Cost of driving lessons and insurance blamed for drop in young learners

The percentage of 17-20-year-olds with a provisional driving licence has fallen from 43% to 36% in recent years

Getting behind the wheel is no longer such an attraction for young people  in Britain. Applying for a provisional driving licence was once a rite of passage, but since the 1990s boom there has been a big dip in the number of young learners.

While many younger drivers share their parents' car, the costs of learning, and insuring a car for a teenage driver, are blamed for the decline. The percentage of 17-20-year-olds with a provisional licence has fallen from 43% to 36% in recent years – with little more than 30% of girls in the age group now learning to drive. In the 1995-97 peak years more than half of males aged 17-20 were on the road.

According to the most recent National Travel Survey, young people are mainly put off by the prohibitive cost of lessons, followed by soaring insurance premiums and the cost of purchasing a car and keeping it on the road.

Beyond costs, some speculate that the use of mobile phones has made young people more content to travel as passengers on public transport, where they can stay online through the journey.