It seems that Science (Science!) is not content with just accusing video gamers of being violent sociopaths; a new survey suggests that drivers who play video games are more likely to be terrible drivers.
The survey, conducted by Continental tyres found that players of racing video games were more likely to take unnecessary risks, get more tickets and fines, and have more accidents than their non-gaming counterparts.
The survey polled 2000 people, split evenly between gamers and non gamers. Here are the result, with the gamers’ responses in bold.
- % stopped by police: 22/13
- % who use mobile when driving: 19/12
- % ever made a claim for an accident: 30/15
- % ran a red light in last 12 months: 31/14
- % driven wrong way down one-way street: 13/10
- % hit stationary object when parking: 22/13
- % accidentally clipped a car but kept quiet: 19/11
- % take risks (accelerate too quickly, overtake): 44/21
- % suffer road rage: 45/22
- % who speed: 25/13
- % scare others with their driving: 26/11
- Attempts before passing test: 2/3
- No. of prangs to their vehicle in last 12 months: 1/2
“It seems that while gamers develop useful skills and are more confident, they need to apply some balance with a sensible assessment of risk,” said Continental’s Tim Bailey.
The Institute of Advanced Motorists’ Peter Rodger had similar comment :
“I am not surprised that regular gamers find themselves making the same decisions and judgements when driving for real as they do when in the virtual world,” he said. “The issue is that when actually driving, our actions lead to ‘real’ results, and mistakes have very real consequences.”
Personally, I blame Criterion and their Burnout series and the rubbish floaty vehicle bits in GTA for my poor driving skills; at least I have something to blame it on now.
Source : Jalopnik
Last Updated: February 1, 2011
