By Erin Dostal
Posted: May 31, 2008

Getting a driver’s license used to be a sign of independence, a rite of passage, a chance to cruise around with the music cranked up and the windows down.

Teens today are no less excited about getting behind the wheel, but high gas prices have many of them, well, freaking out.

With gas prices averaging $4 per gallon in Indiana, compared with $1.49 per gallon in 2003, these new drivers are having to ease off on their trips to the mall and back.

Teens also are car-pooling and working more to scrape up the dollars and squeeze more miles from their gas tanks.

Indiana has about 387,000 drivers younger than 21.

A recent poll by Junior Achievement and The Allstate Foundation found that gas is the No. 1 item teens buy with their credit cards, replacing clothing.

Katie Cleary, 16, Indianapolis, a junior at Cathedral High School, is one of those who has started sharing rides more often.

“It’s to save money, and it’s just a hassle to drive to school, with parking passes and things like that,” she said.

Because Katie’s parents give her $50 a week as an allowance for gas and food, she said she definitely has had to think about her driving habits.

Katie also has had to ask for a few advances on her allowance to make ends meet.

“I want to get a job this summer,” she said. “I need money — bad.”

Shonta James, 16, a sophomore at Lawrence Central High School, said she and her sister used MapQuest to find a shorter route from their Northside home to Downtown.

Shonta spends the bulk of her driving time traveling to work at South Bend Chocolate Co. on Monument Circle. She drives a Cadillac, so she pays more because it runs on premium gas. She estimates it costs her about $50 to fill up her tank.

“The work thing is really what’s kicking my butt,” Shonta said, adding that although she loves her job, she’ll be leaving it soon to find something closer to home.

She said that to save gas, she and her family now tend to stay in and perhaps order a pizza rather than going out.

Samantha Nelson, 19, who is home from the University of Dayton for the summer, said the trend is influencing where she’ll look for work.

“I’m trying to find a closer job because of gas prices,” she said.

David Heckler, a senior at North Central High School, said he and his girlfriend, who lives on the other side of town, have begun meeting midway in places such as Broad Ripple.

Others, including Mykel Kennedy, are doing all they can to maintain life as usual.

“I still drive. I still buy clothes. I still get my hair done,” she said. “It’s just all the same.”

Well, not exactly.

Mykel, 16, a junior at Lawrence Central, said she still drives to school with her two older sisters because her bus is always late. They try to beat rising costs by going one place on weekends and staying there, instead of driving to several locations to find something to do.
Saving as a family

Parents, of course, are suffering, too.

Pamela Gerritson, 41, Indianapolis, is using rising gas prices to teach her children about being frugal.

Her daughter Brianna Gerritson, 17, is a junior at Decatur Central High School.

Pamela Gerritson said she tries to get her daughter to drive less and that “it’ll work for a few days, (but) then it goes back.”

That’s because Brianna’s best friend lives in Plainfield. Her mother tries to keep her from “making unnecessary runs” to see her friend but still pays for one-third of Brianna’s gasoline.

Steve Ehmke takes a somewhat different route.

His daughter Lierin Ehmke, 16, is a sophomore at Lawrence Central. She drives a Jeep Cherokee because her father thinks it’s safer, despite its less-than-terrific gas mileage. The Ehmkes try to pick the cheapest gas stations and the cheapest days to fill up their gas tanks.

“The one thing we’ve kind of stopped is needlessly running to the mall,” he said.

That means fewer shopping bills, which, as it happens, leaves more money for gas.

Source: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080531/LOCAL18/805310452