I recall a study which proposed that school students listening to classical music performed better in exams than other genres of music and I was wondering about how listening to music while driving might affect driving. A few snippets from the article in the link below which are posted to give a flavour of the overall theme of the article. Still no mention of how the music of Barry Manilow affects my driving
Have a great weekend 
"In the article "Yo, what was that bump, dude?" Forbes magazine discusses one of Professor Beh's early studies. In the test, subjects were put in driving simulators and were checked for response times while listening to loud or quiet heavy metal music or nothing at all. The results showed that reactions to objects straight in front of the driver were fifty milliseconds faster than those with silence. However, reactions to objects in the periphery of drivers were slowed by one hundred milliseconds (Yo, 1997). Mentioning the effects of no music, Beh states, "Silence may allow drivers to think about things other than driving." (Yo, 1997, p.114). She says, "Music may focus the attention outward." (Yo, 1997, p.114). Music in this study actually aided driver's attention to the road, but hurt vision to objects on the sides of the road. This could cause serious trouble if something were to dart from the wayside into the road. So immediately, it is shown that some music can both improve and worsen certain aspects of driving. This already discards the old idea that car radios are completely safe."
"Listening to faster tempos and raising the volume too loud have been shown to yield negative driving results. So although cranking up the volume to a favorite song may always be in fashion, it's never in good safety. Taking care on the road means first thinking about what is listened to, so before heading out for a Sunday drive, drivers should always choose the best music for the occasion." (Dalton, B. 2007)
Link to article: http://voices.yahoo.com/the-effects-music-driving-3639935.html
Sources and further reading:
Beh, H., & Hirst, R. (1999, August). Performance on driving-related tasks during music.
Ergonomics, 42(8), 1087-1098. Retrieved September 22, 2008, from CINAHL with Full
Text database.
Brodsky, W. (December 2001). The effects of music tempo on simulated driving performance and vehicular control. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 4(4), 219-241. Retrieved September 20, 2008, from Science Direct.
Dalton, B., & Behm, D. (2007, September). Effects of noise and music on human and task
performance: a systematic review. Occupational Ergonomics, 7(3), 143-152. Retrieved
September 22, 2008, from CINAHL with Full Text database.
Dalton, B., Behm, D., & Kibele, A. (2007, September). Effects of sound types and volumes on
simulated driving, vigilance tasks and heart rate. Occupational Ergonomics, 7(3), 153-
168. Retrieved September 22, 2008, from Business Source Premier database.
Yo, what was that bump, dude? (1997, January). Forbes:FYI: The Good Life,114. Retrieved September 22, 2008, from Research Library database. (Document ID: 21948854).
