Music can affect your driving – but not always how you’d expect

For many of us, listening to music is simply part of the driving routine – as ordinary as wearing a seatbelt. We build playlists for road trips, pick songs to stay awake, and even turn the volume up when traffic gets stressful.

More than 80% of drivers listen to music on most trips. And many young drivers find it difficult to concentrate without it.

We tend to think music relaxes us, energises us, or helps us focus when we’re behind the wheel.

But the science paints a more complicated picture. Decades of studies show music can sharpen some aspects of driving and dull others. And it affects young drivers differently from more experienced ones.

How do researchers study driving and music?

Most studies use driving simulators, where participants drive through realistic road scenarios while researchers change only one thing: the music.

This allows precise measurement of indicators such as speed, reaction time, lane-keeping, braking, following distance, simulated collisions and even the driver’s physiological state under different music conditions.

Because everything else is held constant, any difference in driving performance can be attributed to the music.

Researchers have tested different music and driving scenarios in dozens of small studies – often with often conflicting conclusions. To make sense of these results, researchers combine them in “meta-analyses” to see broad patterns.

So how does music affect our driving?

Meta-analyses show music changes how we drive in several ways.

Drivers listening to music tended to have more simulated collisions, poorer speed control and less stable following distances than those driving in silence.

Other outcomes such as lane position, signalling errors and pure reaction time show more mixed or inconsistent effects.

Music often changes the driver’s heart rate and makes it more variable. It also increases their arousal and mental workload, meaning how mentally “busy” or stretched they are while trying to drive.

Music can also help tired drivers stay alert on long, monotonous stretches but only for a short window. The boost fades by about 15 to 25 minutes.

So music can make you feel better and more alert, for shorter distances, even while it’s adding extra cognitive load and competing with the main task of driving.

Does the volume and type of music matter?

Volume does influence driving, but the effects are more subtle than many assume.

High- and medium-volume music tend to nudge drivers’ speeds slightly upward, while low-volume music consistently leads to slower driving. These effects are small, but relatively consistent in direction.

Fast music has a bad reputation, but the pooled evidence is less clear-cut. One meta-analysis found no overall effect of tempo on driving performance for an average driver. But it’s slightly different if you’re a novice driver.

Individual studies still suggest that very high-arousal, aggressive tracks can nudge some drivers toward riskier behaviour and make them more prone to errors. But tempo by itself doesn’t neatly predict safety.

Music you choose yourself tends to be less distracting than music imposed on you. Drivers often select music to regulate their mood and arousal – and that can stabilise their driving.

Conversely, several experiments show researcher-selected or imposed music leads to poorer performance: more collisions and violations, especially when the driver doesn’t like the music.

So it’s not just the music itself, but your relationship with it, that shapes how it affects your driving. Familiar or preferred music tends to maintain mood and reduce stress without adding as much mental load.

Inexperienced drivers are more affected

Inexperienced drivers are more vulnerable to distraction from music.

One study of 20- to 28-year-old drivers found less-experienced drivers were far more disrupted by music than experienced drivers. When music was playing – especially upbeat, “happy” tracks – inexperienced drivers were much more likely to drift into speeding.

Experienced drivers didn’t, suggesting their experience acts as a buffer.

Another experiment found exposing young drivers to more aggressive genres such as metal or certain folk-pop led to higher speeds, more driving errors and reduced attention to road signs.

For novice drivers, fast-tempo music increased their mental load and reduced their ability to spot hazards. This meant they were slower or less accurate in their responses.

Slow music, on the other hand, didn’t raise inexperienced drivers’ mental load and even moderately improved their ability to respond to hazards.

So what does this mean for my driving?

For most people, familiar songs, calmer genres and moderate volumes tend to create the least interference, while still keeping you alert and in a good mood.

Extremely loud, unfamiliar or highly aggressive tracks are the ones most likely to push up your speed, distract you, or overload your thinking.

But if you’re a newer driver, try turning the volume down, or even switching the music off, in demanding conditions.

Read more: Going on a road trip this summer? 4 reasons why you might end up speeding, according to psychology

Milad Haghani receives funding from The Australian government's Office of Road Safety.