A personal injury lawyer warns that slippery roads and congested highways aren’t the only problems that drivers have to contend with during the year-end holiday season.

Listening to Andy Williams crooning the classic “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” or Ariana Grande singing her up-tempo rendition of “Santa Tell Me” are more likely to distract you while driving than the slower sounds of Ray Charles singing “That Spirit of Christmas” or Nat King Cole’s version of “The Christmas Song,” according to Mike Agruss, founder and CEO of Mike Agruss Law in Chicago (aka 844-SEE-MIKE).

How exactly did Agruss determine that the engaging lyrics of “Santa Tell Me” (ranked No. 2) are more distracting than the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s powerful instrumental “Christmas/Sarajevo 12/24” (ranked No. 3)? Or that listening to Grande’s holiday song might make you more accident prone than hearing Alvin and the Chipmunks squeak out “Christmas Don’t be Late” (ranked No. 18)?

Agruss collected data on tempo (beats per minute), energy, loudness, happiness, and speechiness of iTunes’ Top 100 Christmas songs to identify the most and least distracting ones for driving. According to his blog post, “Top 20 Most Distracting Songs to Drive To (According to Science), speechiness refers to the “prominence of lyrics in a song.”

“Tracks with highly engaging, emotional, or story-driven lyrics can demand cognitive attention, leading drivers to focus on the words rather than the road,” Agruss asserts in the blog post.

According to the blog post and information furnished in a media statement, the methodology is grounded in his interpretation of scientific research findings. Among the research he references are these scholarly papers related to tempo:

• Research by Dr. Rui Li of Jiangnan University published in i-Perception, finding that fast-tempo music (greater than 120 BPM) increases arousal and risky driving behaviors, while slower tempos (less than 40 BPM) can induce drowsiness.

(Editor’s Note: In the July 2019 study, “Effect of Music Tempo on Long-Distance Driving: Which Tempo Is the Most Effective at Reducing Fatigue,” researchers including Li conclude that after 80 minutes of no music, listening to 60 minutes of medium tempo music, 85-110 BPM is a sweet spot—helping to improve drive fatigue and attention levels in the long run. Christmas songs, “Linus and Lucy,” “Blue Christmas” and “It’s Beginning to Look Like Christmas” fall in that range according to charts supplied to media by the Agruss firm.)

• Research from Spotify and Dr. Emma Gray of The British CBT and Counseling Service in London, which found that songs with a BPM of 60–80 promote focus and reduce fatigue, creating a calm yet alert mental state. (Editor’s Note: Numerous online sources credit Dr. Gray with finding that listening to songs in the 50-80 BPM range is conducive to better learning, focused studying and creativity.)
• Additional research by Dr. Costas Karageorghis and colleagues, published in Ergonomics, which demonstrated that fast-tempo music elevates arousal and increases risk-taking behavior, while slow-tempo music is associated with a calming effect that could optimize attention during high-load driving tasks.

By integrating these insights, Agruss Law produced “a scientifically informed ranking of songs based on their likelihood to distract drivers,” the firm said in a statement.

“Metrics were normalized to ensure consistent scoring, and a distraction score was calculated using weighted factors: tempo (60 percent), energy (20 percent), loudness (10 percent), happiness (-5 percent), and speechiness (5 percent),” the firm said, further explaining the methodology. (The tempo, energy, loudness, happiness an speechiness characteristics were measured using data from Chosic.com)

Happiness was given a slight negative weight because “overly cheerful tracks might reduce focus,” the lawyer suggested.

Agruss performed a similar analysis of non-holiday songs as well, starting with the Billboard Hot 100 and finding that Trap and Southern Hip Hop dominate the most distracting genres, while Jazz and Contemporary Country provide the safest options for focused driving.

Complete lists of the Top 20 Most Distracting Songs and The Top 20 Most Distracting Holiday Songs, according to the law firm’s analysis, are available on the blog post at: https://844seemike.com/blog/most-distracting-songs-to-drive-to/

In addition to providing some the lists, the blog post offers practical tips for safe music choices, and unsurprisingly, directs car accident victims to reach out to the law firm for legal assistance.