Author: Fuel Card Services

Driving cars with uncomfortable seats could be costing the UK’s economy dearly, according to new research from Volvo.

It carried out a study of more than 2,000 people who drive for work and discovered more than a third have taken at least one day off in the past year alone because of back pain caused by their seats.

A week’s worth of pain

One in ten workers was forced to be absent from their job for a full week, with nearly a third saying they were forced to seek help from a doctor or physiotherapist as a result.

With so many people needing their cars as part of their employment, this could mean a loss of productivity for the UK economy amounting to £8.8 billion a year.

One in five people surveyed said they had gone so far as to swap their vehicle in the past because the seats were so uncomfortable, while the majority suggested manufacturers should pay more attention to lumbar support when they are constructing car seats.

Volvo Car UK’s Kristian Elvefors said: “Back pain from poor-quality car seats is a bigger problem than many think. Not only is it costing the UK economy billions, but poor-quality car seats are also placing an unnecessary burden on the NHS.”

Out of the 32.4 million people employed in Britain, a whopping 68 per cent use their car either for work purposes or at least to get there in the first place.

Many will undoubtedly now be wishing their company uses Volvos, as the brand has reminded us it was one of the first carmakers to incorporate spinal research into its seat design and continues to perfect it to this day.

Ellie Baker, brand manager at Fuel Card Services, comments: “Back pain is a really serious issue in Britain and it’s amazing what a difference comfortable seats can make, especially for fleet drivers who are behind the wheel for hours each day.”

If you spend a lot of time on the road, perhaps as a fleet driver, then the chances are you listen to music to pass the time.

However, you might need to avoid the faster tunes – and in particular rock music – if you want to stop yourself taking risks on the roads.

Higher tempo equals more risk?

That’s the discovery of new research from the South China University of Technology, which found drivers listening to higher tempo tunes are more likely to carry out erratic manoeuvres than those listening to slower tracks.

For the study, they asked motorists to spend 20 minutes in a driving simulator of a six-lane motorway listening to rock, easy listening music or silence.

Although the average number of lane changes was 70, this increased to a whopping 140 when the rock music was played. When the tempo was especially high, the average speed also increased by up to five miles per hour.

In fact, the songs above around 120 beats per minute were found to have a negative impact on driving style – with Green Day’s American Idiot taking the dubious honour of ‘most dangerous’ song at 189 BPM.

There was also a list of ‘least dangerous’ tracks, which was topped by Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven.

Qiang Zeng from the South China University of Technology suggested the study’s findings could lead to “training and management measures, especially for transport operators, and could mitigate the risk of driver distraction”.

It comes after Goodyear discovered last month that Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now is the UK’s favourite driving song of all time.

Ellie Baker, brand manager at Fuel Card Services, comments: “It’s fascinating that the music we listen to could have such an impact on the way we drive. Perhaps it might be time to update your playlist to include more Led Zeppelin!”