Related Sections: Driving
Can videogames reduce traffic accidents? Allstate plans to find out.
Insurance company Allstate is starting a pilot program in Pennsylvania to find out whether those silly brain training games that are in vogue actually have an effect. Their target group is 100,000 drivers aged 50 to 75 in Pennsylvania. Allstate gives them this brain training game and asks them to play it for at least ten hours. Then Allstate will track the number of traffic accidents in their group compared to a control group who doesn't play the games.
Ugh. Ten hours of second-rate Popcap rip-offs? Don't do it, Keystone State senior citizens! In ten hours, you could get a troll shaman up to level fifteen! However, unlike World of Warcraft, the minigames are specifically designed to develop peripheral vision, increase the speed of processing visual information, and improve reaction time. Personally, I get the same benefit from Burnout: Paradise, but how many people over 50 have a PS3 or Xbox?
By Tal at 12:09 PM ON 10/03/08
I tend to agree with this one. Before I even learned to drive a real car I was driving go carts and race cars/monster trucks/bikes etc. in video games. First week I was driving my vehicle hit a patch of some kind of liquid sent my rear end forward. I knew exactly how to react from Ice levels on video games.
but 10 hours may not be enough.
By Aeon221 at 5:43 PM ON 10/03/08
Video games make me irrationally angry, so I ram other cars and kill people. Therefore, this is a horrible idea.
By toot at 11:52 PM ON 10/03/08
I think its a good idea. Some people may need the help.
By sunil at 1:50 AM ON 10/06/08
racing game
By eliandi at 11:19 AM ON 10/06/08
Allstate, you missed the boat. Give them a real driving sim (GTR2 is pretty cheap these days) and a cheap wheel and you will get results. OK, it will take more than 10hrs...100 laps at Road America in traffic should do the trick
By thisandthat at 11:24 AM ON 10/15/08
I like to try and play this games
thisandthat:
I like to try and play this games...More »