Duffy Drives us Home Safely

Duffy Drives us Home Safely

CHESTER, England, March 11/PRNewswire/ -- ACF Car Finance has reacted to international research which reveals that music tempo increases driving risks, by launching its own music chart which polls this week's top ten in order of tempo to support safer driving.

Jane Whittle, spokesperson from ACF Car Finance said: "Cars are currently the most popular and frequently reported location for listening to music.* We all know about distractions such as mobile phones, yet the majority of us aren't advised about the effects of music on driving performance."

A team of scientists at the Ben-Gurion University in Israel carried out the study exploring the effect of music tempo on driving. They found that music tempo consistently affected both driving speed and the driver's perceived speed estimates: as the tempo of background music increased, so too did the driving speed and the driver's speed estimate. The tempo of background music also consistently affected the frequency of traffic violations; disregarded red traffic-lights, road crossings and collisions were most frequent with fast-paced music.

ACF Car Finance also ran a recent consumer survey which revealed that 73% of respondents admitted to having speeded in the past and of those over 70% revealed that they listened to loud rock and fast dance music.

Eve Oldfield, Cognitive Neuroscience specialist said: "The study results imply that music tempo increases driving risks by competing for attentional space in the brain; the driver is distracted and driving capacity reduced with the increase in the number of temporal events which must be processed and require larger memory storage."

"This is one of the first pieces of research that analyses the correlation between music tempo and driving capacity and proves that it's an important subject which requires further focus."

ACF Car Finance recruited musicians to review this week's current top ten and place them in order of tempo. Whilst the official single topping the charts this week is Flo Rida's 'Right Round', ACF Car Finance's number one chart tune to drive to is actually 'Love Song' by Taylor Swift. The 'Rockferry' album by blonde bombshell and recent Brit winner Duffy, was also highlighted as having a good tempo to drive to.

ACF Car Finance's top ten for this week is:

           Song Title                           Artist UK                  Chart      1) Love Story                         Taylor Swift                 5     2) Dead And Gone                      T.I. ft Justin Timberlake    6     3) Whatcha Think About                That Pussycat Dolls         10     4) TShirt                             Shontelle                    9     5) My Life Would Suck Without You     Kelly Clarkson               4     6) The Fear                           Lily Allen                   7     7) Just Can't Get Enough              The Saturdays                2     8) Right Round                        Flo Rida                     1     9) Poker Face                         Lady GaGa                    3     10) Just Dance                        Lady GaGa                    8  

Jane Whittle added: "We are always looking at ways to ensure ACF Car Finance customers receive the very best service available; from finding the right car and finance to providing the latest industry and legislation updates. Identifying this latest research and launching our own chart will hopefully educate our customers and help raise public awareness about the effects of music during driving."

ACF Car Finance's 'Top Ten Tunes To Cruise To' chart is available to download at http://www.acfcarfinance.co.uk/news/top-10.

Notes to Editors:

- Study undertaken by Ben-Gurion University of Negrev, Israel.

- *as stated on the sciencedirect.com website.

- Eve Oldfield MSc is based at London's Imperial College.

- Survey carried out by ACF Car Finance.

- ACF is a market leader in its field, stocking a wide selection of quality used vehicles, most of which are between two and four years old, and all of which undergo a 136 point vehicle quality inspection and an independent M.O.T.

- Unlike many of its direct competitors, privately owned ACF Car Finance is not reliant on market shares to fund its business and has been less affected by the volatility of the Stock Exchange. Consequently ACF Car Finance has been able to deliver a rapid response to changes in market conditions and continues to help hundreds of customers every month who have been unable to secure a car or car finance elsewhere.

Source: ACF Car Finance

For further information please contact Kate Cox or Kerry McCrink on: +44(0)1244-320-677 or e-mail: kerry@dewinterpr.co.uk

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Profile: International Entertainment