Top Album Releases Linked To Rise In Fatal Crashes

Top Album Releases Linked To Rise In Fatal Crashes (theguardian.com) 37 An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: The release of a new album by Taylor Swift might be a cause for celebration among her fans, but such events have also been linked to a more sombre phenomenon: an increase in fatal car crashes. The team behind a new study say it sheds light on the impact of distracted driving. Writing in the journal Jama Network Open, [Vishal Patel, first author of the study based at Harvard Medical School] and colleagues report how they focused on the release of 10 major albums, launched between 2017 and 2022, selected for having the highest number of Spotify streams over a single day. [...] The team found streaming volume for the top 200 songs in the US was 43% higher on the date of major album releases compared with the days surrounding the releases -- although such data does not reveal whether the music was being streamed in a car. [...] The researchers used data from a population-based registry of fatal US motor vehicle crashes to look at the number of traffic fatalities on the dates these albums were released, as well as for the 10 days either side. After taking into account the day of the week upon which the album was released, as well as federal holidays, and time of year, the researchers found the number of US traffic fatalities showed a relative increase of 15.1% on the date of major album releases, compared with similar days either side. "This is equivalent to approximately 182 fatalities in the US attributable to the release days of the 10 included albums," the team writes. Patel said the release of a new album could distract drivers because accessing music is a search task, not a single button press. "You unlock the phone, open the app, find the release, read down a tracklist, tap the right song. That's several seconds of looking at a screen," he said, adding unfamiliar music also demands more attention, while research has suggested listening to new, high-energy music measurably degrades driving performance. The researchers add the rise in traffic fatalities was greater among certain groups -- such as younger drivers, male drivers, people who were driving alone, and people driving cars with a built-in infotainment platform. The authors say the results suggest that "online music streaming through smartphones may significantly contribute to distracted driving and traffic fatalities." [...] The researchers used data from a population-based registry of fatal US motor vehicle crashes to look at the number of traffic fatalities on the dates these albums were released, as well as for the 10 days either side. After taking into account the day of the week upon which the album was released, as well as federal holidays, and time of year, the researchers found the number of US traffic fatalities showed a relative increase of 15.1% on the date of major album releases, compared with similar days either side. "This is equivalent to approximately 182 fatalities in the US attributable to the release days of the 10 included albums," the team writes. Patel said the release of a new album could distract drivers because accessing music is a search task, not a single button press. "You unlock the phone, open the app, find the release, read down a tracklist, tap the right song. That's several seconds of looking at a screen," he said, adding unfamiliar music also demands more attention, while research has suggested listening to new, high-energy music measurably degrades driving performance. The researchers add the rise in traffic fatalities was greater among certain groups -- such as younger drivers, male drivers, people who were driving alone, and people driving cars with a built-in infotainment platform. The authors say the results suggest that "online music streaming through smartphones may significantly contribute to distracted driving and traffic fatalities." Organizers (Score:3) What do you mean, a search task? I just pop the CD in, and it plays. I mean yeah, sometimes I have to flip through my CD organizer at a stop light, but it doesn't take more than a few seconds. Re: (Score:3) Yabba dabba don't? Re: (Score:2) What do you mean, a search task? I just pop the CD in, and it plays. I mean yeah, sometimes I have to flip through my CD organizer at a stop light, but it doesn't take more than a few seconds. Even on a phone, if you're playing an album, you're playing an album. You search for it once, not over and over. A 15% increase in fatalities, if this isn't just noise that will regress to the mean after more data comes in, would point to people being distracted for an extended period of time... you know... by actually listening to the music and paying attention to that instead of to their driving. Re: (Score:2) A 15% increase in fatalities, if this isn't just noise that will regress to the mean after more data comes in .... Good point and well worth raising, but "Findings In this cross-sectional study of 233809 US traffic fatalities from 2017 through 2022" is quite a bit of data. Haven't looked at their statistical methods. ... people being distracted for an extended period of time... you know... by actually listening to the music .... They should do a follow-up study of head-banger music. Seems like that would be especially distracting. Or what about death metal? Re: Organizers (Score:2, Troll) Re: (Score:2) Re: (Score:1) I just pop the CD in Is that an indirect way of saying you spend an inordinate amount of time and money performing maintenance on your old clunker to keep it running? Cars haven't sold with CD players for a really long time. Re: (Score:1) What happens when your 6-disc changer is in the trunk, though? And it starts skipping? :-( Re: Organizers (Score:1) Re: (Score:2) Well Patel is one of the most common surnames in India, that said it originated from a farming community so they probably are all related ;-) The Trial Lawyers have a new $B lawsuit. (Score:2) Re: The Trial Lawyers have a new $B lawsuit. (Score:3) The data analysis appears to be correct. What makes it propaganda? What?! (Score:2) Is this how Gen Z does it? They do know what playlists are, right? Most people should not be driving cars (Score:4, Insightful) But without decent public transportation or reliable eyes-off autonomous driving, we're going to continue to waste money and human life on distracted driving. While I would love to believe that getting the word out with public service announcements to improve the public's general awareness of the risks of distracted driving, or actively reworking our training and licensing programs. The cynic in me knows in my bones that most people think they are above average drivers, and that people will feel that raising the requirements to get a license is somehow unfair. Spotify's UI sucks. (Score:4, Interesting) And before I leave, I always make sure it's set to that playlist as I switch to alternative playlists when I'm doing other tasks, and it's incredibly difficult to try and change playlists while driving, I learned my lesson a long time ago and I just pull over or mute the stereo entirely and sit in silence. (No, I've never had an accident before, but I don't need to, to know that trying to navigate a touch screen while driving is a bad idea, even at very low speeds). For some stupid reason as well the user interface is different per phone device, my partner hates it on a new whatever the fuck Samsung's new flip phone is, because the seek bar is a wobbly groove for some stupid reason, and the album art is in the wrong spot and for some stupid reason they keep insisting on changing the interface because product managers have to justify their job.... I usually have it where if I'm driving with my partner, I get her to set the playlist, but she always puts her trash music on. Google for some stupid reason also decided to give me Gemini so trying to set navigation through voice commands is an impossible task until I changed it back, it's still not perfect but it's better than arguing with a clanker. Re: (Score:2) Google for some stupid reason also decided to give me Gemini so trying to set navigation through voice commands is an impossible task until I changed it back I have the opposite experience. The old Google Assistant lacked context to questions. If you said "Play Taylor Swift's new album" you'd get a response saying that it can't find an album with that name by Taylor Swift. On the flip side Gemini will search contextually and find out the album name. It cuts both ways though, I asked Gemini while driving how much time I'd save taking the toll road and it proceeded to Google search some marketing materials on how the expected trips were going to be cut by the toll Re: (Score:2) I have a single playlist that I play all the time and if a song that's playing that I don't like or don't feel in the mood for I skip it, using the physical buttons on my steering wheel, and not taking my eyes off the road my use case is very much the same as yours without any of the problems which funnily boil down to just one thing: spotify. yeah, i'm a boomer but not using cds, just good old-fashioned audio files stored on my phone and a decent old-fashioned player app, works like a charm. even switching playlists is just a few taps but i never do this if i'm alone unless the car is stopped for some reason, it wouldn't even cross my mind. i've tried spotify a couple of times, never liked it at all. which is fine, horses for Let's do the time warp again (Score:4, Informative) I thought this sounded familiar: it was reported in a working paper from the NBER in February [nber.org], by Harvard in March [harvard.edu], and by The Smithsonian magazine in April [smithsonianmag.com]. So apparently this is either the final version of a paper previously in progress, or they're working their way up the chain of high-impact journals. They must have some good publicists. Obviously I need to find some way to work Taylor Swift into my group's papers. Save Lives, Ban Taylor Swift (Score:1) I've been advocating for this all along. We must listen to 80's tunes forever. (Score:4, Insightful) If it saves even one life, it's worth whatever it costs. And no, I don't mean keep releasing new songs dubbed over Genius of Love. That already happens too frequently. Nobody said it yet? Correlation does not mean... (Score:2) Re: Nobody said it yet? Correlation does not mean (Score:2) The summary said they did not have a mechanism for causation. The summary said "linked". Several causes were theorized but would need study. Drivers are stupid (Score:2) I've watched someone drive a car which I know has perfect voice integration with Spotify fumble around with their infotainment system while driving even using an on screen keyboard (one of the most attention demanding tasks on a touch screen). When they simply could have pressed the little voice button on the wheel and said "Play ${artists} new album." at which point the voice assistant says "Ok, playing ${artist} ${album} on Spotify". Just clicked on this... (Score:3) ...for the sarcasm. And I must say, I'm not disappointed. Re: (Score:2) Tune into the News at 11 where we ask, is water really wet? The correct title for this article (Score:2) Reading Lyrics? (Score:2) I have a hard time believing people are looking at their phones that much to skip/repeat tracks and whatnot, especially given that most cars have buttons that let a driver do that without taking their eyes off the road. I'm wondering if people keep glancing at the lyrics, that's all I can think of that would grab a driver's attention enough for a 15% increase in accidents. Re: Reading Lyrics? (Score:2) Just focusing on new music has previously been shown to cause distraction, according to references in the article. It is unknown if that effect is strong enough to account for theses stats. Re: (Score:2) The assumption is that using your phone / infotainment system to search for, possibly purchase, and play a new release is an attention-demanding task that takes substantial time. The consensus above is that Spotify's UI, in particular, is poor, and thus requires extra interaction, and thus attention off the road, exacerbating the problem. We know that attending to a phone, even briefly, is mutually exclusive to attending to the road. That alone is an explanatory mechanism for the increase in fatalities. B so ... new album releases are ... (Score:2) killer? Solution (Score:3) Ban all forms of ICE Whether its In Car Entertainment, Immigration and Customs Enforcers, Internal Combustion Engines, or frozen H20 on the road surface Re: (Score:2) Why do you want to ban my beloved multimeter [radiomuseum.org] ?!? You, insensitive clod...