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Satnavs that have a “sexy-sounding” female voice are a bad influence on male drivers, according to a new study.
High-pitched and seductive voices are proven to encourage men to take more risks at the wheel, according to a new study by Shanghai’s Fudan University.
This includes running amber lights and travelling faster.
The study was based on two experiments in which men were given instructions by different voices.
The first experiment involved real-life driving situations where men in a simulator were given instructions by low or high-pitched female voices.
They were shown traffic lights changing from green to amber as they approached the junction, where they had the choice of paying caution to the light change or staying on their route.
The results showed that when receiving instructions from the higher-pitched voice, the men were around 40 per cent more likely to run the amber light, causing university researchers to suggest that they were “showing-off” and “showcasing their driving skills” to the sexy-sounding satnav.
In the second experiment, reserachers studied two groups of men in a virtual-reality setting where they were instructed to cross a bridge. Before crossing the bridge, the men were played a female voice sample – half being high-pitched and half being low-pitched.
Researchers asked participants to rate the voice’s attractiveness, with a majority saying the higher-pitched voice was more appealing to them.
On average, men exposed to the higher pitched voice crossed the plank faster than men who heard the lower-pitched voice. The researchers suggested this was because the higher-pitched voice subliminally triggered them to take greater risk.
“In our study, men exposed to high-pitched voices engaged more in risky behaviours such as running amber lights while driving,” said the researchers in an academic paper in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.
“It is advisable to reduce the femininity of voices in car voice interaction designs to enhance driving safety.”
However, it’s also advsiable to exercise judgement when listening to satnavs. Last year, there was a 13 per cent increase in the number of vehicles being driven the wrong way on England’s motorways, with the AA suggesting one of the causes was drivers “blindly” following satnavs.
