Accidents caused by aggressive driving rise notably, in West Virginia, five days after a NASCAR race is shown on TV.
That’s the finding of a new study that explored whether the televised spectacle of aggressive, crash-filled racing shaped the day-to-day motoring habits of West Virginians. The state is fertile ground for such a study, the researchers observed, because it has more NASCAR fans, per capita, than any other. And it has no NASCAR tracks, the study said, so TV is how most people take in races.
The study looked at all aggressive-driving accidents (a category used by the state’s Division of Highways) from 2003 through 2006—nearly 29,000 in all. Poor road conditions and rain predicted such accidents, unsurprisingly. But 156 televised NASCAR races also had a detectable effect. Accidents actually dropped the day of a race, possibly because people were glued to the TV. But days that followed NASCAR events by five days had 23.59 aggressive accidents, on average, compared to 19.40 for other days.
The five-day delay in the appearance of an effect may seem puzzling, but such delayed effects are commonly found in studies the media’s effects on behavior, the author said.
Source: “Driving Under the Influence (of Mass Media): A Four-Year Examination of NASCAR and West Virginia Aggressive-Driving Accidents and Injuries,” Guy D. Vitaglione, Journal of Applied Social Psychology (forthcoming)
That’s the finding of a new study that explored whether the televised spectacle of aggressive, crash-filled racing shaped the day-to-day motoring habits of West Virginians. The state is fertile ground for such a study, the researchers observed, because it has more NASCAR fans, per capita, than any other. And it has no NASCAR tracks, the study said, so TV is how most people take in races.
The study looked at all aggressive-driving accidents (a category used by the state’s Division of Highways) from 2003 through 2006—nearly 29,000 in all. Poor road conditions and rain predicted such accidents, unsurprisingly. But 156 televised NASCAR races also had a detectable effect. Accidents actually dropped the day of a race, possibly because people were glued to the TV. But days that followed NASCAR events by five days had 23.59 aggressive accidents, on average, compared to 19.40 for other days.
The five-day delay in the appearance of an effect may seem puzzling, but such delayed effects are commonly found in studies the media’s effects on behavior, the author said.
Source: “Driving Under the Influence (of Mass Media): A Four-Year Examination of NASCAR and West Virginia Aggressive-Driving Accidents and Injuries,” Guy D. Vitaglione, Journal of Applied Social Psychology (forthcoming)
