Most motorists enjoy listening to the radio or their
favourite CD while driving. Many of them switch on the radio without thinking.
But is this safe? Experiments carried out by environment and traffic
psychologist Ayça Berfu Ünal suggest that it makes very little difference. In
fact the effects that were measured turned out to be positive. Music helps
drivers to focus, particularly on long, monotonous roads. Ünal will be awarded
a PhD by the University of Groningen on 10 June 2013.
Experienced motorists between 25 and 35 years of age are
perfectly capable of focusing on the road while listening to music or the
radio, even when driving in busy urban traffic. Ünal makes short shrift of the
commonly held idea that motorists who listen to music drive too fast or ignore
the traffic regulations. Ünal: ‘I found nothing to support this view in my
research. On the contrary, our test subjects enjoyed listening to the music and
did their utmost to be responsible drivers. They sometimes drove better while
listening to music.’ Ünal did not try to find out whether there was a
difference between listening to music or talk shows on the radio.