Smartphone im Auto: Neues Album, mehr Unfälle: Taylor Swift als Verkehrsrisiko?

Taylor Swift, Drake and other celebrities might indirectly contribute to more traffic accidents, according to researchers from Harvard Medical School in Boston. The study suggests that publication days of popular music stars' albums could be linked to an increase in fatal accidents involving smartphones. The findings were published in the "Jama Network Open" journal.

However, the direct causal connection between smartphone usage while driving and the number of fatalities cannot be confirmed. During 2017-2022, 233,809 people died in traffic accidents in the USA. Beating the dates of major album releases showed a 15% increase in fatalities compared to the ten days before and after. On publication days, there were about 139 deaths, while on other days, around 121 deaths occurred.

Overall smartphone streaming increased by approximately 43% on the publication days. The researchers used data from the national Unusual Mortality Report System and linked it to Spotify streaming numbers. They focused on the ten most streamed albums within a single day during the years under consideration. These included several albums by Taylor Swift (e.g., "Midnights") and Drake (e.g., "Certified Lover Boy") as well as albums by Bad Bunny or Kendrick Lamar.

The team emphasizes that the connection does not definitively prove that the higher risk is due to streaming the new albums. It remains unclear if the actual accident victims were listening to these specific albums, as other factors could also play a role. Nonetheless, it is plausible that using music offerings during driving, such as selecting an album via a smartphone or managing an in-car control system, could be an activity that causes distraction.

Other research has already shown that listening to music can also cause distraction. While driving at nearly 100 kilometers per hour, even minimal attention lapses could have deadly consequences, according to Donald A. Redelmeier and Jonathan Zipursky from the University of Toronto. However, the study's authors criticize that the results are not sufficient to predict the extent to which an anticipated popular album would increase the risk of accidents.

For example, it is not clear why Drake's album "Her Loss" in 2022 coincided with a 67% increase in additional fatalities, while his previous album "Certified Lover Boy" in the previous year only saw an 8% increase. Listening to the albums does not reveal why such a wide range of values exists between the two releases by the same artist.