Feel safe with your parents in the car?

Women drivers have long faced slurs¹ from men over their prowess behind the wheel. Now it seems even their children are critics.

Research among youngsters has found 47 per cent feel unsafe being driven by their mother, compared with 39 per cent who feel unsafe with their father.

Despite parents insisting they drive more cautiously when transporting their children, the survey found large numbers do not feel secure with either parent.

Nearly 5 per cent confessed to being scared if they have to climb into a car with their parents.

The survey of 500 children aged² ten to 16 across Britain found 9 per cent had been in an accident with their mother driving and 8 per cent with their father.

However, the flaws in mothers' driving spotted³ by young backseat drivers were different to those committed by fathers.

The study found the most common complaint was 24 per cent saying their mother was bad at parking, followed by 21 per cent saying their father drove too fast.

Women better at finding the car keys than their scatty spouses⁴.

Fathers are more likely to drink and drive than mothers, with 8 per cent of children commenting on their father getting behind the wheel after consuming alcohol compared with 2 per cent saying the same about their mother.

Six per cent complained their mothers drove too fast.

Jennifer Culley, from Privilege Insurance, which carried out the study, said: "With almost one in 20 children actually scared by their parents' driving, 'grown-ups' need to drive even more carefully and follow the rules of the road.

"Driving safely will help to put children's minds at ease, as well as demonstrate how they should drive in the future."

Robin⁵ Cummins, road safety consultant⁶ for the British School of Motoring, said that children can subconsciously⁷ copy their parents' bad driving habits when they become adults.