For many motorists, having a car stereo cranked up loud is the only way to make traffic jams or long journeys bearable. But research carried out by
car insurance companies has revealed that listening to loud music whilst driving can have serious affects on reaction times.
For today’s drivers, it is becoming increasingly easy to become distracted from the road ahead. Onboard gadgets, such as SATNAV, mobile phones or iPod’s all increase the potential of your attention being drawn away from what’s happening outside your vehicle. The effects of this can be disastrous.
According to the UK’s Department for Transport, 12% of all accidents and 19% of fatal accidents are caused by driver unawareness.
Results from experiments carried out at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, showed that reaction times for people carrying out mental and physical tasks decreased significantly when subjected to high levels of noise.
So, it has been determined that loud volumes can lower reaction times, but it’s not only the volume of the music that can affect your driving. Previous research has shown that it’s the number of beats per minute in a piece of music that affects driver behaviour the most.
An increased tempo increases the likely-hood of an accident, with results showing that drivers listening to up-tempo music cause double the amount of accidents than those listening to slower music.
So, to remain in your
car insurance companies good books and to increase the chances of being offered
cheap car insurance, it could pay to follow the advice of the RAC Foundation. They recommend you listen to the following tracks to stay safe:
MUSIC TO DRIVE BY:
Gary Jules - "Mad World"
Lemar - "Another Day"
Sugababes - "Too lost in you"
Blue - "Breathe Easy"
Norah Jones - "Come away with me"
