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Table 3 Reasons for delaying licensure among 18- to 20-year-olds not licensed before age 18, in relation to learner permit status at age 18, United States, 2012

From: Driver licensing and reasons for delaying licensure among young adults ages 18-20, United States, 2012

  Learner permit before 18 thbirthday All* (n = 458)
  Yes (n = 186) No (n = 271)
  % who rated item “Very important reason” or “Somewhat important reason” for not obtaining license sooner
Did not have a car 33 52 44
Could get around without driving 31 45 39
Gas was too expensive 35 37 36
Driving was too expensive 38 34 36
Just didn’t get around to it 25 42 35
Could do what I wanted to do without driving 31 32 32
Was nervous about driving 24 34 30
Just not very interested in driving 27 30 29
Had to complete driver education course first 22 33 28
Getting a license was too expensive 27 26 26
Parents didn't have time to take me out to practice driving 21 28 25
Special requirements made it hard to get licensed at younger age 19 26 23
Too busy to spend time learning how to drive 18 23 21
Didn't want license with special restrictions that only applied to drivers under a certain age 14 24 21
Parents wouldn't let me get license sooner 24 17 20
To avoid having to take driver education 11 24 19
Could connect with friends online 15 19 17
Tried to obtain license sooner, but failed test 13 16 15
Took long time to get appointment for test 8 10 10
  1. Notes: Missing values for timing of permit and licensure were imputed 20 times and averaged. Raw number (weighted %) of values imputed: License before 18th birthday: 18 (2%); Permit before 18th birthday: 63 (7%).
  2. *Timing of permit was missing and could not be imputed for 1 driver in column “All”.
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