Skip to main content

Kids in Cars: from curious to furious during the summer road trip

Kids start to complain about the amount of time in a car after two 2 and 23 minutes of driving, according to research in the UK. Around that time, the driver will hear from the back seat the first of a long list of complaints: “Are we nearly there yet?” And by 2 hours and 37 minutes, angry rows have broken out. These squabbles are almost inevitable, noted the study from the UK’s Highways England. Nearly 80% of families say kids quarrel during long-distance summer trips. Many parents said this ha
August 20, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
Here at last, and about time, too.
Kids start to complain about the amount of time in a car after two 2 and 23 minutes of driving, according to research in the UK.

Around that time, the driver will hear from the back seat the first of a long list of complaints: “Are we nearly there yet?”

And by 2 hours and 37 minutes, angry rows have broken out.

These squabbles are almost inevitable, noted the study from the UK’s Highways England. Nearly 80% of families say kids quarrel during long-distance summer trips.

Many parents said this happens within the first hour of a trip. For that reason, Simon Sheldon-Wilson, Highways England’s director of customer operations and a father of four, urged driving dads and moms to take a break sooner rather than later.

“A decent break should help stop kids being bored and hopefully prevent arguments from stressing your family before you’ve reached your destination,” he said. “Our survey suggests parents should plan a break around two hours in, to help young passengers cope with the boredom.”

In total, 291 drivers completed the online survey, which showed the average summer journey would last 3 hours and 49 minutes.

Despite the length of the journey, 55% of drivers said they didn’t plan to take any breaks during the trip, other than quick toilet stops.

Around a quarter of respondents said their summer journey would take more than 5 hours and 16% said they planned to travel non-stop.

“Drivers who plan their trips tend to have better journeys,” said Sheldon-Wilson.

“They factor in time for rest stops, so the driver can re-focus and the kids don’t get bored. They also spend time choosing the best route – rather than blindly picking the fastest option in their satellite navigation system, only to find it’s anything but.”

Related Content

  • Caterpillar: this is what the future looks like
    April 14, 2016
    Fuel efficiency and powertrain alternatives are crucial for the future of construction, while the issue of emissions will remain a priority for some time to come – that was the message from Caterpillar’s roundtable event at bauma 2016. Senior executives from the company spoke with journalists, discussing key future technology developments and trends for the firm. Paolo Fellin is VP Global Construction & Infrastructure, while Ken Hoefling is VP for Building Construction Products. Karl Weiss is VP Earthmovin
  • The UK’s pothole crisis is causing vehicle damage and crashes
    July 1, 2019
    The poor state of maintenance of UK roads is a factor in many crashes while also causing damage to vehicles according to road safety charity, IAM RoadSmart. In a bid to address the issue, IAM RoadSmart is calling for a long-term plan to tackle the problem. According to a survey it conducted, nearly 50% of the respondents have experienced pothole damage to their vehicles. The government’s Transport Select Committee has issued a report stating that the current short-term approach to financing road maintenan
  • Slow market growth the message at CEWEF 2012
    November 30, 2012
    Centralised asset management, more use of the latest machine and worksite technology, and deploying value added logistics in machine delivery will enable the construction equipment industry to build on slow world market growth, a panel of expert speakers told attendees at the Construction Equipment World Economic Forum (CEWEF) 2012 The key industry event in Brussels saw more than 130 representatives from across the international construction equipment world given a forecast of 3.5% global growth for their i
  • Safe Roads Safe Kids Project: delivering a safe journey to school
    October 15, 2018
    Every year 186,300 children die from road traffic crashes around the world. That is more than 500 children every day. Road traffic injury ranks among the top four causes of death for all children over the age of five years. According to data reported by the Moroccan Comité national de prévention des accidents de la circulation (CNPAC), young people below the age of 14 represent 15% of all the deaths on Moroccan roads and the majority of these are pedestrians. Many of these fatalities are amongst children