The all-American road-trip season kicks off this Memorial Day weekend in the United States, and that means the inevitable backseat tussle between crabby kids and disagreements on what to listen to in the car.
According to the results of a consumer survey conducted by the NACS which represents the convenience store industry in the U.S., the most common conflict during a road trip unsurprisingly involves the kids, who account for 45 percent of the disagreements.
During the trip, the most popular activity is to listen to music, audiobooks or podcasts (78 percent), or arguing over what to listen to, as in-car entertainment is the second most popular source of conflict after kids in the survey (29 percent).
If you’ve fought over the car temperature, or when to pull over at a rest stop, you’re not alone, as they round out the most common reasons for road trip arguments.
Interestingly, smartphone games and social media apps were less popular in the survey, with only a quarter of respondents engaging in the solitary activity.
According to the 1,500 adults polled in the survey, road trips far outrank air travel, with 85 percent of respondents saying they’ll be traveling by car this year, compared to 36 percent by air travel, and 8 percent by train.
It seems that road-trippers aren’t afraid of long drives, as the highest percentage of Americans (32 percent) said they plan to drive 12 or more hours round trip this summer.
After 12 hours, a quarter of respondents said they expect their road trip to last four to six hours. Likewise, 23 percent reported drives of between seven to 11 hours.
More than sweet snacks, road-trippers also expressed a preference for salty snacks during their rest stops. JB
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