"The study, described in a working paper published last month by the National Bureau of Economic Research, showed a 43 percent increase in streaming and a 15 percent increase in traffic fatalities on the days that major albums drop."
"It hit me that a split second longer with my eyes off the road could have meant a serious accident. Then I thought, if millions of people are doing the same thing at the same time - on the day a big album drops - the cumulative risk on the road must be enormous."
"Smartphones tempt drivers to send emails, search, call up directions, or even find a recipe for dinner. Despite that ceaseless potential for distraction, research into the impact of phones on driving is scarce, according to Patel and the new paper's senior author, Anupam Bapu Jena, the Joseph P. Newhouse Professor of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School."
Researchers discovered a significant link between major album releases and increased traffic fatalities. The study found a 43 percent increase in streaming activity and a 15 percent increase in road deaths on album release days. The research was inspired when a surgical resident nearly caused an accident while checking his phone for newly released music. Recognizing that millions of people might simultaneously engage in similar phone-based distractions during major album drops, researchers hypothesized that cumulative risk on roadways would be substantial. The study addresses a gap in smartphone distraction research, as ethical constraints prevent direct experimentation on driving behavior. This natural experiment approach provides evidence of phones' impact on driving safety.
Read at Harvard Gazette
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]