When I was 14 and 9 months old, I enrolled in driver’s training — which was the exact age limit required to start the course in my home state of Michigan. At 16 years old exactly, I was in Secretary of State getting my license. I couldn’t wait for the independence of driving on my own. Now, on the other hand, my 23-year-old cousin just got her driver’s license last year. She’s part of a larger trend among Gen Z in the age of ride shares where getting a license isn’t as big of a deal as it used to be.

According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, in 1997, 43% of 16-year-olds and 62% of 17-year-olds had driver’s licenses. In 2020, those numbers dropped to 25% and 45%, respectively.