Gamers are bad drivers: study

According to a new research project over at Dartmouth College in New Hamphshire, England, people who play “risk-glorifying” games are more likely to be bad drivers.

The study involved 5,000 participants, interviewed over a four-year period both before and after receiving their driver’s licences. Half of the respondents reported playing mature-rated games, including Grand Theft Auto III, Manhunt, and Spider-Man II.

… Spider-Man II? With great power comes great responsibility, kids, but it seems that responsibility is being dumped in favour of reckless behaviour. According to the results of the final interviews:

78 percent admitted to speeding;
26 percent to tailgating;
23 percent to failure to yield;
25 percent to weaving in and out of traffic;
20 percent to running red lights;
19 percent to ignoring stop signs;
13 percent to crossing a double line;
71 percent to speeding through yellow lights;
27 percent to not using a seatbelt.

But seriously, people, let’s not be so quick to point fingers. I can’t think of a single game that promotes not wearing a seatbelt.

“Most parents would probably be disturbed to learn that we observed that this type of game play was more strongly associated with teen drivers being pulled over by the police than their parenting practices,” said study lead JayHull.

“With motor vehicle accidents the No. 1 cause of adolescent deaths, popular games that increase reckless driving may constitute even more of a public health issue than the widely touted association of video games and aggression. Playing these kinds of video games could also result in these adolescents developing personalities that reflect the risk-taking, rebellious characters they enact in the games and that could have broader consequences that apply to other risky behaviors such as drinking and smoking.”

I don’t know about the rest of you, but after playing The Sims, I definitely got in the habit of tidying up a lot after myself. You never see that stuff reported, though.