenses in 1997. However, in 2020, it was only 80 percent. The reasons why Gen Zers aren’t getting licenses vary from environmental concerns to anxiety.

Some Gen Zers say they are licensed because they fear driving and accidents. Some have had multiple classmates die in driving accidents, those memories tormenting them whenever they’re behind the wheel. Others brought up driving’s high cost. In recent years, car insurance has increased by almost 14 percent between 2022 and 2023. The average American spends nearly three percent of their annual income on car insurance. New and used car prices have also increased due to high inflation and supply chain disruptions.

According to one Pew poll, Gen Zers are more likely to discuss necessary climate action than previous generations. Ride-sharing, e-bikes, and scooters also give Gen Zers options unavailable to previous generations. A 2019 poll found that half of the ride-sharing users are between 18 and 29 years old. Gen Zers can also do things online, like take classes, play games, and hang out with friends, which were only available in person in previous years.

Whether this change will continue depends on whether Gen Z postpones life milestones that bring car purchases or is acting out of innate preferences. Having children, getting married, and moving out are all transitions that encourage people to drive more. Noreen McDonald, professor of urban planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says that these phases are getting later consistently. Gen Zers are more likely to pursue higher education, live at home longer, and get married after their 20s.

Millennials also went through a ‘no driving’ phase. About 10 years ago, numerous research papers and newspaper articles described millennials, born between 1981 and 1996, as the “go-nowhere” generation because they were shunning cars. This shift resonated on the nation’s highways and roads. Researchers were unsure if the trend would hold.

If Gen Z continues to shun driving, it may significantly affect the country’s carbon emissions. Transportation is the most significant source of CO2 emissions in the United States. With nearly 66 million Gen Zers living in the United States, if each drove 10 percent less than the national average, that would save 25.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. That’s equal to the annual emissions of more than six coal-fired power plants.

Getting a driver’s license was a rite of passage in previous years. Teenagers couldn’t wait to hit the open road, feeling the breeze of freedom on their faces. However, Gen Z has a different idea that may save the planet.