What does Taylor Swift have to do with traffic accident deaths? Indirectly, a lot. And not just her, but all famous singers whose music plays in millions of cars around the world. The issue is not the music itself, but what listening to it implies. The human brain is not as prepared as we assume to perform multiple tasks at once, especially if one of them requires full attention. The mobile phone is one of the main distractions while driving, and there are some uses that are more dangerous. Streaming music playback is one of them, especially when a superstar releases a new album, as reflected in a study published in JAMA Network Open. The study, led by researchers from Harvard University, recorded a significant increase in deaths from traffic accidents in the U.S. on expected album release dates, such as Midnights by Taylor Swift, released on October 21, 2022, with 184,695,609 streams on the first day.
Although the study does not establish a causal relationship, it did detect a significant increase in deaths from traffic accidents on days when a new hit was released. According to their data, on the relevant release days studied, there was an average of 139.1 deaths from this cause, compared to 120.9 on other days, representing an absolute increase of 18.2 deaths. In total, there would be 182 deaths in the United States attributable to the release days of the 10 albums included in the study, which include works by Drake or Bad Bunny.
The increase in deaths was higher among younger drivers, men, and among white and Asian individuals.
According to Emilia Redolar, a Neuroscience professor at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), the key to this association lies in novelty. The most important part of the brain for driving, the basal ganglia, is responsible for automating the entire process, which is initially very complicated because attention must be paid to gears, the steering wheel, the road, the mirrors, pedestrians... The task also requires the assistance of a kind of driving brain assistant: the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. "The basal ganglia are the ones driving, so to speak, but the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is the one assisting in driving, and we need to keep it as free as possible so that it can assist us correctly," explains Redolar.
Even in more experienced drivers, the introduction of novel and extraordinary elements can "hijack" the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, increasing the risk of traffic accidents. The release of a new song or album can create such anticipation and draw attention to such an extent that it becomes a very dangerous distraction. The use of a mobile phone or other device to play music also affects attention. "If at that moment it is hijacked, the prefrontal cortex will not be a good assistant in driving," concludes the neuroscientist.
The research, whose conclusions have just been released, is a cross-sectional study conducted with data from the U.S. system for reporting deaths from motor vehicle accidents in the United States (Fatality Analysis Reporting System, FARS). Deaths from traffic accidents were considered 10 days before and after the release date of the 10 most streamed music albums during the analysis period, using a quasi-experimental event design, considering the release of a music album as an exogenous event that randomly increases smartphone use with respect to the risk of fatal accidents. Streaming data was obtained from the lists of the most popular platform in the U.S., Spotify.
The researchers found that daily music streamingincreased by 43% on the release dates of major albums, rising from 86.1 million to 123.3 million.
Concurrently - although this study does not establish a causal relationship because other sources of distraction cannot be ruled out - a significant increase in deaths from traffic accidents was recorded on these key days. On relevant release days, there was an average of 139.1 deaths from this cause, compared to 120.9 on other days, representing an absolute increase of 18.2 deaths. In total, there would be 182 deaths in the United States attributable to the release days of the 10 albums included.
As indicated by the study, the increase in deaths was higher among younger drivers (under 40 years old), men, and among white and Asian individuals. A higher number of accidents was also observed in vehicles with a single occupant, when the driver was not under the influence of alcohol, with optimal weather conditions in terms of clarity, and in vehicles with integrated infotainment systems.
These findings suggest that the main element involved in the increase in fatal accidents would be driver distraction due to the use of a smartphone as a music player. The presence of at least one passenger could reduce driver distraction related to music streaming use; for example, by helping manage playback devices. It could also decrease the likelihood of the driver using their smartphone while driving by engaging in conversation with their travel companions.