Traffic will be dense on all major roads, the weekend of July 9 and 10 for the official start of school holidays, according to Bison smart, especially towards the South and coastal regions. And it will be necessary to remain vigilant in the car. “Listening to songs that we know, it maintains a better quality of awakening” behind the wheel, explains on franceinfo Éric Lemaire, vice-president of the Assurance Prévention association. He is one of the authors of a recent study on the effect of music and radio on drowsy driving. Nearly a hundred people were subjected to different sound environments for an hour and a half of driving to observe the consequences.
franceinfo: What already stands out is that if you choose the music you listen to while driving, do you delay drowsiness?
Eric Lemaire: Exactly, we delay drowsiness. It can’t be completely stopped, of course, you know all the usual advice. But it is true that what interested us in this study is to see that the acoustic stimuli have differentiated impacts on this delay, in particular choosing one’s music on the one hand, and on the other hand, choosing podcasts , talk shows to listen to. In fact, listening to songs that you know, that remind you of something, stimulates areas of the auditory cortex in the brain that are areas of reward and pleasure. And it maintains a better quality of awakening.
So it delays falling asleep. But do we stay focused on driving, if we start dancing at the wheel?
So we don’t have to dance. Indeed, we can stay focused. But you know, the worst thing is no sound: that is to say the normal noise of the cabin and traffic. So that doesn’t make you want to dance at all, but it makes you want to sleep. You have to be careful about that. But then you have to say yes.
“Of course you have to hydrate regularly, take breaks, eat light of course, but you can also choose podcasts and choose a music or a station that you like because it will delay sleepiness.”
Éric Lemaire, vice-president of the Assurance Prévention associationat franceinfo
This means that it is best to choose the programs yourself. But all the same a music, even if it is not chosen, is better than silence or the noise of the engine?
Yes, some music is always better than the purring sound of the engine, especially on a long drive. But what is preferable all the same is to leave rested, to evacuate the stress, to take a break and to alternate driving. If it’s possible, it’s also to eat light, hydrate every hour, and a little coffee makes for a good trip. But watch out, the coffee! We do say coffee and not necessarily caffeinated drinks in the broad sense, and that’s on the condition of not exaggerating too much. Because you don’t want to die of a heart problem either.