Sports cars, SUV's, luxury cars - they're all cool, and so is auto racing. What's not cool is that, if you think about it, most of us would never have one interaction with a cop if we weren't behind the wheel so often. When you're walking down the street and a cop drives by you never think twice about it, but when you're on the road and a police car appears, especially if it's behind you, you tense up until it's gone. Walking down the street requires enough clothing to not be indecent. Driving down the street requires a car, gasoline, drivers license, insurance, registration, inspection, seat belt, sobriety, etc. And even if all those ducks are in a row, get caught going twenty miles an hour over the speed limit and you could be arrested on the spot.
The good news: Generation Y aren't buying into the auto myth the way their predecessors did. According to The Atlantic, "the fact is, today’s young people simply don’t drive like their predecessors did. In 2010, adults between the ages of 21 and 34 bought just 27 percent of all new vehicles sold in America, down from the peak of 38 percent in 1985. Miles driven are down, too. Even the proportion of teenagers with a license fell, by 28 percent, between 1998 and 2008."
I realize this phenomenon has more to do with economics than politics, but maybe the Millenials are waking up to the fact that traveling is a ticket to harassment. The TSA has made that point clear. The New York Times article on the subject sums up the situation perfectly:
“They think of a car as a giant bummer,” said Mr. Martin. “Think about your dashboard. It’s filled with nothing but bad news.”
Think about the charts...
