New research from Allianz Australia has shed light on Aussie’s habits behind the wheel – revealing we’re a nation of parent taxi drivers.
Nearly two-thirds (61%) of Australian parents and carers report spending up to a full work day (eight hours) every week on ‘taxi duty’, with more than one in ten (12%) spending nine or more hours a week picking up and dropping off.
The national survey found that parents could reduce the amount of time they spent in the car if they shared the taxiing load, with only one in three (35%) Aussie parents and carers carpooling with other drivers.
“Allianz knows that Australia’s parents and carers work tirelessly to take care of their kids, not just doing the morning and after-school pick-ups but getting them to all of their other activities – whether it’s footy practice on the weekends, or after-school music lessons,” explains Allianz Australia Chief Market Manager Nick Adams.
“It’s amazing how quickly the ‘parent taxi’ hours can add up and become a big challenge for mums and dads as they try to balance family life with work and other priorities – and, of course, traffic,” he said.
Encouragingly, the research found that when it comes to splitting the parent taxi duties among mums and dads, both parents reported spending a similar amount of hours per week driving the children (29% and 32% report up to 8 hours per week respectively).
It also found that the concept of a lazy weekend is clearly a myth for most parents, with their ‘taxi’ hours spiking on the weekends. Nearly half (44%) of parents report spending up to three hours driving their kids around every Saturday, and more than a third (36%) report the same on a Sunday. More than one-quarter (26%) of Aussie carers spend the same amount of time driving other people’s kids around.
“A busy ‘parent taxi’ schedule is stressful enough, which is why Allianz’s thing is helping parents to focus on driving with the peace of mind that they’re insured in the event of an accident so they can get back to making that dance recital or school pick-up as soon as possible,” adds Adams.
For more information on Allianz Car Insurance, visitAllianz Australia.