The decline in driver’s licensure among teenagers in the U.S. in recent decades has led some observers to speculate that the newest generation of adults will be less car dependent than those that preceded them. Previous studies have identified a variety factors that may explain the decline, including graduated licensing policies and economic conditions. This paper delves beneath these trends with the goal of generating a deeper understanding of what is going on with teenagers and their travel. We explore what teenagers think about driving and its alternatives through in-depth interviews with 20 high school students and their parents in Davis, California, an unusually bicycling-oriented community by U.S. standards. Although bicycling was an important mode of travel for the teenagers when they were younger, all had acquired or planned to acquire a driver’s license at the time of the interview. The reasons teenagers cite for needing a driver’s license are more practical than social, though the ability to socialize with friends is an important benefit of driving. Both teenagers and their parents liked the independence that having a license brings, though both expressed some fears about their driving – both the danger driving poses to themselves as well as the danger their driving poses to others. Teenagers and their parents saw driving as ineviAvtable, as a natural step towards adulthood.

Key words: Driver’s licensure, Teenagers, Driving, Bicycling, Attitudes