Recent Changes in the Age Composition of Drivers in 15 Countries

Abstract

Objective: This study examined the recent changes in the percentage of persons with a driver's license in 15 countries as a function of age.

Method: The countries included were Canada, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Israel, Japan, Latvia, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States.

Results: The results indicate 2 patterns of change over time. In one pattern (observed for 8 countries), there was a decrease in the percentage of young people with a driver's license, and an increase in the percentage of older people with a driver's license. In the other pattern (observed for the other 7 countries), there was an increase in the percentage of people with a driver's license in all age categories. A regression analysis was performed on the data for young drivers in the 15 countries to explore the relationship between licensing and a variety of societal parameters. Of particular note was the finding that a higher proportion of Internet users was associated with a lower licensure rate.

Implications: The results of the analysis are consistent with the hypothesis that access to virtual contact reduces the need for actual contact among young people.

Keywords:

• Driver's licenses
• Driver age
• International trends
• Internet usage

AcknowledgmentS

This research was supported by Sustainable Worldwide Transportation (http://www.umich.edu/~umtriswt).

The authors thank the following individuals for their assistance in obtaining the data used in this study: Arie Abraham (Central Bureau of Statistics, Israel), Åsa Berglind (Swedish Transport Agency), Melita Dimza (Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia), Hideki Hada (Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America), Jesin Kim (Hyundai Motors), Rainer Krautscheid (BASt, Germany), Kamil Kresowski (Motor Transport Institute, Poland), Aldis Lama (Road Traffic Safety Directorate, Latvia), Juha Luoma (VTT, Finland), Enrique Miralles Olivar (Asociación Española de la Carretera), Susanne Schönebeck (BASt, Germany), David Shinar (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel), Juris Smirnovs (Road Traffic Safety Directorate, Latvia), Fridulv Sagberg (TØI, Norway), Yvonne Achermann Stürmer (Swiss Council for Accident Prevention), Willem Vlakveld (SWOV, The Netherlands), and Rinat Zaig (Israel National Road Safety Authority).