Listening to traffic reports on the radio can be bad for your driving - so much so it could cause you to miss an elephant standing by the side of the road.

Researchers studying people's driving ability while listening to traffic reports found that almost three quarters missed hazards when distracted by the radio. 

The experts said road safety campaigns are so focused on telling people to keep their eyes on the road, and this research reveals that this isn't enough.

Researchers studying people's driving ability while listening to traffic reports found that almost a quarter missed hazards when distracted by the radio. Stock image. The experts said that road safety campaigns are so focused on telling people to keep their eyes on the road, and this research reveals this isn't enough

The research was carried out by PhD student Gillian Murphy of University College Cork and Dr Ciara Greene of University College Dublin.

They presented their findings at the British Psychological Society's Annual Conference.  

Gillian Murphy's studied Perceptual Load Theory.

DISTRACTING CAR RADIOS  

While driving, 18 participants were asked to complete a simple task and 18 to complete a complex task. 

The simple task was to listen for when the voice giving the update changed gender. 

The complex task was to listen for news of a particular road.

She found that only 23 per cent of the drivers undertaking the complex task noticed a large, unexpected visual stimulus - an elephant or gorilla by the side of the road.

By contrast, 71 per cent of the drivers undertaking the simpler task noticed it.

Drivers undertaking the complex task were also worse at obeying road signs, remembering which vehicle had just passed them and even at driving itself. 

This theory states we have a finite amount of attention at any one time. 

This means that if our attention levels are at their maximum, we can't process other stimuli.

To see how this applies when driving, Murphy asked 36 people to drive a route in a simulator while listening to a traffic reports on the radio.

Half the group was asked to listen for a change in the speaker's gender. This was classified as the 'simple' task.

The complex task involved listening for a report about a particular road.

Only 23 per cent of the drivers listening out for the road name noticed an elephant or gorilla standing on the side of the road.

By comparison, 71 per cent of the drivers listening for the change of voice noticed the animal. 

'Complex' drivers also paid less attention to road signs and other cars and this impacted on their speed and reaction times. 

Gillian Murphy said: 'Road safety campaigns are so focused on telling us to keep our eyes on the road, and this is certainly important, but this research tells us that it's simply not enough.

Lead researcher Gillian Murphy said: 'Road safety campaigns are so focused on telling us to keep our eyes on the road, and this is certainly important, but this research tells us that it's simply not enough. 'We should focus on keeping our brains on the road.' Stock image pictured

'We should focus on keeping our brains on the road.

'Anything that draws our attention away from driving can be problematic, even if it's auditory like listening to the radio or having a hands-free phone conversation. That doesn't mean that we should ban radios in cars, but that we should all be aware of the limits of our attention.

'The fact that we found this using a simple, naturally occurring task like listening out for a traffic update on the radio suggests that the load on our hearing may be an important and overlooked contributor to driver distraction and inattention.'

Culled from Mail Online