Do racing games cause reckless driving?

From Death Race to Grand Theft Auto, driving games have long fuelled claims that players might be inspired to start mowing down pedestrians outside of the game. Starting with a story about a Toronto police officer linking a hit and run to a copy of Need for Speed found on the offender’s passenger seat, Ben talks Rich through the surprisingly longstanding history of links between video games and reckless driving. We encounter early arcade video games, clowns being run over at anti-car carnivals, and Adam West’s Batman doing British road safety videos. Crash! Bang! Wallop! What a podcast!

Show Notes:

[Video] 1967 Adam West Batman UK Public Service Announcement

Beullens, K., Roe, K., & Van den Bulck, J. (2008). Video games and adolescents' intentions to take risks in traffic. Journal of Adolescent Health, 43(1), 87-90.

Carsten, O., & Jamson, A. H. (2011). Driving simulators as research tools in traffic psychology. In Handbook of traffic psychology (pp. 87-96). Academic Press.

[Video] Death Race News Report

Fischer, P., Greitemeyer, T., Morton, T., Kastenmüller, A., Postmes, T., Frey, D., ... & Odenwälder, J. (2009). The racing-game effect why do video racing games increase risk-taking inclinations. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35(10), 1395-1409.

Howard, J., Bowden, V. K., & Visser, T. (2023). Do action video games make safer drivers? The effects of video game experience on simulated driving performance. Transportation research part F: traffic psychology and behaviour, 97, 170-180.

Hull, J. G., Draghici, A. M., & Sargent, J. D. (2012). A longitudinal study of risk-glorifying video games and reckless driving. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 1(4), 244.

Kocurek, C. A. (2012). The agony and the Exidy: a history of video game violence and the legacy of Death Race. Game Studies, 12(1).

Lumsden, K. (2013). Boy racer culture: Youth, masculinity and deviance. Routledge.

(2006) “NFS found in fatal drag-racing car crash”, Game Spot, Jan 26th.

Norton, P. D. (2007). Street rivals: Jaywalking and the invention of the motor age street. Technology and culture, 48(2), 331-359.

Redshaw, S. (2017). In the company of cars: Driving as a social and cultural practice. CRC Press.

Sala, G., Tatlidil, K. S., & Gobet, F. (2018). Video game training does not enhance cognitive ability: A comprehensive meta-analytic investigation. Psychological bulletin, 144(2), 111..

Stinchcombe, A., Kadulina, Y., Lemieux, C., Aljied, R., & Gagnon, S. (2017). Driving is not a game: Video game experience is associated with risk-taking behaviours in the driving simulator. Computers in Human Behavior, 69, 415-420.

Vingilis, E., Seeley, J., Wiesenthal, D. L., Wickens, C. M., Fischer, P., & Mann, R. E. (2013). Street racing video games and risk-taking driving: An Internet survey of automobile enthusiasts. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 50, 1-7.

Note: Journal articles are often behind paywalls. If you don't have institutional access but would like a copy of these papers please email Illeffectspod@gmail.com and we will happily send you a copy

Credits:

Hosts – Ben Litherland & Rich McCulloch

Music by - Brutalust (Colin Frank and Maria Sappho), recorded and mixed by Joe Christman

Creative producer – Rachel Wood

Technical producer – Caroline Pringle

Technical production – Colin Frank