Young adults are not getting driver’s licenses at the rate they once did. Today, young people have more options than getting a loan or plowing their meager savings into a car. The social stigma of a young man or woman not having a car still exists but has faded since I graduated High School.
When I was in high school, a driver’s license was a rite of passage. My classmates got driving tests on their birthday because that was the first day that they could get a driving test. It was the modern-day version of a young man tied to a tree for the night. You had to take Drivers Education to become an adult in my community. ‘Everyone’ took Drivers Ed, a paid course at my public high school. Then the driver’s test got a used car from Mom or Dad or bought your crapmobile.
Your new significant expenses were car repairs, insurance and the vehicle itself, not in that order. If Mommy and Daddy were wealthy, a new car was possible or your hand-me-down could be fantastic. If not, you got a job delivering pizzas, newspapers or working at a store to help you make your payments. Not having a car in the suburbs was a terrible experience. In my senior year, I felt like I was the only one who walked to school.
I remember being the only freezing person at the bus stop near my house and taking forever to get to my college. I missed classes and suffered. I remember it taking hours for me to get to jobs that were not far away. There was no…