Author/Authors :
özgül, yusuf cumhuriyet üniversitesi - eğitim fakültesi - güzel sanatlar eğitimi bölümü, müzik eğitimi ana bilim dalı, Turkey , aydoğan, salih gazi üniversitesi - gazi eğitim fakültesi - müzik eğitimi ana bilim dalı, Turkey
Abstract :
Listening to music is indispensible part of the daily traffic life. Unfortunately there is no statistical data about music in the official traffic accident reports. Therefore researchers have to reveal the influence between listening to music and driving experiences. The purpose of this study is to determine these influences on some variables and make proposals related to findings. The study sample consists of 218 random selected traffic drivers. In the selection process “Purposive Sampling” method (Sencer, 1989) has been used and all selected participants had driver licence. To collect the data, a likert type survey and an open-ended question has been developed to find out participants personal experiences about music and driving. All collected survey data described by descriptive analysis and open-ended question responses analyzed via qualitative content analysis. According to results, %54,1 of participants stated that the absence of music caused bad feelings while driving. Similarly Brodsky and Slor (2013) reported that listening driver-preferred musics elevated positive moods and enjoyment for trips however this background also produced the most frequent severe driver miscalculations and inaccuracises, violations, and aggressive driving. Listening to music also can be a distracting auditory stimulus while driving (Ünal and others, 2012). Significant amount of participants (%72,5) stated that listening to music with high volume caused problems on hearing auditory stimulus occuring outside of the vehicle. Additionally, listening to music at the intercity trips can save the drivers and passengers lives. Ünal and others (2013) reported that arousal was higher in the presence than the absence of the music. Intercity trips usually take too much time and this condition may cause drivers fell asleep or being distracted. In this regard %79,8 of participants stated that listening to music at intercity trips improved their perceptual skills. Unfortunately, collisions linked to music devices have been known for some time; adjusting the radio controls, swapping tape-casesettes and compact-discs, or searching trough MP3 files, are all forms of distraction that can result in a near-crash or crash (Brodsky and Slor, 2013). One fourth of participants stated that they usually adjusted their audio players while driving which can cause violations and accidents. Results show that the tempo of the music may affect the driver experiences. In this regard one fourth of participants stated that listening to fast tempo music increased their driving speed. Similarly Brodsky (2002) reported that listening to fast tempo music caused driving speed to increase and traffic violations to happen: disregarded traffic-lights, lane crossings, and collisions were most frequent with fast-paced music. In contradistinction to Brodsky (2002), faster tempo music was found to improve the accuracy of harder decision-making only, not that of easier decision-making (Day and others, 2009).
