Effect of Music on driving: How Listening to Yanni could make you a safer driver

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Imagine you are driving a brand new Audi Q 7. You are doing 120 KMPH on the Highway. And suddenly a bull comes in the way. Would you hit the brakes or try to maneuver around the bull?
Think again? Well if scientists are to be believed, it would depend on the music you are listening to at the time of the incident.


Well I didn’t believe this, so I tried a little experiment. I downloaded some AC/DC and Yanni on to my iPod. On the way to work I listened to AC/DC, a rock band, and on the way back it was Yanni, who composes soft instrumental music. The average speed on the way to commute was 55 KMPH and I just missed hitting three cows, a BMTC bus, two Santros, one Wagon R and one TVS 50. I also ended up hitting 5 potholes. On the way back the average speed was 43 KMPH and I just hit one pothole.


So clearly listening to Yanni made me a slow but safe driver while listening to AC/DC made me fast but also reckless.
Surprised? So was I so, I started a bit of research on the net and found some interesting studies done on the topic across the world.
Let us look at this from the historical perspective. The car radio was introduced in 1929 by scientist Paul Galvin. People listen to radio for all kinds of things. I personally listen to podcasts from my iPod; my friend Sandeep used to listen to audio-books and another colleague Kumar used to listen to Toastmaster speeches. But widely the car radio is used to listen to music, radio talk shows and sports commentary. Music is supposed to relive tension, soothe the nerves and make one feel positive. So one might consider that switching on music while driving is a safe option right? But unfortunately that does not seem to be the case.


In the 1990’s Helen Beh at the University of Sydney did some research on driving simulation, and found that students listening to music especially had greater focus on the road ahead but had very diminished peripheral vision.(Source: Beh, H., & Hirst, R. (1999, August). Performance on driving-related tasks during music.) So like the imaginary scenario at the beginning if you were in that Q 7, listening to AC/DC and a bull darted into your way you might not be able to see it unless too late.


In 2002 Warren Brodsky at Ben-Gurion University in Beer-Sheva, looked at the effect of music's tempo on driver behavior. He selected about 30 students with 7 years of driving experience and gave them various kinds of music to listen to while driving. Some were low tempo music totaling about 60 beats per minute to fast tempo music at 120 beats per minute. The students were also told to listen to the music at varying volumes. The result was that students listening to high tempo music at higher volumes jumped more red lights and got into more accidents than the students listening to lower tempo music. Luckily the exercise was a simulation and the course was downtown Chicago so one got hurt. But this clearly shows that not only music distracts people but those listening to faster or louder music are more likely to cause an accident. (Source: Brodsky, W. (December 2001). The effects of music tempo on simulated driving performance and vehicular control. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 4(4), 219-241. Retrieved September 20, 2008, from Science Direct.)


In 2007 Brian Dalton’s research found that unlike the popular belief women were still better drivers than men while listening to hard rock on their car radios. (Source: Dalton, B., & Behm, D. (2007, September). Effects of noise and music on human and task)
So where does all that leave us? Should we just switch off the radio while driving? I am sure that will be a very boring commute. I have developed some simple ideas that we could use while driving.

• Listen to soft music with lower tempo. I have always found that the driving and gear shifts are very smooth while listening to Jazz, Classical or even old Hindi film music. These are the best to listen to while driving

• Avoid Heavy metal and rock, unless the distance is very short and relatively traffic free

• Listen to music in car at lower volume, this really helps you connect with the traffic ecosystem outside the car and helps you to be aware of any sudden occurrences like the bull rushing into the road.

• Make sure that all adjustments to the radio and music player are done either before starting or at traffic signals. Fiddling with the radio while driving can cause further distraction and might lead to an accident.

• Different drivers react differently to various kinds of music, it is best to run a few experiments like what I did in the beginning of the piece to determine the music that works for you best.

Driving is like music itself, some like it fast while others prefer smoother drives. It is important that no matter what you do or like you are never a threat to either yourself or co commuters on the road. Drive safe.