Thaindian News

Washington, April 20 (ANI): When your team wins a close one, you may be in danger driving home after the game, according to a new study.

The study showed that the traffic fatalities rise near the hometowns of winning teams on game days.

“The thrill of victory may result in a not-so-thrilling consequence for winning fans’ drive home,” said authors Stacy Wood (North Carolina State University), Melayne Morgan McInnes, and David A. Norton (both University of South Carolina).

“While some sports junkies will be quick to tell you they live and die by whether their favorite sports team wins, there may be more truth in their statements than they know,” they added.

The authors examined data from 271 sporting events that took place over an eight-year period.

The games were highly anticipated football and basketball games, like playoffs and rivalry games-both professional and collegiate. Because scores don’t always reflect how close a game really is, the authors even recruited avid sports fans to rate the closeness of the games.

They cross checked the national Highway Safety Administration’s traffic fatality database with the dates of the games to determine how many fatal traffic accidents occurred in those cities on the dates of the games.

“We find that the closer a game is the more automobile fatalities there are, especially those involving alcohol,” said the authors.

“This increase in number of fatalities, however, only happens in locations with high numbers of winning fans (game sites and winning hometown),” added the authors.

The study found no increase in traffic fatalities in the losing teams’ hometowns.

High levels of testosterone produced from vicariously winning a close game seem to influence how winning spectators drive home, according to the authors.

The study has been published in the Journal of Consumer Research. (ANI)