‘Don’t Get Me Wrong’ by The Pretenders is one of the most dangerous driving songs, according to a new study which found music with a higher tempo is more likely to encourage poor driving.

Specialist car insurance providers, Keith Michaels, used a Spotify API to analyse over 900 songs from driving playlists and studied the beat per minute (BPM) and energy rating of each track to decide which would have the most significant negative impact on driving.

The study found motorists were more likely to speed, brake late and have lower road awareness if they were listening to songs with a higher tempo and rated the Pretenders hit as having a risk score of 1836.

The safest song on the list was ‘Sweet Caroline’ by Neil Diamond with a risk score of 63.

The energy rating was found by multiplying the BPM of a song with the energy rating – a metric that explored how busy a track is musically. It was also found that the most dangerous key was A Major, with 24 of the top 200 most dangerous songs being written in the key.

“Ultimately, while listening to music at a responsible volume is safe, listening to energetic songs with a high BPM has a higher potential to pull your concentration away from quality driving and put yourself more at risk,” said a spokesperson for Keith Michaels.

Top 5 Most Dangerous Songs according to the study are:

  1. Don’t Get Me Wrong – The Pretenders (Risk Score 1836)
  2. Runnin’ Down A Dream – Tom Petty (Risk Score 1700)
  3. She’s A River – Simple Minds (Risk Score 1656)
  4. Modern Love – David Bowie (Risk Score 1647)
  5. What’s Going On – Marvin Gaye (Risk Score 1640)

Top 5 Safest Songs according to the study are:

  1. Sweet Caroline – Neil Diamond (Risk Score 63)
  2. God Only Knows – Kina Grannis, Imaginary Future (Risk Score 107)
  3. Jolene – Ray LaMontagne (Risk Score 120)
  4. Let’s Move to the Country – Smog (Risk Score 162)
  5. Moondance – Van Morrison (Risk Score 201)

The full list of songs can be found online: https://www.keithmichaels.co.uk/most-dangerous-driving-songs/