Chancing It On The Open Road
- 48% of Australians plan to go on a road trip over Easter school holidays, yet one in three are significantly underprepared for long haul road trips
- Almost half of Australians have experienced a mishap on the road (45%)
- 31% of Aussie parents find their children incredibly distracting in the car
- With school and Easter holidays just around the corner – and many Australians planning a road trip – Allianz is encouraging drivers to plan ahead and stay safe on the road
New research from Allianz Australia has uncovered the huge proportion of Australians failing to adequately prepare for those much-loved road trips, leaving them at greater risk of motoring mishaps, unexpected expenses and backseat meltdowns.
This comes as almost half (48%) of Aussies plan to hit the road this Easter, confirming the Australian love of a road trip is alive and well. In fact, the research revealed 90% of Australians plan to go on a road trip in 2019, with half (55%) believing road trips are the best way to see our incredible country.
Despite a love of the great open road, one third of us (27%) don’t know how to change a tyre, 34% don’t know what to do in the instance of their engine overheating, and a surprising 18% of women and 11% of men have even run out of petrol on the road.
With this gap in our essential car maintenance know-how, it’s unsurprising just how many drivers have faced problems on the road. The research also revealed almost half of Australians have experienced a mishap while driving (45%), costing one in three (36%) people significantly as a result. A third of respondents admit these car mishaps could have been avoided with better preparation.
But it’s not just our preparedness that is causing us grief on the roads. The research also found that Australians are falling victim to simple driver distractions, with 20% ranking flying objects as one of the top four distractions, and unsurprisingly mobile phones makes the top four too (12%).
Half of Australians see road trips as a great way to spend time with the family, but children are sitting high on the list of distractions with 31% of Aussie parents finding their children incredibly distracting in the car. One out of five (18%) parents find their children asking, “are we there yet?†at least twice an hour on a road trip, with one in four (22%) stating this happens within the first half an hour of the trip.
 With school and Easter holidays – and many Australians planning a road trip – Allianz is encouraging drivers to plan ahead and stay safe on the road.
Allianz commissioned Pure Profile to conduct a consumer survey in February 2019. The survey was a nationally representative sample of over 1,000 Australian adult respondents (18+). The survey was carried out online.Â
