Parents 'taxi drivers' for their children

PARENTS spend around six months of their lives playing taxi driver for their children, a poll has found.

A new survey claims that the average mum and dad clocks up around 30 miles a week ferrying their youngster to school, to clubs and to see friends, spending around three-and-a-half hours in the car.

It means that the average parent racks up around 26,741 miles driving their child around between the ages of three and 20, and spends around 3,147 hours behind the wheel, according to Goodyear, which commissioned the poll.

The findings also show that mums and dads use time in the car to talk to their children, with 60.1% saying they ask their son or daughter about their day.

Half (49.6%) said they use the time to ask they child about their school work while a quarter (24.8%) quiz their youngster on their love life.

Just over a fifth (20.7%) said that they play games in the car, such as I-spy, while 15.4% said that they try to educate their child or test their knowledge by asking them questions.

The poll, which surveyed 2,000 parents, found that the main reason that mums and dads drive their youngsters to different places is because they think it is safer (chosen by 49.3%), while 24.3% said that they act as taxi driver because their child tends to be late otherwise and 17.2% admitted that it was because their child was too lazy to walk, cycle or get a bus.

Goodyear Driving Academy spokeswoman Kate Rock said: "Playing taxi to your children is often a thankless task and one many parents just see as a means to an end.

"However we are on a mission to encourage parents to seize the opportunity that the regular time in the car presents to educate children about road safety from an early age, which has been proven to reduce young driver road accidents."

By Alison Kershaw, Press Association Education Correspondent