Study: Racing Games Induce Fast Driving
See Full ImageFirst it was violent video games possibly causing violent behavior in younger individuals, now it's "speedy" games causing real-life speeding.
A study recently conducted by the British driving institution BSM has found that younger drivers are more likely to speed and drive recklessly after having played a racing game. The BSM issued their findings to the BBC, which included a survey taken by 1,000 participants. Of those polled, 27% of drivers between the ages of 16 and 24 admitted to "more risk-taking on the road after a gaming session." There is a flip side to that coin, however, as 40% of the subjects believed that playing racing games can positively impact their real-life driving performance.
This study comes hot on the heels of a recent tragedy involving two young drivers and an elderly woman in the UK - one of the boys had been playing Gran Turismo in the car before the racing accident - and that Need for Speed incident. Last year, a copy of EA's popular racing franchise was found in the car of a driver who killed a taxi driver while drag racing. So take it easy out there, y'all; those ridiculous crashes in Burnout are strictly fantasy, remember.
3/2/2007 Ben Dutka
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