Teens Take Backseat in Driving

It used to be that when teens turned 16 they rushed out to get a driver's license. Not anymore, says The Washington Post, which reports this morning on the rising number of driving holdouts: kids who no longer see a set of keys as the sine qua non of a successful social life. In 1988, 48 percent of 16-year-olds got their licenses. In 2008, only 31 percent did. Said one driving instructor: "Driving is real important to a lot of the kids in the culture, but it is not the central focus like it was 25 years ago... They have so many other things to do now." Blame the Internet and smartphones, the Post says, which enable teens to hang out with friends, if only virtually, without ever getting behind the wheel.