Whether you’re into Metallica, Mozart, Taylor Swift, or Drake, the road music you select can be your best friend and make that drive more bearable and entertaining. I Am Road Smart is a charity that specializes in road safety, and they teamed up with “Auto Express” magazine to look at musical styles and how it affects your driving habits.

For the tests, the researchers hit the Red Bull Ring Grand Prix track in Austria, and picked four different styles of music to try out. In two laps, the driver was subjected to tests in acceleration, challenging corners, speed-limit zones, and a controlled stop at the finish. A control time was set without using any music. The driver nailed a time of 4:34 to do the two laps without music. From there, it was time to cue-up the DJ and see how much damage could be done by driver Tristan Shale-Hester.

• Slipknot – The heavy-metal entry showed an unbelievable drop in time of 14 seconds. Tristan also noted more “jagged” throttle movements and found it was “harder to concentrate” with Slipknot playing.
• Bach’s Goldberg Variations –This time, Tristan was 12-seconds slower, but was driving better, and was even unaware he’d dropped his speed down to 35 in the 50mph zone.
• Taylor Swift –While jamming to “Shake It Off,” Tristan was just two-seconds below the control time, and his laps were the “smoothest” of the test.
• Kendrick Lamar –Finally, Tristan tried out “Humble” for the drive. Here, he was one-second below the control time, but he overshot the control-line finish by four car-lengths.

While it was clear that the worst driving was done with the metal pounding in Tristan’s ears, classical music isn’t off the hook. The relaxation that came with Bach might also be problematic for drivers who want to stay awake on the road.

Source: I Am Road Smart