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Demand for driver’s licences decreasing among B.C.’s young people

School is almost out, a time when teens traditionally bum dad’s car to drive to the beach or mall. But students in some B.C. towns are increasingly choosing to wait to get their driver’s licence — and the places this is occurring may surprise you.
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Emily Paxman doesn't have a driver's licence and chooses to commute using her electric bicycle in Victoria.

School is almost out, a time when teens traditionally bum dad’s car to drive to the beach or mall.

But students in some B.C. towns are increasingly choosing to wait to get their driver’s licence — and the places this is occurring may surprise you. It’s not just in transit-friendly cities where teens are putting the brakes on getting their learner’s permit.

The Province analyzed ICBC data of all drivers, aged 16 to 21, in British Columbia between 2003 and 2013 to determine if the graduated licensing program, introduced in 1998, has led to better young drivers and fewer young drivers.

The answer is mostly “yes” to both questions.

The numbers show that roughly the same percentage of the youngest drivers (16-18 years) earned some type of licence during that decade, but a pattern emerges of fewer youth aged 19 to 21 choosing to get behind the wheel.
 
Saanich resident Emily Paxman, 29, chose to give the driver’s licence a pass. For both practical and environmental reasons, she said, it just didn’t make sense.

“Having a car and driving, while it is more convenient, it’s also significantly more expensive. I came of age in the slumped global economy and I’m a writer … so whatever I’ve been able to do to keep (costs) low, I have.”
 
Paxman, who grew up near Victoria, has lived in a number of different cities, all of which had decent (Ottawa-Gatineau) to exceptional (London, U.K.) public transit, so there was never a pressing need for her to drive. Still, people tell her “all the time” she should be driving.

“There’s a big piece of me that feels like it’s really stupid to be pressuring young people to learn how to drive, when I think, idealistically, we should be heading toward more public transit, because … we’re on a decaying, dying planet,” she said.

“I guess I just look at (driving culture) and I don’t see it as sustainable and I don’t see it as practical or making sense. So that’s something that I kind of find myself thinking about anytime people start giving me the, ‘Well, you should drive a car’ lecture. I’m like, ‘Should I, though? Does the world need another driver?’ “

The ICBC data also show a significant number of teen drivers, those 16 to 19, keeping their Ls and Ns much longer in 2013, compared to 2003. That means the youngest drivers on our roads have more restrictions on when and how they can be on the road.

Chilliwack resident Kaylee Eheler, 25, has had her N for eight years.

“I went the day after my (16th) birthday and got my L, mostly because we live in a rural area. My mom wouldn’t drive me around everywhere,” she said with a laugh.

Eheler never upgraded to a full licence, mainly because of the time, expense and hassle of taking another road test and having to replace her licence. She also said she doesn’t find the limitations of the N stage — zero blood alcohol, no hands-free devices, displaying the N sign — in any way restrictive.

Even the limit on the number of passengers — one non-family member, unless they are 25 or older with a valid licence — doesn’t affect Eheler because her passengers are usually either her children or friends who are over 25.

Paxman, who was a teenager when the passenger restrictions around the N came in, said this was a disincentive to some of her friends because it meant they couldn’t drive multiple people around.

“Frankly, [the passenger restrictions] made a licence less valuable.”
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Brad Beauvais said the increased time youth must now spend with a learner’s licence — two years rather than one — may be a disincentive to some people.

“I think it’s ridiculous that they made it two years long for your L now. Like, that’s a long time to be at an L licence.”

But increased restrictions aside, there are still some independence-seeking teens who will get their licence the first chance they get, such as Surrey resident Emilee Imhof.

“I was eager to drive. … I was the oldest child, so my parents wanted me to drive, too, so I could drive my sister and everyone. And I just wanted to have the freedom.”

The drop in licensed teens in some cities, such as Coquitlam, Vancouver and Richmond, makes sense because of improved transit.

But others don’t, because they are rural and without a SkyTrain or SeaBus, such as Fernie, 100 Mile House, Kimberly and Revelstoke.

This suggests affordability may be a factor, said University of B.C. professor Paul Kershaw, who studies the economic pressures on Canadians under 45.

This generation earns fewer dollars in real terms for full-time work than their predecessors, he noted.

“The reality is when you’re 19 to 21, you don’t even have your post-secondary [education] yet, so it’s even harder to compete for jobs that are actually going to get you a remuneration level that might make a car and car insurance doable, especially as you’re trying to figure out how to make higher housing prices as a renter manageable.”

The Province compared the drop in drivers to population data, and there are only a few towns where the decrease in teen drivers (such as Kitimat and Lytton) can be explained by demographics.

On the other end of the spectrum, many cities with a big jump in teen drivers (such as Surrey, Maple Ridge, New Westminster, Kelowna and Port Moody) are accompanied by a leap in population.

The number of young females behind the wheel has remained stable at 48 per cent of all drivers over the decade.