After more than 50 years of steady increases, driving in America is now on the decline.

According to a study released this spring by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group and a follow up state-by-state study released this August, miles driven per person peaked in 2004 and fell by 7.4% by the end of 2012. We are driving no more miles per person than we did in 1995. Vehicle ownership and driver licensing, other indicators of how much we drive, have also declined.

But the reasons behind the change aren’t yet clear, prompting a media frenzy over the possibilities. Does it mean the end of our national love affair with the automobile and the demise of American car culture? Are we too caught up in digital technology to bother with driving cars anymore? Or are graduated licensing requirements deterring teens from seeking a license?

While no single reason can fully explain the decline, these four factors have been identified as major contributors to the trend.

1. The Recession

When researchers first started to notice the driving decline, many thought that it was a direct result of the recent economic recession, since driving levels have been closely tied to economic activity and employment levels historically.

As shown in the graph below, the decline in driving during four other recent recessions is only a brief interruption of the overall increase in driving seen before and after each recession.

But this recession is different. Miles driven per person peaked in 2004, and were already declining by the time the recession hit in 2007. Even though the recession officially ended in 2009 and our population is growing, driving rates continue to decline today. This indicates that the economy may not be the main cause of the decline.

In their state-by-state study, U.S. PIRG researchers expected to find the biggest driving reductions in states hit the hardest during the recession. But the study found virtually no relationship between how much unemployment increased and how much driving declined, again suggesting that the economy is only one of many factors contributing to the decline.

So, where else can we look for answers?

2. High Gas Prices Increasing the Cost of Driving

The average price of gasoline doubled between 2002 and 2011, increasing the cost of driving dramatically.

In the short term, this can cause drivers to postpone car trips in the hopes that gas might be cheaper later on. But as time goes by with no relief, drivers start to make long term changes, reorienting their lives to avoid the expense of driving by using other forms of transportation or moving closer to where they work.

While gas prices are expected to remain high in the future, this may become less important to driving trends as fuel efficiency improves and alternative fuel vehicles become more common.

3. An Aging Population

Americans in their prime career and child-rearing years, usually from about ages 35 to 54, have historically driven the most. The passage of the Baby Boom generation through this peak driving age group helped to fuel the growth of driving.

Older and younger Americans, however, are less likely to drive. As the Baby Boom generation heads toward retirement, the proportion of older Americans, who tend to drive less, is expected to increase dramatically, up from 11% of the population in 1980 to 21% by 2040.

4. Millennials Are Driving Less than Previous Generations

The generation born between 1983 and 2000, commonly referred to as the Millennial generation, will be the largest group in the peak driving age group by 2030. Their preferences are expected to have a huge effect on future transportation trends.

So far, it appears that the Millennials are even less inclined to drive than previous generations. Miles driven by 16 to 34 year olds have decreased more than the decline seen in the general population, with a drop of 23% from 2001 to 2009. The percentage of young Americans with a drivers license peaked in the early 1980s and has been dropping steadily ever since.

Economic factors, such as increased student loan debt and high unemployment among today’s young people, may explain some of the decline. However, even among young people with jobs, driving still fell by 16% from 2001 to 2009.

Some of the decline may stem from a difference in lifestyle preferences between Millennials and older Americans. More Millennials express wanting to live in walkable urban neighborhoods rather than suburbs, and report trying to make a conscious effort to replace driving with alternative forms of transportation. Millennials also rate computers and mobile devices over cars as the most important technology in their lives, and are less likely to express interest in automobiles as a hobby.

Graduated drivers licensing laws, implemented in all 50 states over the past two decades, have also been suggested as a possible reason for the decline. For more information about how the new requirements, costs, and restrictions have affected young drivers, look for our next post over at OnlineDriversEd.com.

What Can We Expect for the Future?

There is still much to learn about the causes behind the driving decrease, but so far it looks like the downward trend may be here to stay. How will the decline affect driving in the United States during the coming decades?

We’ll explore this question in our next post!

As summer winds down and students head back to school, more than half of them will do so in private cars (Safe Routes to School). Since parents driving their children to school generate an estimated 21% of total morning traffic, everyone on the road during this time will be affected, whether or not you’re making a trip to school yourself.

With school buses returning to the roads and many communities seeing more children than ever cycling and walking to school, it’s essential to make sure you know how to drive safely in school zones and around school buses. Plus, knowing and following the laws can save you a bundle – traffic violations committed in school zones often have especially high fines!

Stay Alert in School Zones

Slow Down

• When you enter a school zone, make sure to reduce your speed, which allows you to stop in a shorter distance to avoid a collision. (Safe Routes to School).
• Slower speeds also dramatically reduce the chance of pedestrian injury or death in the event of a collision. (Safe Routes to School)
• School zone speed limits vary, so check with your state’s department of motor vehicles to find out standard speed limits, and always obey the posted speed limit for each school zone you drive through.

Watch for Children

• Children are the least predictable pedestrians and the hardest to see. Children may take risks such as darting out into the street without looking for traffic, especially in familiar surroundings like the streets around their home or school.

Keep Crosswalks and Streets Clear

• Avoid double parking to drop off children. This blocks visibility for other children and motorists in the area, who may not be able to see cars or pedestrians behind your car. (Safe Routes to School)
• Do not block crosswalks or stop with a portion of your vehicle over the crosswalk. This forces pedestrians to walk around the front of your car and closer to moving traffic, or behind your car where they are less visible.

Brush Up on School Bus Laws

Always Stop on an Undivided Road

• On an undivided roadway, all 50 states require traffic in both directions to stop when students are entering or exiting a school bus.

Check Your State’s Laws

• On divided roadways, all 50 states require traffic behind the school bus to stop, but state laws vary on whether traffic on the opposite side of the divided roadway must stop.
• To find out what your state requires, check the AAA Digest of Motor Laws.

Watch for Flashing Lights

• State laws also vary as to how drivers must respond to flashing signal lights on a school bus. Some states require that motorists stop whenever any signal lights are flashing, while others distinguish between yellow lights indicating that the bus is preparing to stop, and red lights which signal that children are entering or exiting the bus.
• Check your state’s laws in the AAA Digest of Motor Laws.

Illegal Passing

• Driving on the sidewalk or passing a school bus on the right to avoid having to stop and wait is illegal and extremely dangerous.
• While it can be a pain to get stuck behind a school bus, stopping and waiting until the bus turns its signal lights off is the only safe option.

Get Ready for Heavier Traffic

• Be prepared for changes in traffic patterns, and allow extra time to reach your destination.
• You can also consider planning your route to avoid school zones and school bus stops during the morning and afternoon.
• Be prepared to encounter more students walking and biking to or from schools or bus stops. Take the time to double check for children on sidewalks or in the street, especially at driveways and crosswalks, and review how to safely share the road with cyclists.

As always, avoid using your cell phone while driving and eliminate other distractions in your car so that you can give the task of driving your full attention.

For a visual explanation of how to safely share the road with school buses, check out the National Safety Council’s public service announcements for motorists and for parents helping their kids learn school bus safety.

You’ve had your driver’s license for a while, and you consider yourself well-versed in the rules of the road. However, chances are good you’ve only scratched the surface about what’s going on along the highways and byways. This list of fun facts you didn’t know about the road can keep your eyes sharp the next time you get behind the wheel.

Fact #1: Blue Reflectors Are Fire Hydrant Warnings

How many times have you circled the block to find a parking spot, and just when you think you have one, it turns out to be a hydrant? Well, if you notice the reflectors on the road, you’ll see they change to blue to let you know where the hydrants are. This is more useful for firefighters, but it’s also a fact that regular motorists can benefit from.

Fact #2: Drivers Aren’t Paying For The Roads… Not By A Mile

We all tend to think of fuel taxes as our way of contributing to road upkeep. However, according to Tom Vanderbilt, drivers in the U.S. barely leave the tip. The taxes on gas would have to be raised from 20 cents a gallon to 70 cents a gallon before the people out using the roads paid for their maintenance and upkeep.

Fact #3: The Position of The Sign Tells You Where The Exit Is

Say you’re driving down a four-lane highway, and you know your exit is coming up. You have your eyes peeled, and you’re checking your mirrors to be sure you can slip over to the left or the right once you see it. According to Life Hacker, though, you can relax. Simply look at the position of the exit number on the highway information sign. If the exit number is aligned with the right, the exit will be on the right. If the exit number is aligned with the left, then it will be on the left. Take a breath, and enjoy the drive.

Fact #4: You Could Drive Around The World If America Straightened Its Roads

America is a big country, and with our love of the open road, we haven’t been shy about paving our way from one coast to the other. However, we don’t often stop to think about just how many roads we have. According to Fun Factz, the U.S. has paved enough roads to circle the Earth 150 times.

Fact #5: Stop Signs Have 8 Sides Because It’s A Cheap Option

Stop signs are a common sight in the U.S., and one thing that makes them stand out is their octagonal shape. That, and the bright, fire-engine red color they tend to boast. The reason the government picked an octagon, according to My Five Best, was that it was immediately different from the squares and rectangles used for other signs and that an octagon was one of the cheapest shapes to make. Because, as you’ve no doubt noticed, the government knew there were going to be a lot of stop signs on the roads.

Fact #6: Our Traffic Lights Were Adapted From The Railroads

While the red, green, and yellow lights on our roads are pretty universal the world over, they weren’t created for cars. The idea of signal lights was first used on railroads to prevent train collisions. The idea worked well enough that, once the technology was perfected, the signals were adopted all over the world. The original pattern was red for danger, green for caution, and white to go. However, since white could have been easily missed against a starry sky, green became go, and yellow was put in as the caution light.