National Association of Counties * Washington, DC            Vol. 30, No. 20 * October 26, 1998

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Have License, Will Travel
Driver licenses

All 50 states and the District of Columbia administer their own driver licensing systems. Since 1954 all states have required drivers to be licensed, and since 1959 all states have required examination prior to licensing.

In 1996, there were approximately 179.5 million licensed drivers in the United States; most of them, 40.9 million, were 30–39 years old. There’s a nearly even split between the number of male and female drivers — 89 million women and 90.5 million men.

Thirty-five percent, or 62.7 million, of all licensed drivers in 1996 could be found in California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania. The five states with the fewest licensed drivers were Wyoming (343,000), Alaska (440,000), North Dakota (449,000), Vermont (469,000), and South Dakota (519,000).

Motor vehicle registrations
In 1996, there were 210 million registered motor vehicles. Of these registrations, there were nearly 130 million automobiles, 696,000 buses, 80 million trucks, and 4 million motorcycles. Thirty-four percent, or 70.9 million, of these motor vehicles could be found in California, Florida, New York, Ohio and Texas.

Traffic trends
Based on reports from state highway agencies, travel during July 1998 (the latest month for which data is available) on all roads and streets in the nation is estimated at 237 billion vehicle miles.

This figure represents an increase of 2.7 percent compared with July 1997 figures. Of the 237 billion vehicle miles, approximately 96.4 were on rural roads and 140.5 were on urban roads and streets. The most vehicle miles of travel, 57.7 billion, occurred in the North Central region of the country, and the least, 38 billion, took place in the Northeast.

Long distance trips
According to the American Travel Survey, American households took nearly 685 million long distance (100 miles or more) trips in 1995. About 656 million of these trips, which total 1 billion-person-trips, were to destinations within the United States. In total, Americans traveled nearly 827 billion miles using planes, trains, buses, and automobiles.

Approximately 55 percent, or 552 million, of all person trips were interstate trips — trips where the final destination was in a state other than the traveler’s home state. Of the 449 million person-trips that were taken within the traveler’s home state, 59 percent were taken via a personal vehicle.

Thirty-percent of all person-trips occurred during July through September, when 35 percent of vacations and 30 percent of weekend trips were taken. The largest share of leisure trips (38 percent) also occurred during this time. The peak time to visit friends or relatives (30 percent) occurred during the fourth quarter, October through December.

The statistics used in this report were compiled by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration and Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Age breakdown of licensed drivers [make this a bar graph]		The five states with the most licensed drivers
70+ 60–69 50–59 40–49 30–39 20–29 19 and under 17 million 17.5 million 24.2 million 36.9 million 40.9 million 33.5 million 9.2 million		California 20.2 million or 63.5 per 100 people Texas 12.5 million or 65.4 per 100 people Florida 11.4 million or 79.7 per 100 people New York 10.4 million or 57.5 per 100 people Pennsylvania 8.2 million or 68.3 per 100 people

(Research News was written by Peggy Beardslee, director of research.)