Gas Prices Curtail Teen Cruising
by Andrew Posner, Providence, Rhode Island on 06.30.08
Image Credit: Peter Wynn Thompson for The New York Times
A Rite of Passage--Going, or Gone?
It's as American as apple pie--teenagers "driving around in a big loop, listening to music, waving at one another and wasting gasoline." It's called cruising, but unfortunately the high cost of gas, combined with a tough economy, has made this rite of passage too expensive for most teens and their parents. As a result, America's youth are being forced to seek out other forms of entertainment, such as "hanging out in parking lots, malls or movie theaters," and parking their cars and walking around.
Americans of All Ages Are Feeling the Effects
Teens have already been waiting longer to drive due to higher insurance costs, the decline in school systems offering driver's education programs and stricter laws--such as graduated driver-licensing--for teenage drivers. Now, however, teens that already drive are finding it harder to raise the cash to do so. Given how automobile-dependent America has become, it isn't surprising that $4 a gallon gas is having so many impacts on our society. In the last few months Americans have dramatically cut back on the amount of miles they drive, and sales of smaller, more efficient cars are up.
And while Americans are experiencing economic hardship, it's clear that in the long run high gas prices will force some necessary, positive changes. One problem, for instance, is that our lives are so designed around cars that it is difficult to suddenly switch to alternatives when public transit is underfunded or non-existent in many places in the country, and roads were constructed to make driving safe--not walking or cycling. Still another problem is that we have grown accustomed to leisure activities that involve cars as well: for teens that means cruising the streets, and for adults that means driving to the movies, the theatre, dinner or to a friend's house.
There's Something Wrong
There's something wrong when the only alternative to driving around in circles is driving to a mall parking lot and walking around the mall. Perhaps in the long-run, while we lower carbon emissions, improve our crumbling infrastructure and get off foreign oil, we'll start to see a cultural shift towards cities built for human beings and that are conducive to human interaction. That way, the cost of energy won't cause economic hardship, nor will it curtail leisure activities.
Via: ::NY Times
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Move into a city with public transit before it's too late.
and ban cars.
Can't wait until gas gets to $7/gal.
i have a 14 year old daughter who is already talking about "when i get my license" . . . i've told her that if we win the lottery and can afford an electric car, and enough solar panels to charge it, she can drive, but if not, she may be in college before she gets a license.
I was reading about this yesterday in the newspaper and I never understood why ANYONE in their right mind would just drive around in circles for FUN??
Even if gas was a dollar right now I'd be too worried about the CO2 I'm emitting.
It would be nice if teens around the nation just decided to ride their bikes and show adults it's not that bad. Or heck, even skateboarding everywhere would be better than driving around in circles.
::shakes head::
Some of the people in my generation just make me sick.
"but unfortunately the high cost of gas, combined with a tough economy, has made this rite of passage too expensive for most teens and their parents."
This is not unfortunate, this (along with increased bicycle usage) is one of the benefits of the high cost of gas. Maybe teens will start to watch "Pimp My Bike".
I agree with Hann, I can't wait until $7.00/gal gas. Hopefully we'll get it for Christmas.
It's nice that people want to lower carbon emissions and burn less gas, but to actually hope for $7/gal. is insane.
The price of EVERYTHING goes up with the price of gas.
Hoping for $7/gal. in the USA is like hoping for a return of the fabulous times of the Great Depression.
Hoping for $7/gal. is like hoping for a worldwide pandemic to help solve the overpopulation problem.
Silly cruising .. but hey, what do you expect, letting 16 year olds drive around in cars... *shakes head*.
Banning cars is a silly idea. The car is a useful device when used properly. We can make them better and cleaner, even emissions-free and totally recyclable. We can develop our infrastructure to reduce the frequency with which we need to use them. But they aren't going away, not completely, and I don't see why we should want or expect them too.
As for the 14 year old daughter mentioned in the comments above, let here get her license. Then tell her she can't drive unless she works to pay for her own car, insurance, and gas. And that she can't work if she doesn't improve her grades and/or keep them high. This way she learns time management, how to take responsibility for herself, how much things cost in hours as well as dollars, and how much driving is really worth to her.
I, too, am often made sick by the blindness of those around me, whether of my generation or not. There are still a whole lot of people that think global warming isn't going to affect anyone until long after everyone alive today is dead. Absurd, I know, but people do believe these things. Even otherwise quite intelligent people. And in many cases being educated about something is seen by people as a detriment rather than a reason to be taken seriously, because they believe all education to be politically controlled.
Also, not everything goes up with the price of gas. The price of electricity does not, unless your region has an unusual power mix. The costs of nuclear, wind, solar, and geothermal do not (though neither does coal). The cost of efficiency improvements does not. The costs of public transit and rail do not. The only things that go up with the price of oil are things that use oil. That is, diesel- and gas-powered vehicles; commercial fertilizers; oil-based solvents, detergents, and plastics; and other chemicals. If we recycled all our plastic there wouldn't be much need for new plastic, only for the energy to recycle it. There are already non-oil-based detergents and solvents out there, many of which are both safer and more effective than the oil-based ones. Chemicals and fertilizers can all be synthesized in other ways, using other energy sources to make the reactions go. So it is not necessarily insane to hope the price continues to rise; a higher price can encourage more rapid adoption of better, safer, and more efficient technologies that will ultimately enrich all of us.
The cost of public transit can certainly go up if gas goes up.
A lot of public transit agencies are considering raising fares despite the increase in passengers.
Depending on what fuel the public transit runs on (if it runs on fuel at all), prices can indeed go up.
Pimp My Bike? I love it!
I so know what the article means. I read it too.
Being a teenager in suburbia can be VERY boring, if you can't get around. Lots of suburban neighborhoods and businesses ONLY connect by roads. It's hard to find a sidewalk once you leave a subdivision, and walking can be horrid. I live very far from my high school, and it would take roughly 45 minutes minimum to get there, including dodging cars, walking past broken Walk/DoNotWalk poles, staying out of the ditches, among other things.
There's no public transport, not even buses. Their viewed as transportation for "the poor" and nobody wants to bring that in.
So you either have a car, or you stay put and not have a social life. That's the choice for most American teens, and it's definitely the car.
Now I wouldn't say teenagers in my part of Houston cruise about the place and chug gas (maybe before, I guess), but we do definitely go to places like the mall, the movies, or restaurants, and it's effecting us bad.
Maybe higher prices will mean some more social changes. Like fuel-efficient cars, alternative energy sources, and all that. That's be great.
Getting out of the car to walk???
Hey, maybe something good can come out of this and child obesity will go down! ;-)
Here's hoping......
"Hoping for $7/gal. is like hoping for a worldwide pandemic to help solve the overpopulation problem."
You say it like thats a bad thing. :)
I haven't let the price of gas affect my cruising, at least twice a week i will spend my afternoons going for a cruise, roughly 200-300 miles to have some time to myself.
We have somewhat decent mass transit in Central Arkansas but when you want to go to the movies around 7 or 9 on a Saturday night, the buses have stopped running.
I would ride the bus to work if the buses ran by the time I get off work.
Once it cools down, I plan on taking the bus and riding my bike whenever the bus just isn't feasible., will take too long, or isn't running.
I've looked up ways to keep cooler when riding a bike but even a little walk around my neighborhood can quickly get me stinky, depending on the temperature.
If my job had a shower I could use, I'd certainly bike or walk to work.
I plan on being a nurse in the future so I'm sure there will be an unused patient room I can use to shower in when I bike or walk to work some days. Hopefully though I'll live in a city that has great mass transit.
I have a skooter that goes 40 mph and gets 120 mpg, if teens dont have the money to buy gas for there cars then trade them in for a motorized skooter. There really fun too and make less pollution, and it only takes 1.5 gallons of gas!!! It only costs around $5.60 to fill it up!!!