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Nearly two-thirds (61%) of Australian parents and carers spend up to eight hours every week on ‘taxi duty’, with 12% spending nine or more hours a week driving kids around, according to new research from Allianz Australia.
“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,” said Nick Adams, Allianz Australia chief market manager. “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.”
The insurer said Australian parents can reduce the amount of time they spend behind the wheel by sharing the taxiing load, as the national survey found that only 35% of parents and carers carpool with other drivers.
Encouragingly, the research also found that both parents spend a similar amount of hours per week driving the children, with 29% of mums and 32% of dads reporting up to eight hours per week.
The study also found that most parents don't get to enjoy a lazy weekend, with their ‘taxi’ hours spiking on the weekends. Nearly half (44%) of parents said they spend up to three hours driving their kids around every Saturday, and more than a third (36%) report the same on a Sunday. Meanwhile, more than a quarter (26%) of Australian carers reported spending 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,” Adams said.
