Washington: Listening to music while driving may not be a good idea if you are feeling fatigued, but drinking coffee may help, suggests a new study. Previous research has shown that drinking caffeinated beverages and listening to music are two popular fatigue-fighting measures that drivers take, but very few studies have tested the usefulness of those measures.
A new research to be presented at the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 2014 Annual Meeting in Chicago evaluated which method, if either, can successfully combat driver fatigue.
Researchers designed a simulated driving study that measured driver fatigue levels against the use of caffeine, music, or no stimulant, 'University Herald' reported.
Twenty participants completed three 120-minute driving sessions over a three-day span at the same time each day, then scored their fatigue levels on a questionnaire.
The results indicated that drivers who used either caffeine or music as a stimulant felt significantly less tired than those who did not. The researchers noted, however, that those who drank a caffeinated beverage to stay awake performed their driving tasks much better than those who listened to music or those in the control group.
"Even though both caffeine and music keep drivers feeling more awake, caffeine also helps them maintain good driving performance," said ShiXu Liu, a graduate student in Canada's McMaster University.
"Music, on the other hand, can distract drivers, which may explain why driving performance is not significantly improved when it is used as a fatigue countermeasure," Liu said.
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