By Avigayil Kadesh
Do people drive more safely if they’re listening to Beethoven or the Beatles, Madonna or Metallica?
A groundbreaking Israeli study in the October 2013 issue of Accident Analysis and Prevention demonstrates that music does affect driver behavior – and not just due to physical distractions of adjusting the radio, swapping CDs or searching through MP3 files. A psychological component also is at play.
However, genre is not the critical factor. Much more important is choosing tunes that do not cause the driver to think about associated memories, or to sing or move to the music.
“There is no such thing as the best music to listen to while driving, because music has different components and it’s a question of what‘s in it, like the ingredients in various types of cuisine,” says principal investigator Warren Brodsky, director of music science research at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
He and researcher Zack Slor evaluated 85 teenage drivers (58 percent of them male), accompanied by two seasoned driving instructors.
All drivers took six 40-minute trips in city traffic and highways -- two while listening to their own playlists; two without any music; and two while listening to an eight-track music program designed by Brodsky with Israeli composer Micha Kizner. This 34-minute instrumental program has modest rhythmic qualities and tempo, and only vague intermittent melodic fragments.
The ‘right’ music is better than no music
When the teen drivers listened to their preferred music, nearly all demonstrated an average of three deficient driving behaviors -- such as speeding, tailgating, one-handed driving or careless lane-switching or passing -- in at least one of the trips. Nearly a third of those required a sudden verbal warning or command, and one in five needed an assisted steering or braking maneuver to prevent an accident. (Males in this group made more frequent and severe mistakes than females.)
In the group without any music, performance wasn’t much improved; 92 percent made errors as opposed to 98%.
Those driving with the “alternative” music, however, showed a 20 percent decrease in errors, miscalculations and aggressive driving.
“Most drivers worldwide prefer to listen to music in a car,” says Brodsky. The study indicates this can be safe, if the music is carefully structured not to activate thought or motion.
“We put together original music without memory traces -- without words, so there is nothing your brain is trying to process and no melody so you don’t start singing with it,” Brodsky explains.
“This is not just any relaxation music. You can’t take a Beatles song played instrumentally; it’s not the same thing. Drivers in general are not aware that as they get drawn in by a song, they move from an extra-personal space involving driving tasks, to a more personal space of active music listening.”
Only study of its kind
The Brodsky study has won worldwide attention, not just for its results but also for the fact that it was funded by the Israel National Road Safety Authority.
“Israel is the first and only country to invest in finding out if music listening is a risk factor for distraction among drivers,” says Brodsky.
“When I present our results at conferences on traffic psychology, I hear we are 10 years ahead of other countries because I’ve been doing this research for 12 years and have published three papers about it. People are stunned to discover this.”
Dr. Warren Brodsky. Photo by Dani Machlis/BGUEven the in-vehicle data recorders and proprietary software to process mechanical and behavioral data were developed in Israel, by
Traffilog.
Traffic safety labs from England to Denmark to Australia want to get hold of the Brodsky-Kizner music, but Brodsky first needs to protect the intellectual property.
Meanwhile, he says, “the fact that it was very successful and that everybody in America is talking about it, is something to be proud of.”
Dozens of websites from 20 countries have covered the study, excerpts appeared in major newspapers, and it was featured on NBC’s “Today Show” and Fox News.
Driving ‘wallpaper’
The practical applications of Brodsky and Slor’s study theoretically could include vehicle sound systems preprogrammed with alternative music mixes, or a satellite radio station that provides safe driving music as a background “wallpaper” for motorists.
“We have to raise awareness, not just among teens, that you must relate to your car differently than other environments,” Brodsky stresses.
“Music is used in different circumstances differentially, for the dance floor and for restaurants and for the exercise gym, for lulling babies to sleep and for a romantic evening. Unfortunately, people take music into the car from all those settings, not realizing the car is a setting where you have to play music that will allow you not to fall asleep or become overly stimulated or expressive. The car is not a karaoke bar.”
He is aware that few people would opt for the unobtrusive music program of their own accord despite the solid study results. But he believes they could get used to the idea for safety purposes.
“Nobody wanted to use safety belts, either,” he points out.
“The car is the only place where listening to music can be fatal. The music won’t kill you, but the activity could. And if you’re emotionally involved in the song you’re listening to, Burt Bacharach is just as bad as heavy metal. It’s not the volume, either. It’s whether it’s preoccupying you by taking up your cognitive attention.”