When you listen to the latest hit on platforms in your car, be extra vigilant behind the wheel. According to a study by the American National Bureau of Economic Research, a private organization specializing in economic studies, the number of fatal road accidents increases by 15% when a highly anticipated album or track is released on platforms, reports the Smithsonian Magazine.
Although no scientific link can be definitively established between listening to anticipated tracks and road accidents, the data highlights a systemic increase in accidents on days when albums eagerly awaited by fans or the general public are released.
The co-author of the study, Vishal Patel, decided to investigate this topic after he deviated from his driving trajectory while listening to a new track. “I realized that a fraction of a second longer without looking at the road could have resulted in a serious accident,” explained the clinical researcher at Harvard Medical School.
To determine if this was a general trend, he and his colleagues compiled a list of the ten albums with the highest number of streams on Spotify in a single day between 2017 and 2022. Among them were the latest releases from Taylor Swift, Drake, Bad Bunny, and Harry Styles, with between 80 and 185 million streams on the day of their release. Taylor Swift has since surpassed these numbers with 313 million streams for her latest album in 2024.
The team found that on the release days of these ten albums, the number of Spotify streams averaged 123.3 million, compared to an average of 86.1 million streams in the ten days before and after these major releases, indicating a 40% increase.
Once these dates were identified, the researchers looked into the number of road accidents at the same time. Based on data from the U.S. federal register of fatal accidents, they calculated an average of 139.1 deaths on days when highly anticipated albums were released, compared to 120.9 deaths on prior and subsequent dates, showing a 15% increase in victims. Adjustments were made to the figure based on the proximity or concurrence of holidays.
By analyzing the details of each accident, the study found that fatal accidents occurring on these musical release days mostly occurred without additional distractions, with drivers being young, negative for alcohol and drugs, and alone in their vehicle.
“These findings provide ‘fairly strong preliminary indications’ that the use of music streaming apps can increase the risk of accidents,” said Johnathon Ehsani, a road safety researcher at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, to the New York Times.
“People convince themselves that they can do multiple things at once while driving: plan calls, eat, apply makeup,” emphasized Vishal Patel. “Smartphones have greatly expanded the range of activities possible behind the wheel, and as cars become more connected, the temptation to scatter one’s attention will only increase.”
