Nearly two-thirds of Aussie parents spend up to a full work day each week driving their children around.
And 12 per cent of mums and dads are spending nine hours or more each week behind the wheel as they ferry their kids to school, kinder and various commitments such as after-school sport and music lessons.
These are the among the key findings of a new survey from Allianz Australia, which shows parents need to consider carpooling with other parents to share the driving load.
The national survey revealed only one in three Australian parents and carers carpooled with other drivers.
This is despite 61 per cent reporting that they spend eight hours a week as a ‘parent taxi’.
Mums and dads appear to be splitting ‘parent taxi’ duties about equally, with both reporting spending a similar amount of hours per week driving around the kids.
There were 29 per cent of mums who said they spent eight hours each week ferrying the kids around, while 32 per cent of dads reported spending the same time behind the wheel.
Interestingly, mums and dads spend more time as a ‘parent taxi’ on the weekend. Of those surveyed, 44 per cent said they drove their kids around for up to three hours every Saturday and 36 per cent reported doing the same on a Sunday.
“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,” Allianz Australia Chief Market Manager Nick Adams said.
