Recent Study Reveals How Music Can Greatly Affect Driving

Monday, March 25, 2013

How Music Can Greatly Affect Driving to prevent car accident

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Playing music while behind the wheel is a great way to avoid boredom. As it is, what you listen on your car stereo sets your mood while driving, which would then translate into how you approach the traffic situation on the road and how you perform efficiently while doing so.

In fact, it is believed that the type of music a driver listens to can either make him or her either a safe or dangerous driver, and rightfully so. A new research study recently reported by the Daily Mail claimed that listening to recording artists who are under the easy listening genre were far safer to listen to. Additionally, drivers who listen to music that is noisy and upbeat are influenced to practice dangerous driving maneuvers while on the road.

The study was conducted with the help of eight participants (four males, four females). They were asked to drive about 500 miles, with the first half without music and the other with music. While the experiment made use of different music genres, it very much showed that these affected the way they drove their vehicles.

According to the study, any song that is fast in terms of beats and tempo can cause drivers to speed up on the road without them even knowing it. Also, songs that drivers don’t like tend to become distracted and stressed, which could negatively impact their driving.

Take classical music, for example. While the genre is known for its calm and serene movements, the experiment showed otherwise. One female and one male driver from the experiment uncomfortably drove their vehicles while listening to the music genre more than when they didn’t listen to any music.

Moreover, the study also showed that the ideal music for driving is any artist whose songs possess a 60 to 80 beats-per-minute (bpm) average. Certain artists such as Norah Jones (“Come Away with Me”), Coldplay (“The Scientist”), and Radiohead (“Karma Police”) are among those who are safest to listen with while driving.

Incidentally, legal experts, including a Santa Monica personal injury attorney, believe that while listening to specific tunes would influence safe driving, it would still be dangerous if played too loud. As it is, loud music causes distractions while behind the wheel, therefore increasing the chances of an accident.

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