A new Harvard study examining smartphone use and distracted driving has found a 15% increase in US traffic fatalities on the days that major albums are released on streaming services. Published in the medical journal JAMA Network Open, the study focused on the 10 albums with the most first-day Spotify streams from 2017 through 2022. This includes Taylor Swift’s Midnights, Drake’s Certified Lover Boy, and Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti, with other releases by Swift and Drake alongside albums by Kendrick Lamar, Harry Styles, and Kanye West.
Study Findings
The study was based on 233,809 US traffic deaths during that period and measured the 10-day window before and after the release date of these albums. It found that there was an average of 139.1 deaths from car crashes on release dates compared to 120.9 average deaths on surrounding days. This difference of 18.2 average fatalities marks a 15.1% increase on album release days.
Research Inspiration
In an interview with CNN, Harvard Medical School researcher Dr. Vishal Patel revealed he was inspired to conduct the study after his own experience drifting out of his lane while scrolling through Spotify to find a new Taylor Swift album, eventually deciding to use the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) to collect data.
Study Results
“I already knew the FARS database well; it’s the federal registry of every fatal crash on US roads, and there’s a long tradition of using it to ask whether crashes spike on Super Bowl Sunday or Tax Day,” Patel said. “It struck me that nobody had looked at album releases, which are one of the few moments when tens of millions of people reach for their phones at the same time, for the same reason, for something other than texting.”
He continued, “The increase showed up mostly among drivers who were alone in the car, it was more pronounced among sober drivers than among drivers who had been drinking, and it wasn’t concentrated at night. If this were really about release parties and alcohol, you’d expect the opposite on all three counts.”
Limitations and Conclusion
As one would expect, FARS data cannot confirm whether drivers were actually distracted by phones during a crash. Researchers also acknowledged external factors could have caused the traffic fatalities, as well as the limitations of restricting the data to Spotify.
All that being said, it’s best to play it safe when pulling up music on your phone while driving, whether that means coming to a full stop if you must look at a screen or, better yet, trying voice commands.
Read the full study at JAMA Network Open.
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