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Category Archives: Leverage points

Going Bussed: Economy And Tuition Fees Drive The Young Away From The Car

Monday, February 27th, 2012 | warai03p | No Comments

, Tom Midlane and James Brilliant, guardian.co.uk

    Passengers board a National Express bus at Victoria coach station

    Sales of coach and train discount cards surge as driving becomes a minority pursuit among cash-strapped students. Photograph: Micha Theiner/City AM/Rex Features

A generation of students facing higher tuition fees and lower job prospects appears to be embracing the mixed joys of budget travel in rising numbers – with the teenage dream of passing the test and driving a car now an increasingly unaffordable, minority pursuit.

Operators report that the traditional staples of budget travel, the young person’s rail and coach cards, are being purchased in record numbers.

National Express, Britain’s largest coach operator, reported a surge in sales of coach and regional bus discount cards last year, with 36% more being sold year on year.

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Car Ownership Puts Teens at High Crash Risk

Friday, December 9th, 2011 | Editor | No Comments

From CARRS-Q Safety Visions

A recent CARRS-Q survey suggests that three out of four young Queensland drivers own a vehicle within the first six months of receiving a Provisional licence, increasing their risk of being involved in a crash.

The survey findings, published in the international journal Traffic Injury Prevention, indicated that nearly 80% of inexperienced, new drivers aged 17 to 19 responding to the survey had primary access to a vehicle.

PhD Scholar Bridie Scott-Parker said research showed car ownership and high mileage led to increased rates of crashes, traffic offences and risky driving for newly independent drivers.

“We found 78.4% of young drivers with less than six months of independent driving experience had their own car despite being our newest drivers on the road,” she said.

“The first six months is the most dangerous time for new drivers. We would prefer they get experience driving in shared vehicles with parents monitoring their driving as much as possible.”

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Why Are US Teenagers Driving Less?

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011 | Editor | No Comments

– by Brian Wheeler
BBC News Magazine

American teenagers are taking to the road in fewer numbers than ever before. What’s behind this trend and does it mean the end of the car as adolescent status symbol and rite of passage?

If Ferris Bueller had a day off now, would he spend it on Facebook?

Recent research suggests many young Americans prefer to spend their money and time chatting to their friends online, as opposed to the more traditional pastime of cruising around in cars.

For the high school students in films like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and American Graffiti, cars were the ultimate expression of individuality and personal freedom – just as they have been for generations of Americans.

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More Peak Car News

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011 | Editor | No Comments

– by Peter Sinclair
Graph of the Day: Mapping a Post-Auto Economy

It doesn’t take a whole lot of imagination. Look at the American cities that are considered the most dynamic, exciting, and alluring, especially to the talented young professionals that every region seeks to attract. They all have been working hard to create alternatives to auto-based transport, to grow pedestrian friendly, human scale neighborhoods, and downtowns that offer something of a refuge from the traffic-choked aggravation that we’ve associated with city centers for generations now.

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Rite of Passage vs. Right of Passage

Monday, November 7th, 2011 | Editor | No Comments

by Andrew Hitchcock

If we want to change driving habits in the United States, we have to start young. A large part of the high school experience and a child’s rite of passage involves the automobile. Once a person has this notion of driving everywhere planted in them, it is hard to remove.

Being a recent high school graduate from a suburban high school, I think it is sad how true this is. Younger high school students look forward to turning 16 so they can finally learn to drive and increase their mobility. Getting a driver’s license or car is probably the biggest event in most teenagers’ high school careers. My suburb was fairly affluent, so most kids had cars, but they got angry because there were not enough places around the school to park. The farthest house in the school district from the high school was only five miles away, yet very few got to school under their own power. Most opted for school bus, car, or carpool…

Read the full article at The New Colonist