Report: Listening To Music Over 80BPM Could Put You In Serious Danger

14 Jan 2013/0 Comments/in Embrace Disruption Blog /by Embrace Disruption PR

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When going on a drive, be it your daily commute or a fun road trip, the music chosen for the playlist is one of the most critical decisions to be made. It could also lead to friendship crippling fights, but that’s a conversation for a different blog. If you need some help narrowing down your song selection- never fear, Confused.com, creators of the MotorMate driving app, did a study on the safest and most dangerous songs to listen to while driving.

The study consisted of 4 men and 4 women driving a total of 500 miles, 250 without music and then 250 with music. Their entire journey was monitored using the MotorMate app for things such as speed, acceleration and braking. The drivers’ footage was then reviewed by psychologist Dr. Simon Moore.

Safe-Songs

So what makes a song safe? Here are the criteria:

ideal volume: 55-65 decibels (for comparison, this is about the volume of conversation at a restaurant or office)
the tempo of the song should mimic a human heartbeat, between 60-80 beats per minute

To encourage safe driving Confused.com put together a Spotify playlist of the 50 safest songs to play while driving. Take a look at the picture below for some of the highlights.

Unsafe-Songs

On the flipside, let’s take a look at the criteria for what makes a song ‘unsafe’ to listen to while driving:

Songs with a fast tempo. Faster songs make drivers subconsciously speed up to match the beat of the song.
Noisy, fast songs excite and arouse a driver. This stimulation means they’re more focused on the music than driving

Also, make sure you actually like the songs you are listening to. The stress and distraction of not liking a song, or constantly changing the music, will distract you from driving too.

So there you have it: you now know the songs to play and the tunes to avoid next time you hit the road. Your turn – which songs are your ‘go-to’ road trip songs? ABBA? Bon Jovi? Musical theatre classics? Share with us in the comments.

Happy listening & safe travels!