Getting that first license and the keys to the family car are big moments for most young drivers. And few waste any time after they turn 16 getting their license.

In fact, there were 259,885 young drivers in the state of Missouri from age 15–18 during 1999. They represented 6.5 percent of the nearly 4 million total licensed drivers throughout Missouri.

In just two years, the number of 15- to 18-year-old drivers in Missouri has grown to 259,885 in 1999 from 226,522 in 1997, an increase of nearly 15 percent. Incredibly, the number of 16-year-old drivers in that time span grew by more than 23 percent, from 73,491 in 1997 to 90,891 in 1999.

In the coming years, more children of Baby Boomers will reach driving age across the country. Because of this “Baby Boom Echo,” there will be 11 percent more 16-year-olds driving in the United States in just five years than there are today. And by 2010, the number of 16-year-olds will grow by nearly 25 percent.

With the growing number of teen drivers on Missouri's roads, coupled with the fact that advances in medicine are allowing people to lead more active lives in their senior years, more people in general are licensed to drive in the state. In the last two decades, the number of licensed drivers in Missouri has increased to 3.9 million in 1999 from 3.2 million in 1979, an increase of nearly 22 percent.

And with more motorists on the road, the number of miles driven in the state also is increasing. In the last 20 years, the number of miles driven on Missouri roads has almost doubled, from about 34.5 billion miles traveled in 1979 to more than 66 billion vehicle miles traveled in 1999, an increase of about 91 percent.

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