Rise of ride share, cost of licences and safety hurdles blamed for driving rates dropping

The rate of SA teens getting behind the wheel has plunged to its lowest rate in decades – partly because it’s so much harder to get a licence.

Fewer teens are getting behind the wheel as licensing rates among young South Australian drivers crashes to its lowest level since 2000, a breakthrough Adelaide University study has found.

Ridesharing platforms, lack of driving instructors, costs and a tougher licensing regime have been attributed to the decline.

The university’s Centre for Automotive Safety Research analysed most recent data to compare P-plate and open-licence rates for drivers aged 17-24, to those aged 25 and over.

The study, released this week and the first of its kind conducted in SA, found:

37 PER CENT of 17-year-olds were licensed in 2018, down from 52 per cent in 2009, the steepest decline of any age group;

LICENCE rates among drivers aged 17-19 fell from 62 per cent to 55 per cent over the same period;

THE number of people aged 17-24 with a licence had dropped from 68.5 per cent to 66.7 per cent;

TEENAGE males are becoming less likely to be licensed than females and;

NEARLY half of 17 to 19-year-olds in metropolitan Adelaide did not have a licence, compared with 30 per cent in regional SA.

CASR principal author Trevor Bailey said the number of people aged 17-24 with a driver’s licence was the lowest since 2000.

“While some young adults are choosing to never get a licence, others may choose to obtain a licence when their life or economic circumstances change, such as when leaving the family home, obtaining work, or starting their own family,’’ Dr Bailey said.

His unit has not analysed licence data since 2018 so he would not “speculate” if the declining licensing trend had continued.

“Apart from anything else, Covid restrictions et cetera may well have affected numbers obtaining a licence,” he said.

Ethan Brace, 25, of Taperoo didn’t get his provisional licence until he was 22. He said many of his friends had also delayed getting their licence. Picture: Matt Turner

The CASR study says the declining rates of licences has policy implications for increased take-up of alternative “travel modes” such as public transport, and provides “rationale” for “increased provision of infrastructure that supports safer walking and cycling”.

“For as long as young people delay getting a licence, the more likely they are to be using alternative travel modes and, if they do eventually obtain a licence, they may still maintain use of alternative travel modes,” the study says.

RAA driver education manager Ben Haythorpe said the trend was for young people to delay getting a licence, rather than not getting one at all.

“Getting a licence now has many more hurdles,” he said. “Kids are also in school to an older age, the use of Uber and the cost of getting a licence is significant.

“Added to that mix there is a lack of driving instructors in SA, long waiting lists and 75 hours experience needed for P plates.’’

He said the average cost for a driver to get their P-plates was about $1500.

Ethan Brace, 25, of Taperoo said he didn’t get his P-plates until his early 20s.

“And some of my friends are still on their L-plates,’’ he said. “I didn’t think getting my licence was really that important, I could easily walk to my mate’s place and I used public transport a lot if I needed to make longer trips.

“It wasn’t until I started a career that I thought I’d need a licence to make it easier to get around so I finally got my P-plates when I turned 22.’’