Kelly Gartland still remembers the feeling of excitement the day she got her driver’s license in 1993.
Savoring her first real taste of freedom while behind the wheel of her family car, the then-17-year-old high schooler felt as if she was flying on the 10-minute drive from her home in Woonsocket, RI, to her part-time job at the local shopping center.
But her daughter Paige, 19, and son Jack, 21, have opted to forgo that familiar rite of passage.
Instead, they would rather take an Uber to their jobs — which can at times cost as much as $35 for a trip to that same plaza.
“My kids have no desire to get their licenses,” Gartland, a 45-year-old stay-at-home mom to a blended family of six children aged between 10 and 25, told The Post.
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“They prefer if I drive them to work or school, and I’ll do it if the weather is really bad,” she continued, “Otherwise they have to take the bus or hitch a ride.”
Generation Z — defined as those between the ages of 11 and 26 — isn’t eager to get behind the wheel.
A 2023 report conducted by automotive market research imprint Hedges & Company, found that just 34.8% of 16- to 19-year-olds in the US have their driver’s licenses, the lowest percentage by far of any eligible age group.
A paltry 25% of 16-year-olds obtained their licenses in 2021, compared to the 46% of people the same age in 1983, per statistics collected by the Federal Highway Administration.
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Gartland blames her daughter’s indifference, in part, on the entrancing allure of social media, which keeps most kids glued to screens rather than enjoying in-person experiences. Paige blames the pandemic for her disinterest in taking the wheel.
“Having COVID hit when I was 16 and in the middle of my high school career completely stopped my [mental] age progression and maturity,” said the college freshman, who adds that she has some fear around driving after her mother had an accident a few years back. Plus, it just doesn’t seem that necessary.
“I do have other options, like getting a ride from my mom or friends, getting an Uber or taking the bus, having a license isn’t really life or death for me,” said the teen.
Online, older relatives of the Gen Zs who’ve resolved to ride in the passenger’s seat indefinitely are complaining.
“I have a 21-year-old nephew who still has no plans on driving,” lamented a Los Angeles-area mom named Meghan on TikTok. “And [my] 13-year-old [son] — I have a truck out front for him [when he’s old enough] — and he said, ‘I don’t need that. You’re gonna drive me or I’ll call an Uber.’”
Another mother on the site complained, “I have a 16-year-old boy who has no desire to drive. We even bought him a Mustang.”
Lizzie Bermudez, a San Francisco mom of two, told The Post that her 18-year-old daughter Mae, too, would also rather catch an Uber or be shuttled in their family car than secure a license and get around on her own.
She’s fairly certain her teen’s apathy towards achieving behind-the-wheel independence is an adverse effect of the COVID-19 lockdown.
“During the pandemic, kids were [becoming driving-age], but were stuck home for two years,” said Bermudez, 54, and a content creator. “So, my daughter and her friends haven’t been all that motivated to get their licenses. Out of her entire circle of friends, only two people have them.”
However, chauffeuring Mae, who’s set to leave for college in the fall, doesn’t feel like a burden to Bermudez.
“Driving her around offers us some really great quality time to connect and talk,” she said. “My husband and I appreciate that time with her. So, we’ve kind of stopped bringing up [the conversation about getting a license].”
And as parents of a typically willful Gen Z, she believes tabling the topic is best.
“I have a stubborn teenager,” Bermudez laughed, “the more I tell her to do something, the less inclined she’ll be to do it.”
“But, I’m sure she’ll get her license at some point — probably when we least expect it.”