Chase films may make drivers fast and furious

Study suggests boost in aggressive behaviour on road

When you jump in the car after watching a chase film, be sure not to model your drive home on the example of its heroes.

On Tuesday, University of Alberta psychology doctorate faculty member Deanna Singhal presented findings from two studies that suggested movies with aggressive driving may encourage its viewers to drive more aggressively.

“We definitely saw a relationship between the release of Furious 7 and changes in speeding behaviour,” Singhal said after the presentation.

Singhal analyzed Edmonton speed camera data from the office of traffic safety for the four weeks before and after the release of Fast & Furious 6 and Furious 7. While the 2013 instalment did not yield stellar results, its 2015 sequel seemed to indicate a correlation.

“We saw increases in the numbers of infractions and also people were driving faster for those who were caught,” Singhal said. She added that part of this spike may be the much better box office performance of the seventh film, which was released following star Paul Walker’s death in a high-speed crash.

The next study tested University of Alberta students in a driving simulation.

Participants were divided into three groups and shown one of three 15-minute videos with clips from films, designed to either stimulate with action, stimulate with aggressive driving, or maintain neutrality.

“We did see trends where those exposed to the aggressive driving content did drive at faster speeds, they had shorter times to completion, (and) they did tend to have a greater acceleration when passing vehicles,” said Singhal.

Although results were not statistically significant, said Singhal, they exposed correlations that could be better illustrated in a larger sample size. The study’s 62 participants were all university students and mostly female.

But together the two studies do tell a story: viewer beware.

“I think that when you have movies that can influence a dangerous behaviour, then there needs to be some responsibility ... (and) some awareness of the driver associated with that,” said Singhal.

In her presentation, she highlighted a public service announcement by Walker addressing the issue. “All the racing stunts in our film are performed in a staged environment by professionals with years of training and experience,” he says with The Fast and the Furious logo behind him. “So, with that in mind: be smart, drive safe, and stay legal.”