Brodsky - Driving with music: cognitive-behavioural implications

DRIVING WITH MUSIC:
COGNITIVE-BEHAVIOURAL IMPLICATIONS

From listening to music and singing in the car (car-aoke) to the sound tracks that accompany movie car chases and computer car games, music is essential to human beings engagement with the automobile. Warren Brodsky tells the history of cars-&-music, explains the different functions performed by music-listening in everyday life, and discusses drivers perceptions of the effects of music in the autosphere on them, their passengers and (particularly in the case of boom cars) the public at large. Informed by the critical review of a wealth of research, and reports of recent studies by the author intended to develop the use of music as a strategy for safe driving, Driving with Music not only provides a highly readable and enjoyable account of a fascinating phenomenon, familiar to us all, but also demonstrates the potential impacts, positive as well as negative, of drivers in-car musical behaviours.

Jane Ginsborg, Royal Northern College of Music, UK

This timely and unique volume brings an encyclopaedic knowledge of everything to do with music and cars to bear on the critical issue of road safety. Music in cars may have benefits, but too often can also cause accidents. Informed by a masterful review of existing studies, Warren Brodsky and his collaborators have developed and trialled music specifically designed to enhance driver safety. In doing so, a much needed gap between research and effective practice has begun to be filled.

John Sloboda, Keele University, UK

In this book, Brodskys deep passion for music, respect for car culture and forensic scientific analyses emerge in a symphony of high quality writing. This book will be of interest to readers wanting to understand how the accompaniment of music fundamentally shapes the driving experience.

Nick Reed, TRL Academy Director, UK

Series Editors

Dr Lisa Dorn
Director of the Driving Research Group, Department of Human Factors,
Cranfield University

Dr Gerald Matthews
Associate Research Professor, Institute for Simulation and Training,
University of Central Florida

Dr Ian Glendon
Associate Professor, School of Psychology, Griffith University

Todays society confronts major land transport problems. Human and financial costs of road vehicle crashes and rail incidents are increasing, with road vehicle crashes predicted to become the third largest cause of death and injury globally by 2020. Several social trends pose threats to safety, including increasing vehicle ownership and traffic congestion, advancing technological complexity at the human-vehicle interface, population ageing in the developed world, and ever greater numbers of younger vehicle drivers in the developing world.

Ashgates Human Factors in Road and Rail Transport series makes a timely contribution to these issues by focusing on human and organisational aspects of road and rail safety. The series responds to increasing demands for safe, efficient, economical and environmentally-friendly land-based transport. It does this by reporting on state-of-the-art science that may be applied to reduce vehicle collisions and improve vehicle usability as well as enhancing driver wellbeing and satisfaction. It achieves this by disseminating new theoretical and empirical research generated by specialists in the behavioural and allied disciplines, including traffic and transportation psychology, human factors and ergonomics.

The series addresses such topics as driver behaviour and training, in-vehicle technology, driver health and driver assessment. Specially commissioned works from internationally recognised experts provide authoritative accounts of leading approaches to real-world problems in this important field.

WARREN BRODSKY
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel

ASHGATE

Warren Brodsky 2015

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.

Warren Brodsky has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:

Brodsky, Warren.

Driving with music : cognitive-behavioural implications / by Warren Brodsky.

pages cm -- (Human factors in road and rail transport)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4724-1146-4 (hardback) -- ISBN 978-1-4724-1147-1 (ebook) -- ISBN 978-1-4724-1148-8 (epub) 1. Automobile driving--Psychological aspects. 2. Music--Psychological aspects. 3. Automobile drivers--Psychology. 4. Distracted driving. 5. Traffic safety. I. Title. II. Series: Human factors in road and rail transport.

TL152.35.B76 2015

629.283019--dc23

2014033742

ISBN 9781472411464 (hbk)
ISBN 9781472411471 (ebk-PDF)
ISBN 9781472411488 (ebk-ePUB)

Professor Warren Brodsky is Director of Music Psychology in the Department of the Arts at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (Beer-Sheva, Israel). After a short-lived career as a music performer, he completed an artist-degree (BMus) in Orchestral Percussion, and majored in early childhood musical development leading to a Diploma and Certificate of Teaching (K-6) from the Rubin Academy of Music (Jerusalem, 1982). Warren trained as a music therapist at Hahnemann Medical University (Philadelphia, USA, 1984); during his 10 year clinical career he was registered (RMT), certified (CMT), and board-certified (MT-BC) in the USA, registered (RMTh) in the UK, and licensed as a Creative and Expressive Therapist in Israel. Warren completed his PhD in Psychology at Keele University (Staffordshire, UK, 1995) under the eminent music psychologist John A. Sloboda. At Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Dr Brodsky served two 2-year Post-Doctorial Fellowships (19962000). Among his research initiatives and projects are: Mental Representations of Musical Notation; Handclapping Songs as a Spontaneous Platform for Cognitive Development; Positive Aging among Symphony Orchestra Musicians; Functional Application of Music in Automobile Branding; and The Effects of Music on Driver Behaviour and Vehicular Control. Professor Brodsky can be reached at: .

Source: Photograph by Elisha Brodsky.

A long time ago, in fact what now actually seems to have been as if in a previous lifetime, I trained as a music therapist at Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia (USA). I was registered (RMT) with the National Association for Music Therapy, certified (CMT) by the American Association for Music Therapy, board certified (MT-BC) by the Certification Board for Music Therapy, and registered (