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The results of a recent study say driving with your kids may be more hazardous than driving with your cell phone. (AP Photo/file)

Report: Kids more hazardous than cell phones in the car

BY Jamie Skorheim  on March 21, 2013 @ 12:10 pm (Updated: 2:01 pm - 3/21/13 )

The results of a recent study say driving with your kids may be more hazardous than driving with your cell phone.

According to a Nightline report, the study out of Australia finds kids are 12 times more distracting than messing around on your phone.

KIRO Radio Anchor Kim Shepard says just last night she struggled to maintain focus on the road with a whining 2-year-old who missed a nap and two little girls bickering about dinner.

"I was thinking as I was driving down the road, 'this cannot be safe. They are just so distracting.'"

Keeping kids occupied and quiet on the road is not a new challenge for parents, though a few of the methods employed in years past might not fly today.

"When I was growing up, they would throw us all into the tailgate of the Rambler, seat belts weren't required and we'd just have to amuse ourselves," says Ross and Burbank host Dave Ross.

Co-host Luke Burbank came from a big family and his parents also had unique methods.

"We had a Ford Fairmont and we had so many kids somebody had to ride in what was called the "way back." It had no seat belts. It had no seat. There'd be one or two kids in the way back, and if you were being a jerk, the move would be just to go over a speed bump and then you'd shut up pretty quickly."

Compounding the challenge of dealing with kids in the cars, Burbank observes, is today's kids have to ride in the back.

"All the data is your kids have to be 11 rows behind you in the car, or else you're trying to kill them apparently. So now if you have to deal with them, you by definition have to turn around," says Burbank.

"Dads are doing that reach-over swat. Reach over the seat and just like run your arm back and forth trying to separate the kids or give one of them a thump on the leg, like 'leave your brother alone.' It's a distracting move."

Ross says maybe it's time to think about one of those in-car partitions.

"Just put a barrier like they have in police cars. Just put a fence between you and the backseat."

There might be one easier solution. Kim says her husband has found an amazing trick that works for their kids.

"He has an Ella Fitzgerald CD and I don't know why, but he claims, and I've seen it happen a couple of times, that every time he puts that on in the car, the kids are silent and they just love to listen to it."

So Ella Fitzgerald or cop partition, it's up to you.

Jamie Skorheim, MyNorthwest.com Editor
Whether it's floating on Green Lake, eating shrimp tacos at Agua Verde, or taking weekend drives out to the Cascades, she loves to enjoy the Pacific Northwest lifestyle as much as humanly possible.
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Comments (5)


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  • ron prevost wrote...
    Best not let Michael Bloomberg know about this study. Otherwise He'll ban kids in cars in New York City.
    March 21, 2013 2:01 pm
    Personally I find the most irritating kids/cars connection to be those god awful 'cars for kids' commercials, but that's a different post.

    Really, if your kids (well, grand kids, now) distract your driving, you've likely had a problem long before you and they got into the car. .... Kids, heck. If you're fighting with your wife while driving, that's distracting, too.

    But I do like that idea of a police screen. Make it sound proof, and you'll never ever hear 'are we there yet?'

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  • William Lawn wrote...
    Why I gave up Seattle/Bellevue motorcycle riding
    March 21, 2013 4:08 pm
    I'll admit to just wearing jeans and a heavy leather jacket. Helmet, of course.

    I was cruising down I405 in one of the divots that most car drivers don't even know exist. A light drizzle so no way I can ride in the center.

    On one side a Caravan filled with kids, mom talking on the cell, weaving all over the road, the other side an unidentified minivan doing the same.

    Trapped between two crazy drivers, their 2 ton vehicle 24 inches for my 501 covered knees no matter which divot I was in.

    That was it, I had done it for years but no.

    Never again.

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  • Country_Dog wrote...
    Luke Burbank
    March 21, 2013 10:08 pm
    was once driving on a freeway and there was a car with a screaming toddler 7 miles ahead of him.

    He barely escaped death.

    Have pity on Luke.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • mynorthwester wrote...
    oh yeah
    March 25, 2013 7:43 am
    And remember when Dori was nearly taken out by the"drunk" driver but you guys just want to forget about that one don't you
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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