Big album releases increase car accident deaths

In the research conducted by experts from Harvard Medical School, the 10 albums released between 2017 and 2022 and most listened to in a single day on the digital music platform Spotify were examined.

Taylor Swift's "Midnights", released in 2022, singer Drake's "Scorpion", released in 2018, and Harry Styles' "Harry's House" albums, released in 2022, were also included in the research.

Experts determined that the total streaming volume of the top 200 songs in the United States on the days of album release increased by 43 percent compared to the days immediately before and after the album releases.

Using a population-based database recording fatal motor vehicle accidents in the USA, researchers compared the death rates on the days the albums were released with the 10 days before and after the release date. Taking into account the day of the week, public holidays and seasonal events, the researchers found that deaths due to traffic accidents increased by 15.1 percent on the days when major albums were released, compared to similar days.

The lead author of the study, Dr. Vishal Patel said, "You can't randomly direct people to use phones, and drivers rarely say what they were doing in the few seconds before the accident. The album releases present a day when smartphone usage is increasing across the country for reasons that have nothing to do with road conditions, weather or who the driver is." made his assessment.

Patel stated that the driver needs to unlock his phone, open the application, find the new album, review the song list and tap the track he wants, adding that the driver can look at the screen for a few seconds during this process.

The results of the research were published in the journal "JAMA Network Open".