Strange Factors that Affect Driving Behavior

How advanced safety features in a car can reduce the risks of erratic driving.

We all know bad weather and poor road conditions can influence the way we drive. But these aren’t the only factors that can affect our responses on the road. There are seemingly harmless things you probably do every day that have a bigger impact than you might think.

Why playing music might make you accelerate

Whether you love cruising to K-pop or rocking out to Led Zeppelin, listening to your favorite tunes helps alleviate the monotony of navigating traffic. But there’s a caveat: songs from different genres can impact your performance behind the wheel in different ways.

Research conducted by the London Metropolitan University suggests that listening to fast-beat tracks can increase your heart rate and lead drivers to focus on the music more than the road. It can also compel them to accelerate to match the song’s rhythm. And oddly enough, men and women react differently to different genres. Dance music encourages women to hit the gas, while heavy metal is a speed stimulus for men. In other words, driving while listening to fast-tempo songs may make you slip into a dangerous state, where you’re less in control than you think.

Songs that promote calmer driving are those that mimic the rhythm of the human heartbeat at 60 to 80 beats per minute. Coldplay’s “The Scientist” and Radiohead’s “Karma Police” are examples cited by the same study — feel free to add them to your playlist.

On the technological front, carmakers are making significant strides in minimizing the dangers caused by distractions and erratic driving behavior. The EyeSight Driver Assist Technology engineered by Subaru, for instance, uses a pair of high-definition cameras for image recognition. You’ll be notified when Subaru’s EyeSight detects an object and a potential collision in its path, such as pedestrians, vehicles and cyclists. This intuitive tech even has an EyeSight Adaptive Cruise Control feature, which automatically adjusts your speed to that of the vehicle in front of you and maintains a safe following distance. In congested traffic, EyeSight’s Adaptive Cruise Control function can bring your Subaru to a complete stop behind the vehicle you are following, and smoothly accelerate again to the preset speed by pressing a button on the steering wheel. This capability works great in start stop traffic, compared to other systems, which are only able to work at cruising speeds of 30km/h or more.

How our feelings can affect our driving

We don’t really consider our emotions when we get behind the wheel. But if you are feeling particularly angry or sad, you might want to stop before starting the car. A driving study by the National Academy of Sciences notes that drivers increase their crash risk by 9.8 times while driving in an emotionally agitated state. According to another study, this one in the journal of Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, we scan a narrower visual area and brake later when merging lanes.

To help you broaden your visual scope, Subaru has developed optimized driving positions — and even window heights — designed to improve your visibility in all directions while minimizing blind spots. Coupled with strategically situated, thin A-pillars this puts drivers in a prime position to evaluate what’s going on all around them.

Driving while listening to fast-tempo songs may slip you into a dangerous state.

Driving when tired: a hazardous cocktail

We know driving drunk is one of the most dangerous things we can do. But what about driving when sleep-deprived? According to the National Sleep Foundation, being awake for 18 consecutive hours has the same physical effect as a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05% (the legal limit in countries such as Singapore and Malaysia is 0.08%).

When exhausted, we have a tendency to lose our focus, sometimes putting us — and other drivers — in a potentially dangerous position. If, in your drowsy state, you begin to drift into another lane, your Subaru will help get you back on track. By monitoring the car’s location on the road, Subaru’s EyeSight is able to determine if you’re either swaying from one side of your lane to another or drifting into another lane, which will then alert the driver using an audible and visual warning signal. As a second line of defense, Subaru’s Lane Keep Assist will step in to help correct steering and put the car back in the center of its proper lane.

The next time you’re driving remember that a number of seemingly insignificant factors can have a profound impact on your safety behind the wheel, as well as the safety of other drivers around you. Subarus are designed with all of these factors in mind, looking out for you even when you might not know why.