Driving licenses are important again

DrivingDriving.Photo. NAF

After many years of decline, the number of drivers reaching the age of governmental permission to drive has increased again in recent years.

 

‘The reasons are probably greater than this, but now there are more opportunities for using a car without actually owning it. Therefore, more young people seem to have seen that it’s useful to have the license,’ said Inger Elisabeth Sagedal, communications manager at NAF.

The Transport Economics Institute (Transportøkonomisk institutt – TØI) have investigated how many young people are taking driving tests. In 1994, 59% of all 18-year-olds took the driving test, while the percentage was down to 37% in 2007. Now, the trend is definitely changing. By 2015,47% of all 18 year olds took the test.

‘We are a little surprised by this increase. It is contrary to the development of what we, and others, had believed would happen’, Sagedal said.

Previously, a driver’s license was taken to buy a car. It’s been no longer like that In recent years. Shared economy has meant that there are several car collectives to choose from; one can rent from private individuals at Nabobil, and mobility services will increase in the years to come. The common denominator is that you must have the license to avail of these services.

‘There’s a way to go before the emergence of driverless cars. So for the foreseeable future, driving a car is important, even if you don’t have to own a car yourself,’ said Inger Elisabeth Sagedal.

The cars themselves are also changing. Electric cars are more life-friendly from an environmental perspective. Low and zero emission cars also have automatic transmission options. More and more drivers choose automatic transmission on traditional cars, and automatic transmission makes it less technically difficult to drive a car.

‘The threshold for taking the license is lower now when the automatic transmission started to become the norm. It simply makes it easier to learn to drive a car,’ said NAF’s communications manager.

 

© NAF / Norway Today