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Media Release

April 22 2008

Computer games fuel at risk road behaviours

high speed drivingComputer games involving high speed car races with an emphasis on fast reaction times are giving teenage drivers the thrill and adrenalin rush of dangerous and fast travel that could translate to overconfidence when at the wheel of a real car, UniSA researchers have found.

Associate Professor at UniSA’s School of Psychology, Jacques Metzer says that with less than optimal experience and ability on the road, amplified by peer pressures of other similar attitude and similar aged passengers, young drivers often have a more cavalier attitude towards safe road usage and a perceived lesser value on community responsibility.

“All of these factors contribute to speeding by youths, less compliance with known safety factors such as wearing seatbelts and keeping a safe distance between cars, as well as a newly found freedom of having wheels to exploit. These are all made worse if the young (as many do) have an anti-authority orientation,” Prof Metzer said.

While road fatality statistics in Victoria reveal that people aged over 65 years are at greatest risk of being killed per distance travelled, the 17 – 24 year age group follows closely behind, with much less risk in all other age groups.

“The 2005 road fatality statistics (latest available figures) for people killed while not wearing seatbelts in Victoria showed that the majority were males, and 77 per cent of deaths occurred during high alcohol times, with more than half intoxicated, and the majority were drivers rather than passengers,” Prof Metzer said.

“By contrast the deaths of drivers aged 65 years and above were due to sensory and decision making deficits, a lesser attitude towards wearing seatbelts (since most of them learned to drive and travel in times when there were no compulsory seatbelts), and some had physical difficulties in belting up, such as too much bending of the torso to clasp the seatbelt fittings,” he said.

To reduce the high fatality rate of young drivers, Prof Metzer says more education for compliance on the road is necessary, along with restricted licensing and progressive direct supervision in the car on the road. In addition, he stresses the need for direct feedback for offenders through mandatory direct exposure to road crashes, both with ambulance crews and interviewing victims, and compulsory loss of licence for some repeat offenders.

And to encourage safe driving on the roads, Prof Metzer believes that good drivers who conform to the road rules should benefit from public reward systems and insurance incentives for increasingly safe driving records.

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