Car Crashes Go Up After Sporting Events, Study Says

When tens of thousands of people all leave the same location at the same time, it makes sense that the risk of a car crash would go up. After all, those drivers are probably going to hit the road at about the same time, causing traffic jams, increasing driver frustration, and generally getting in everyone’s way. Which is a perfect recipe for more accidents. And in most cities in the U.S., everyone’s definitely driving because our public transportation system sucks. But is what a lot of people would call common sense actually true? According to one recent study, it definitely is.

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Gidon Jakar, a professor of sports management at the University of Florida, along with Qian He at the University of Maryland and Kiernan Gordon of the University of New England, chose to study crash statistics in the city of Cleveland to see if major league sports games actually led to a measurable increase in the number of wrecks. Earlier this month, they published their findings in the journal Sports Management Review.

What they found is that the number of wrecks went up significantly following games and, interestingly, that NFL games led to more wrecks than other sporting events. After the end of a Cleveland Browns game, crashes increased by as much as 33 percent. But Browns fans weren’t the only ones that drove an increase in wrecks after a game, as they also observed a spike in crashes following Cleveland Cavaliers games. Overall, they observed a 20 percent increase in wrecks associated with Cleveland sporting events.

Another finding was that crashes decreased slightly during the games. Presumably, because so many people were busy watching the game, there were fewer cars on the road at those times. That said, the study wasn’t able to determine whether that was actually the cause or just a coincidence.

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“If a fan has a car crash after a game and gets injured, it’s not just the fan that’s affected. It’s their family and friends and work and potentially the family of the people in the other car,” Jakar told University of Florida News. “Now that we see these venues are hotspots, let’s address them.”

Unfortunately, figuring out the most effective ways to address those hotspots will likely take time. After all, it’s not like an extensive subway system can magically be installed overnight. But according to Jakar, one thing that might help is if stadiums and arenas find ways to get fans to drink less alcohol. But even then, it’s a difficult issue to address.

“Although we didn’t have the alcohol data, we know it can’t help. Teams are already involved in designated drivers initiatives. Perhaps they should stop advertising alcohol so heavily as well,” Jakar said. “That gets to this larger issue of responsibility. What is the responsibility of the venues to reduce these negative effects of the home games? How can they encourage responsible behavior after the game?”