Video Gamers More Dangerous Drivers Than Non-Gamers

A new study's discovered players of racing video games likeNeed For Speedtake bigger risks, are ticketed, and crash into stationary objects more often then their non-gamer counterparts. But frequent gamers do pass driving tests in fewer attempts.

The study on gamers and driving was put together by Continental Tires, who quizzed 2,000 motorists (half gamers, half non-gamers) between the ages of 17 and 39 on their driving habits. Though gamers believe they're more skilled drivers, they admit to taking higher risks and making more claims on their insurance.

"It seems that while gamers develop useful skills and are more confident, they need to apply some balance with a sensible assessment of risk,"said Continental's Tim Bailey.

Results showed 22% of gamers reported being stopped by police, as compared to 13% of non-gamers. Those who frequently playracing gamesalso are twice as likely to make a claim for an accident with their insurance, have road rage, and run a red light.

In defense of gamers, they thought they were being chased by Cuban drug dealers and only had 12 seconds to hit the next checkpoint.

Inversely, non-gamers were twice as likely to dent their vehicle and required, on average, one more attempt to pass the British driving exam. The producers of the study then tried to tie this into drivers not understanding the consequences of their actions and quoted someone from the"Institute of Advanced Motorists"on the topic.

"I am not surprised that regular gamers find themselves making the same decisions and judgements when driving for real as they do when in the virtual world,"said Peter Rodger."The issue is that when actually driving, our actions lead to 'real' results, and mistakes have very real consequences."

Couldn't the same be said for non game-playing drivers, who have never witnessed their pride-and-joy crushed in a game with advanced crash rendering? It's a big leap for what is just a self-reported study.

Here are the full results:

COMPARISON OF THOSE WHO DO AND DON'T PLAY DRIVING COMPUTER GAMES

DO       DON'T

% stopped by police                                            22         13

% who use mobile when driving                          19         12

% ever made a claim for an accident                   30         15

% run a red light in last 12mnths                        31         14

% driven wrong way down 1-way street              13         10

% hit stationary object when parking                  22         13

% accidently clipped a car but kept quiet            19         11

% take risks (accelerate too quickly, overtake)    44         21

% suffer road rage                                              45         22

% who speed                                                      25         13

% scare others with their driving                        26         11

Attempts before passing test                               2           3

No. of prangs to their vehicle in last 12months    1           2

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