Statistics from the Federal Highway Administration show that just 55.7 percent of Tennessee 16-year-olds were licensed drivers in 2008, compared with 61 percent a decade earlier.
One of the holdouts is Kelsey Muse, who turned 17 in Thompson's Station without so much as a learner's permit. Kelsey and her 15-year-old sister, Emily Muse, were at the Franklin driver testing station on Wednesday afternoon to get their permits.
"It's something I've been dreaming of since I was young," Kelsey Muse said. "I'm just ready to be in control of something other than a four-wheeler or my bike."
RelatedChart: Fewer 16-year-old Tennessee driversThe girls' father, Kevin Muse, said that although he's excited about his daughters learning to drive, he's concerned about finding a car for them and insurance that he can afford.
"I'm unemployed, so I haven't even checked to see what (car insurance) rates are going to be like," he said.
The family has only two cars — an old Jeep and a Suburban — vehicles that Kevin Muse thinks are too big for his daughters to handle.
"I just want to get them a car that's closer to their size," he said.
Jeremy Lyon, owner of Brentwood Driver Training, said he has noticed that fewer teens are getting cars to go along with their licenses.
"There are a noticeable percentage of kids who don't have the resources to get a car," Lyon said. Teens aren't as easily able to find jobs to help pay for their cars as in years past, and their parents probably are struggling, too, as a result of the recession.
Fewer used carsThe Cash for Clunkers program is playing into the struggle, Lyon said. Vehicles that would have ended up on the used-car lot were instead scrapped in the popular government program that paid owners to trade in their old vehicles for newer, more fuel-efficient models.
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