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Revealed: The songs 'most likely to cause drivers to crash'

Of the tracks selected for the study, American Idiot by Green Day was found to be the most dangerous song to drive to: Getty Images
Of the tracks selected for the study, American Idiot by Green Day was found to be the most dangerous song to drive to: Getty Images

Motorists listening to higher tempo songs in the car are more likely to drive erratically, a study has found.

People of different personalities, who took part in the study, completed 60 tests using a driving simulator on a mock-up six-lane motorway.

The two music genres considered in the study were rock music and light music. Ten popular tracks were chosen for each, with tempo for the selected rock songs all above 120 beats per minute (BPM) while the light music songs were all below 80 BPM.

Green Day's song American idiot, with a BPM of 189, was top of the "most dangerous" list while Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven was crowned least dangerous.

Most dangerous songs to drive to

1. American Idiot - Green Day
2. Party in the USA - Miley Cyrus
3. Mr Brightside - The Killers
4. Don't Let Me Down - The Chainsmokers
5. Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen

Songs with more than 120 beats per minute (BPM) were found to have the worst impact on driving,

The study found participant's heart rate was higher when listening to rock music, compared with when a participant was listening to light music or no music at all.

Quicker rock music was found to make participants drive about 5mph faster and poorly impacted driving performance, causing participants to frequently cross lanes and drive at erratic speeds.

Least dangerous songs to drive to

1. Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
2. Under the Bridge - Red Hot Chilli Peppers
3. God's Plan - Drake
4. Africa - Toto
5. Location - Khalid

In the most extreme cases, some participants of the study drove 10mph faster than those listening to gentle music or driving in silence.

In the study, drivers on average changed lanes 70 times during the hour-long simulation, but when listening to high tempo rock music the figure shot up to 140 times.

This indicated a higher crash rate, the study concluded.

Qiang Zeng, of South China University of Technology, told International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health: "The findings are useful for the development of effective driver education strategies."