Loud music while driving
02/09/2008

it would give me whiplash

Loud music in cars - the kind that makes the whole vehicle bounce off the road, shatters windows, surely gives the occupants whiplash and shakes bemused squirrels out of trees - has always been something of a mystery to me. It's not that I'm some kind of old fuddy duddy. I mean, I own a pair of Converse Allstars, know where to find Radio 1 on the FM dial and am aware that Big Brother is no longer shorthand for a dystopian novel by George Orwell.

It's just that I don't understand how a person can willingly subject himself or herself to what seems to me to be nothing short of the auditory torture US interrogators reportedly force inmates at Guantanamo Bay to endure. I've no doubt it would give me shellshock.

But aside from the whiplash, whether literal or figurative, that rapid-fire, high-decibel baselines must induce there is also bound to be a significant car accident risk. For firstly, it is surely likely to mute environmental road noise, disconnecting the driver from the surrounding reality. Secondly, if loud, repetitive music is used as a form of torture designed to weaken both willpower and mental acuity, it must also follow that impairs driver cognition.

Then there is the distraction loud music causes other road users. Once, while on my bicycle (it does have a basket, in which I frequently transport eggs, so OK, maybe I am - at twenty-five -already an old fuddy-duddy), taking a sedate ride back from Borough Markets, hearing the most incredible noise I turned my head back, half expecting to see a mushroom cloud rising over London.

As it was I was only passed by a vehicle that seemed to be powered exclusively by the force of exploding decibels, but not before I'd ridden up the kerb, smashing a whole half dozen eggs in the process. While shock-induced whiplash might still be a concern, the risk of such accidents happening to car drivers is probably minimal, the relatively unsoundproofed predicament of motorcyclists and cyclists surely places them at particular risk.

Actually, the road accident danger of loud music is well documented. One Canadian study found that loud music significantly increased the risk of suffering a crash. With reaction times being 20% lower than normal for people listening to music at a volume of 95 decibels. This news prompted a warning from the Royal Automobile Club, with a spokesperson commenting, "The findings of the Canadian study are bad news for decibel-loving drivers, as they prove that not only is loud music a nuisance to others, it could also be the cause of accidents on the roads."

But it is not just the volume of the music you listen to that predisposes you to causing a crash; it is also the tempo. Conrad King, a consultant psychologist explains, "It is important that drivers choose their music carefully when driving, as up-tempo music has been shown to cause drivers to have double the amount of accidents as those listening to slower music.

"In general, if music is above 60 beats per minute, listeners experience a faster heart rate and increased blood pressure.

"It doesn't matter if you listen to opera, classical or the latest rave music. It's the speed of the beat that counts."

Apparently, the more insipid the song, the less likely it is to cause an accident. Which basically means that if you want to avoid colliding with a bicycle, you best play, at low volume, Katie Melua singing Nine Million Bicycles. Unless you see Katie Melua astride one, in which case, some might say, it would be pretty hard to avoid a collision. But maybe that is just me trying to retrieve some street cred

Can I claim?