Driving Home for Christmas a very dangerous song for driving home for Christmas – Wales Online

If you’re hitting the motorway you should stick to Merry Xmas Everybody or Jingle Bell Rock
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New research shows ‘Driving Home for Christmas’ may not be the perfect song to listen to while actually driving home for Christmas.
In partnership with an academic study from Brunel University London, Coventry University and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), part of UK Research and Innovation, Direct Line can reveal the festive songs that can have the best and worst effects on a motorist’s mental state when driving home for Christmas – and the ones that are better suited to rockin’ around the Christmas tree.
With nearly half (45 per cent) of Brits planning to drive home for Christmas this year, around 23.9 million people say they’ll be behind the wheel when travelling to visit friends or family over the festive period.
However, the research shows that Chris Rea’s ‘Driving Home for Christmas’, at 90 bpm, may be too slow to suitably stimulate motorists on monotonous motorway trips.
This will not be music to the ears of millions of motorists, as it has been voted the third most popular Christmas song with 28 per cent of Britons citing it as one of their favourites – just behind The Pogues’ drunken ballad ‘Fairytale of New York’ (34 per cent) and Maria Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ (28 per cent).
Brits’ favourite Christmas songs
Song
Artist
Share of people who voted this as one of their favourites
Fairytale of New York
The Pogues
34 per cent
All I Want For Christmas Is You
Mariah Carey
33 per cent
Driving Home for Christmas
Chris Rea
28 per cent
Do They Know It's Christmas?
Band Aid
26 per cent
I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday
Wizzard
24 per cent
Last Christmas
Wham!
18 per cent
Merry Xmas Everybody
Slade
14 per cent
Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
John Lennon
12 per cent
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
Michael Bublé
10 per cent
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
Frank Sinatra
10 per cent
Source: Direct Line, 2021
Brunel’s research reveals that in stressful driving environments, such as urban roads that demand a higher amount of perceptual and processing work from the brain, it is best to listen to slower music. This is because the mental load imposed by the driving environment is quite high and so fast, stimulative music can lead to overload. Therefore, Christmas classics such as ‘Stop The Cavalry’ by Jona Lewie, ‘Santa Baby’ by Eartha Kitt or ‘White Christmas’ by Bing Crosby – all of which have a slower tempo, would be ideal for city driving.

On longer highway drives, there are fewer external factors that elevate the mental load of driving, which can lead to mild mental fatigue and boredom. Accordingly, songs in a moderate-to-fast tempo range (of between 100 bpm and 130 bpm) are optimal. ‘Do They Know It's Christmas?’ By Band Aid, ‘Jingle Bell Rock’ by Bobby Helms and ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’ by Slade are all ideal tunes to add to a playlist. However, it’s ‘Last Christmas’ by Wham! that is rated as the best song for long drives thanks to its moderate tempo of 108 bpm, catchy lyrics and ‘happy’ harmonic structure.
Five of the best songs to listen to on motorways this Christmas
Song
Artist
Tempo
Last Christmas
Wham!
108 bpm
Do They Know It's Christmas?
Band Aid
115 bpm
Frosty the Snowman
The Jackson 5
120 bpm
Jingle Bell Rock
Bobby Helms
120 bpm
Merry Xmas Everybody
Slade
129 bpm
Source: Direct Line, 2021
Christmas classics that Direct Line has identified as having a potentially negative impact on long drives are ‘Stay Another Day’ by East 17 and ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’ by Frank Sinatra, which at 64 bpm and 68 bpm respectively may have a ‘snooze factor’ about them, with drivers at risk of soporific effects on their driving. ‘Sleigh Ride’ by The Ronettes, poses an opposing problem, as at 182 bpm it has a tempo that may induce speeding – as well as five key changes, which give a feeling of more and more energy to the driver.
Five of the worst songs to listen to on motorways this Christmas
Song
Artist
Tempo
Stay Another Day
East 17
64 bpm
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
Frank Sinatra
68 bpm
Underneath the Tree
Kelly Clarkson
160 bpm
Sleigh Ride
The Ronettes
182 bpm
Merry Christmas Everyone
Shakin’ Stevens
202 bpm
Source: Direct Line, 2021
These findings are important, as further research from Direct Line found that 46 per cent of those driving to visit friends or family over Christmas – some 11.1 million people – say that they always listen to Christmas music, with 76 per cent of this group stating that they always sing along with festive cheer.
Brits estimate that they’re each going to spend just short of three hours (2 hours, 54 minutes) driving this Christmas. This will result in a grand total of 68.5 million hours spent travelling to see loved ones over the festive season.
Lorraine Price, Head of Motor at Direct Line, said: “Music often plays a central role in driving, especially over the festive season when travelling to see friends and family. It’s great to see that so many of the UK’s favourite Christmas songs are perfect to listen to on long journeys this December, though unfortunately, it looks as though Chris Rea’s ‘Driving Home for Christmas’ may just be best to play once you reach your destination. We wish everyone safe travels and hope this helps compiling that perfect Christmas driving playlist.”
Professor Costas Karageorghis from Brunel University London said: “Our research suggests that mild mental stimulation through music can be beneficial on long motorway drives with several popular Christmas songs providing just that.
“What drivers should look out for when populating their festive road-trip playlists are positive lyrics, a tempo range of 100–130 bpm, low-to-moderate levels of syncopation and engaging instrumentation. It is also advisable not to play the music too loudly, so that you are still able to hold a conversation with passengers in the vehicle and hear the music as well as the surrounding traffic. We’d advise keeping the fast/loud music for the family get-togethers, rather than using it for driving at this festive time of year.”

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