IT is the family game which is employed on many a road trip to stop youngsters from piping up constantly:

"Are we nearly there yet?"

But while I Spy may have been used for generations to keep children entertained in the back seat of the family car, new research suggests it is quickly being replaced by the iPad.

While 30% of drivers said their parents played I Spy to keep them happy on long trips, only 14% of parents said they used the game to keep their own youngsters content, an AA/ Populus survey showed.

Parents often use electronic games or let children play on smartphones nowadays, the poll found. Of the 23,450 motorists surveyed, those in Scotland were most likely to give their children a DVD to watch and drivers in London were the least likely to entertain child passengers with word games like I Spy.

AA president Edmund King said: "Traditional in-car entertainment has changed over the generations. 'I Spy with my little eye' is being replaced by the iPad and electronic eyes as a tactic to keep modern children quiet on a long trip."