DRIVING-based computer games like Grand Theft Auto and Carmageddon may be encouraging adolescents to drive recklessly when they take to the roads for real, a study of teenagers’ attitudes to road risks suggests.
Kathleen Beullens at the Catholic University of Leuven (KUL) in Belgium wanted to find out if simple racing games and more reckless “drive-’em up” games might encourage real-world speeding and risk-taking. She suspected it might: “Some drive-’em-ups give you points for driving into cars or even pedestrians.” Drink-driving generally does not feature in games, so she expected gaming would not inspire this behaviour.
Beullens sent questionnaires to…
