Industry News from Yes Insurance

A survey assessing the impact of disruptive children on a driver has revealed that children can severely affect the concentration levels of drivers which could cause potentially dangerous situations on the road.

Of the parents who were polled, a whopping three quarters of them admitted they did not enjoy travelling with their children, despite the fact that half of them had to travel with them everyday.

Over half (56 per cent) found the experience 'barely tolerable', a further fifth found them 'stressful' and one per cent of parents surveyed confessed the experience to be 'unbearable'.

The survey was commissioned by car manufacturer Kia which later enlisted the help of child psychologist Dr Stephen Briers to analyse the results.

He advised: "Whatever the length of journey, when we get tired our resistance to stress dips and we are easily taxed by complex tasks - especially those that require our attention to be split. It becomes even more crucial that, in these instances, drivers take regular breaks."

The survey also looked at what the children complained about on the journeys. The largest numbers of complaints, totaling 77 per cent, were about the length of the journey.

In addition, 20 per cent of parents had suffered the joys of car sickness, 17 per cent had been moaned at for the lack of space and nine per cent of parents had been whinged at for uncomfortable seats.

If parents want to protect their car insurance premiums, and their sanity, they could try the following quick fixes to keep the kids quiet: feeding them sweets or drinks, tried by two thirds of parents; entertaining them with electronic equipment or games, tried by over half of the parents; or if feeling particularly brave, they could follow in the footsteps of 11 per cent of brave parents and insist on complete silence.

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