Where Have All the Teenage Drivers Gone?

Wednesday, 21 July 2010 | by Pat's Picks

I got my driver’s license the day I turned 16. I couldn’t wait. I remember it as one of the most important days of my life. So I was surprised to read that kids these days don’t feel the same way. According to the Star Tribune, the number of 16 and 17-year-old drivers is at an all-time low. Part of it is that lots of high schools have dropped Drivers Ed, which means teens or their parents have to pay for pricey driving lessons out of their own pockets. An even bigger factor seems to be that the “loser” stigma assigned to the car-less in high school has all but vanished in recent years. But I can’t help wondering if the real reason is that after growing up in an age of webcams and Photoshop, teens aren’t ready to face the humiliation of their first driver’s license photo.

A while back we tried to get some momentum for our montage of bad driver’s license pictures. I bravely put mine on there. Click here to see some of the gems we collected. And if you?re brave enough to submit your picture, here?s the address: badpicture@patspapers.com

These guys know the value of a good license photo. Scroll down to see the elaborate prank they played on some unsuspecting DMV workers in Virginia: