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Why Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run and tunes by Green Day are likely to cause bad driving

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Smash hits! Listening to songs with more than 120 beats-per-minute – like Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run and Green Day’s American Idiot – makes motorists drive erratically, study finds

  • Listening to fast music is more likely to make people drive erratically, study says 
  • Songs with more than 120 beats per minute (BPM) had the most negative impact 
  • Green Day’s song American Idiot – which has a BPM of 189 – topped the ‘most dangerous’ list, while Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven was least dangerous 

By Daily Mail Reporter

Published: 20:33 EDT, 17 September 2019 | Updated: 22:39 EDT, 17 September 2019

Motoring along to a few drivetime classics is thought to make getting from A to B a pleasure.

But listening to higher tempo tunes is more likely to make people drive erratically, scientists have found.

In a study, in which participants used a driving simulator on a mocked-up six-lane motorway, quicker rock music also meant drivers going about 5mph faster.

In the worst cases, they drove 10mph faster than those listening to gentle music or no music.

In a study, in which participants used a driving simulator on a mocked-up six-lane motorway, quicker rock music also meant drivers going about 5mph faster

Green Day’s song American Idiot – which has a BPM of 189 – topped the ‘most dangerous’ list

Songs with more than 120 beats per minute (BPM) had the most negative impact, causing faster speeds and dangerous manoeuvres. 

Green Day’s song American Idiot – which has a BPM of 189 – topped the ‘most dangerous’ list, while Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven was least dangerous.

While drivers on average changed lanes 70 times during the hour-long simulation, when listening to the highest tempo rock music this figure rocketed up to 140 times. 

Light music had the same calming effect on driving as no music at all.

Qiang Zeng, of South China University of Technology, told International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health: ‘The findings are useful for the development of effective driver education strategies.’

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