Women have most driver’s licenses

WASHINGTON – Women have passed men on the nation’s roads. More women than men now have driver’s licenses, a reversal of a longtime gender gap behind the wheel that transportation researchers say is likely to have safety and economic implications.

If current trends continue, the gap will only widen. The share of teens and young adults of both sexes with driver’s licenses is declining, but the decline is greater for young men, according to a study by the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute. The study looked at gender trends in driver’s licenses between 1995 and 2010.

“The changing gender demographics will have major implications on the extent and nature of vehicle demand, energy consumption and road safety,” predicted Michael Sivak, co-author of the study. Women are more likely than men to purchase smaller, safer and more fuel-efficient cars; to drive less; and to have a lower fatality rate, he said.

Over the 15 years the study covered, the share of men ages 25 to 29 years old with driver’s licenses dropped 10.6 percent. The share of women of the same age with driver’s licenses declined by about half that amount, 4.7 percent.

Male drivers outnumbered women drivers from the moment the first Ford Model T rolled off the assembly line in 1908, the year the automobile became popular, and through most of the last century.

But the gap gradually closed. By 1995, men with driver’s licenses slightly outnumbered women, 89.2 million to 87.4 million. By 2010, 105.7 million women had licenses, compared with 104.3 million men.

Likewise, in 1995 men with driver’s licenses outnumbered women in every age group except those over 70. By 2010, women outnumbered men among drivers ages 45 and older and between ages 25 and 29 years old. The share of older women who are also hanging on to their driver’s licenses has also increased.

“I want to be in my own car for as long as possible. I want to be independent for as long as I can,” said Diane Spitaliere, 58, a retired government worker in Alexandria, Va.

Male drivers under age 44 are still slightly more numerous than women of the same age, but that’s only because young men outnumber young women in the general population, the study said. There now are 105 boys born each year for every 100 girls in the U.S. Women outnumber men later in life because they live longer – an average of 80 years for women, compared with about 75 years for men.

Rising Internet usage may be part of the reason for the decline in the share of young drivers, especially young men, Sivak said. A previous study by the transportation institute published earlier this year found that countries that have higher Internet usage also have a lower licensure rate of teens and young adults.

“There is some suggestive evidence that Internet contact is reducing the need for personal contact,” he said.

Other researchers have theorized that digital media and technology may make driving less desirable and public transportation more convenient. Texting while driving is dangerous and illegal in most states, but there’s no risk to texting or working on a laptop while riding a bus or train. Some transit systems have been seeing significant increases in riders.

There also may be economic reasons for the shift, McGuckin’s research indicates. Employment of 16- to 24-year-olds as a share of all workers has declined.

It may be also that unemployment and underemployment have made auto insurance unaffordable for young men, said Alan Pisarski, author of the Transportation Research Board’s comprehensive “Commuting in America” reports on U.S. travel trends.