Road accidents and felony convictions could be linked to aggression, junk food and, of course, alcohol.
- Speeding would be committed more by aggressive people, having faster reaction times and consuming more bad food and energy drinks.
- These risky behaviors could also be due to a genetic variation.
In 2020, there were 45,121 traffic accidents in mainland France, according to the national interministerial road safety observatory. In all, 2,541 people have died. To better prevent these accidents, a team of researchers tried to understand the psychological profiles of the people responsible for them. They analyzed data from Estonia, collected from 2001 and obtained thanks to the police and insurance. Their aim was to distinguish the different factors – psychological and genetic – that could explain driving behavior in Estonia. They presented their study duringa congress, the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology Congress (ECNP), which is held in Lisbon from October 2 to 5.
Aggressive behavior associated with speeding
During their work, the researchers analyzed data from 817 drivers. 49.2% were men, 50.8% women. All had to fill out questionnaires to measure certain factors – such as impulsivity or aggressiveness – and take blood tests and genetic analyses. Once this information was collected, the scientists compared it to that of the police and insurance companies, that is to say the types of accidents and convictions for bad driving. Result: 137 drivers convicted of breaking speed limits tended to have faster reaction times. They also had more aggressive behavior – physical and verbal – and consumed a lot of junk food and energy drinks.
Accelerating while driving is linked to the need for excitement
“We were able to identify many associations between daily risk taking and risky driving.estimates Tõnis Tokko, the main researcher of the study. For example, we found that people who drink energy drinks at least once a week were twice as likely to speed up (when driving) as those who don’t drink them as often.”. For researchers, energy drinks are obviously not the direct cause of traffic violations. But they believe that the fact of consuming it would be linked to a need for excitement. At the wheel, the latter would result in a desire to accelerate. “Our psychological tests showed us that people with quick decision-making abilities were 11% more likely to speed upassures Tõnis Tokko. Those with a higher arousal need are 13% more likely to accelerate. (…) We found that there are significant associations between risky driving behaviors and several other behaviors, such as the intense practice of a sport, the consumption of alcohol, junk food and energy drinks”.
The role of serotonin
The researchers then looked at the genetic traits of the participants. Thus, they concluded that higher risk behavior could be due to genetic variation in serotonin metabolism. It is a neurotransmitter implicated in depression and is generally targeted by antidepressant treatments. They therefore believe that there could be a common psychological basis between civilian behavior and driving behavior. “But this is an early finding that has yet to be confirmed.”, nuance Tõnis Tokko. During the presentation of the study at the ECNP congress, the scientific community hailed this study which could perhaps, in the long term, make it possible to prevent certain accidents thanks to the monitoring of people at risk of committing them.
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