31/10/2005

As parents and kids gear up for the last school lap before Christmas, new research released today reveals that two in five (40%) drivers on the school run admit they have abused another school run driver – physically, verbally or using offensive hand gestures.

The research for car insurer Churchill was carried out among 1583 drivers and reveals a worrying trend that road rage is now moving into the school community. In 13% of cases involving an instance of verbal or physical abuse, things have got so out of hand that the police have been called.

Darren McCauley, Head of Car Insurance at Churchill said, “We know that driving on busy roads can be stressful, but our research shows that this tension is now spilling into the roads around our schools in the form of school run road rage. With winter weather making driving conditions more difficult, motorists need to make sure they keep their emotions – as well as their driving - in check.”

There are a number of reasons that the school run can be so stressful, but the main reasons cited by drivers were to do with poor driving habits:

• Stopping in dangerous places
• Blocking the road
• Stopping suddenly
• Opening doors in dangerous places
• Parking in the middle of the road

Respondents believed that a third (32%) of women were responsible for the school run road rage and alarmingly, almost 4% of children are themselves the culprits.

Despite the fact that two thirds of school run journeys are less than three miles and take the motoring parents just 15 minutes each morning, over two fifths (40%) of school run drivers say they find driving at these times very stressful, compared with just a third (29%) of drivers commuting to work.

Over half of drivers who are not on the school run go out of their way to avoid roads around schools during rush hour, with two thirds saying they prefer their journey to work during the school holidays. Almost half of drivers think that the school run stress could be reduced if there were more school buses on the roads, with a quarter favouring a car sharing system.

The most unpopular cars on the school run are 4x4s, with family saloons coming in at second place.

Sophie King, school run mum and author of The School Run book published by Hodder comments:

‘Sometimes you can actually forget you're driving when you're doing the school run because you're so involved in talking to the children or making sure they know their spellings for the day's test. We do need to remember that however stressed we are, we're in charge of a vehicle and a small loss of concentration can have serious consequences.’  

1583 drivers were surveyed on behalf of Churchill in August 2005

For more information please contact:

Frances Browning
Churchill Insurance
020 8313 5965

E-mail: pressoffice@churchill.com