Most motorists listen to music while driving. However, they must ensure that they have a suitable playlist. Classical music is to be preferred when driving, according to a new study by South Korean manufacturer KIA.
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In the car too, music softens manners. It even helps focus and drive better. But is this the case if we listen to Coldplay, Metallica or Mozart? Automaker KIA conducted a study to find out if certain genres of music make us more efficient behind the wheel than others. He asked several participants to drive one of his latest electric vehicles, the KIA EV6, on a 29 kilometer course, while listening to an eclectic playlist created by him. On the program: rhythmic songs like “Fade” by Kanye West and “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd but also more contemplative pieces such as “Hello” by Adele and the “Symphony n°9, op. 125″ from Beethoven.
During this trip, the drivers, all unaccustomed to driving an electric car, were driven through residential areas with slow traffic, country roads and expressways. Researchers found that participants drove increasingly less efficiently depending on the song they were listening to. The “Symphony No. 9, Op. 125” by Beethoven urged them to adopt more economical driving. They tended to press the accelerator pedal less, and therefore to optimize the range of their electric vehicle. It was far from the case when they heard “Blinding Lights”! Its fast tempo made them much less flexible at the wheel: 23.6% of the total energy consumption of this test journey is attributable to The Weeknd’s tube.
The results are more mixed when looking at Adele’s melancholy ballad, “Hello.” Although it had a slower pace than “Blinding Lights” and “Fade,” this song elicited an “emotional” driving style in study participants. Not ideal for saving energy while driving. “What we discovered following just two days of testing is that music can really have a huge influence on the range of an electric vehicle in the real world,” explained Dr Duncan Williams, who oversaw the Kia study, on the specialized site CarScoops. “In summary, if you want to go further, listen to Beethoven and other relaxing classical music. If you are not afraid that autonomy [de votre voiture] decreases a little faster, so put on more rhythmic songs”.
However, music does not necessarily have a beneficial effect on all motorists. It can distract the most novices. Israeli researchers found in 2015 that young drivers are very easily distracted when listening to their favorite songs while driving. They tend to adopt dangerous behavior such as speeding or veering off course. Caution is therefore advised when driving have fun with some music.
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