Why kids don't like cars anymore

I've commented here and there about why it might be that young drivers aren't driving.

There's a school of thought that claims young people aren't driving because they're more into Facebook and the virtual world and they just don't care.

There's a related school that wants you to think that young people today are so acutely tuned into environmental issues that they are too ashamed to take a car when they can take public transit.

Bullshit!

Young people don't drive because they can't afford to.

And it's not just because a minimum wage job can no longer facilitate a car.

It's because a minimum wage job can't possibly pay car insurance.

Back in the day every kid who worked part time at a gas station was driving their own car. Not a fancy car perhaps, but the wheels you needed to get the hell out of your life and your home town.

Without cars Jack Kerouac could not have written On the Road.

I got a personal taste of this anti-car revolution recently when my daughter was car shopping. She's a super-good kid who does everything the right way. Been driving for eight years. Not so much as a parking ticket to blemish her record.

Made her way through university and landed a job as a supply teacher. Public transit does not facilitate the career of a supply teacher. She needs a car.

She can afford a car. She can afford the beginner models of any of the big brands.

But she can't afford the insurance. In every case the insurance payments are more than the car payments. How is such a thing even possible?

You can drive that Toyota Yaris off the lot with no money down and a monthly payment of $250 all in, but the insurance is going to be $300 a month?

Fuck that!

Occupy the insurance companies!