Duffy Drives us Home Safely

CHESTER, England - ACF Car Finance has reacted to international research which
reveals that music tempo increases driving risks, by launching its own music
chart which polls this week’s top ten in order of tempo to support safer
driving.

Jane Whittle, spokesperson from ACF Car Finance said: “Cars
are currently the most popular and frequently reported location for listening
to music.* We all know about distractions such as mobile phones, yet the
majority of us aren’t advised about the effects of music on driving
performance.”

A team of scientists at the Ben-Gurion University in Israel
carried out the study exploring the effect of music tempo on driving. They
found that music tempo consistently affected both driving speed and the
driver’s perceived speed estimates: as the tempo of background music
increased, so too did the driving speed and the driver’s speed estimate. The
tempo of background music also consistently affected the frequency of traffic
violations; disregarded red traffic-lights, road crossings and collisions
were most frequent with fast-paced music.

ACF Car Finance also ran a recent consumer survey which
revealed that 73% of respondents admitted to having speeded in the past and
of those over 70% revealed that they listened to loud rock and fast dance
music.

Eve Oldfield, Cognitive Neuroscience specialist said: “The
study results imply that music tempo increases driving risks by competing for
attentional space in the brain; the driver is distracted and driving capacity
reduced with the increase in the number of temporal events which must be
processed and require larger memory storage.”

“This is one of the first pieces of research that analyses the
correlation between music tempo and driving capacity and proves that it’s an
important subject which requires further focus.”

ACF Car Finance recruited musicians to review this week’s
current top ten and place them in order of tempo. Whilst the official single
topping the charts this week is Flo Rida’s ‘Right Round’, ACF Car Finance’s
number one chart tune to drive to is actually ‘Love Song’ by Taylor Swift.
The ‘Rockferry’ album by blonde bombshell and recent Brit winner Duffy, was
also highlighted as having a good tempo to drive to.

ACF Car Finance’s top ten for this week is:

Song Title Artist UK Chart

1) Love Story Taylor Swift 5
2) Dead And Gone T.I. ft Justin Timberlake 6
3) Whatcha Think About That Pussycat Dolls 10
4) TShirt Shontelle 9
5) My Life Would Suck Without You Kelly Clarkson 4
6) The Fear Lily Allen 7
7) Just Can’t Get Enough The Saturdays 2
Right Round Flo Rida 1
9) Poker Face Lady GaGa 3
10) Just Dance Lady GaGa 8

Jane Whittle added: “We are always looking at ways to ensure
ACF Car Finance customers receive the very best service available; from
finding the right car and finance to providing the latest industry and
legislation updates. Identifying this latest research and launching our own
chart will hopefully educate our customers and help raise public awareness
about the effects of music during driving.”

ACF Car Finance’s ‘Top Ten Tunes To Cruise To’ chart is
available to download at www.acfcarfinance.co.uk/news/top-10.

Notes to Editors:

- Study undertaken by Ben-Gurion University of Negrev, Israel.

- *as stated on the sciencedirect.com website.

- Eve Oldfield MSc is based at London’s Imperial College.

- Survey carried out by ACF Car Finance.

- ACF is a market leader in its field, stocking a wide
selection of quality used vehicles, most of which are between two and four
years old, and all of which undergo a 136 point vehicle quality inspection
and an independent M.O.T.

- Unlike many of its direct competitors, privately owned ACF
Car Finance is not reliant on market shares to fund its business and has been
less affected by the volatility of the Stock Exchange. Consequently ACF Car
Finance has been able to deliver a rapid response to changes in market
conditions and continues to help hundreds of customers every month who have
been unable to secure a car or car finance elsewhere.

Source: ACF Car Finance

For further information please contact Kate Cox or Kerry McCrink on: +44(0)1244-320-677 or e-mail: kerry at dewinterpr.co.uk