Judge “troubled” by Gran Turismo in fatal car crash

Okay, before we even begin to talk about this, please promise that you guys won’t blow up all over the comments in reaction to this story. We’ve had this discussion in related stories before, and you’ll be preaching to the converted anyway.

A fatal car crash

A fatal car crash occurred in the UK, details of which are reported in the Times (UK) Online. Two cars were found to have violated speed limits down a road, with one car recklessly overtaking and driving too closely to the other, according to witnesses, and that attempt to overtake in a hazardous bend led the overtaking car to crash head-on into a car driven by an elderly lady, who died at the scene of the crash.

The driver of the overtaking car was found to have been playing Polyphony Digital‘s Gran Turismo in his car (most likely a console GT, as the judge refers to one of those “Pimp My Ride” monitors that pop from the dash) in a layover before going full throttle.

The judge’s quotation

What makes this story worrisome – and thus postable – is that there’s a British judge in the decision-making loop, which bears implications for future rulings, media coverage, and public policy down the line (at least in the UK, but certain critics of video games will be watching this very closely). The judge in question, said:

One of the troubling features of the case is looking at and playing the game on the PlayStation beforehand, in the sense that he was playing a game involving vehicles of excessive speed immediately before his driving. When I heard he had a monitor screen that would come up from the dashboard of the car whereby he could play on the PlayStation a game of that sort, it didnÂ’t seem to me to be particularly desirable.

Translation: driver, in his car, plays game with excessive speed. Driver then drives and gets into an accident involving excessive speed. Conclusion…

I HATE jumping to conclusions. For the conclusion to THIS article, though, you have to jump.

Click on the “Full Article” link below to read our take on this matter.

Okay, before we even begin to talk about this, please promise that you guys won’t blow up all over the comments in reaction to this story. We’ve had this discussion in related stories before, and you’ll be preaching to the converted anyway.

A fatal car crash

A fatal car crash occurred in the UK, details of which are reported in the Times (UK) Online. Two cars were found to have violated speed limits down a road, with one car recklessly overtaking and driving too closely to the other, according to witnesses, and that attempt to overtake in a hazardous bend led the overtaking car to crash head-on into a car driven by an elderly lady, who died at the scene of the crash.

The driver of the overtaking car was found to have been playing Polyphony Digital‘s Gran Turismo in his car (most likely a console GT, as the judge refers to one of those “Pimp My Ride” monitors that pop from the dash) in a layover before going full throttle.

The judge’s quotation

What makes this story worrisome – and thus postable – is that there’s a British judge in the decision-making loop, which bears implications for future rulings, media coverage, and public policy down the line (at least in the UK, but certain critics of video games will be watching this very closely). The judge in question, said:

One of the troubling features of the case is looking at and playing the game on the PlayStation beforehand, in the sense that he was playing a game involving vehicles of excessive speed immediately before his driving. When I heard he had a monitor screen that would come up from the dashboard of the car whereby he could play on the PlayStation a game of that sort, it didnÂ’t seem to me to be particularly desirable.

Translation: driver, in his car, plays game with excessive speed. Driver then drives and gets into an accident involving excessive speed. Conclusion…

The media and game critics jump in

That’s the problem. Conclusions being drawn. The judge was right in the decision ruling that the driver was found guilty of careless driving. He may or may not have directly implied in his ruling that playing Gran Turismo immediately before stepping on the actual gas pedal was one of the (direct or indirect) causes of the accident – we will need to read his full ruling to make that conclusion.

But with what he said in the quotation above, conclusions could be drawn by critics of the video game industry, or by mainstream media, for that matter.

For example, The Times article that reported on this story was flamed thrice for “irresponsible journalism.” A Guardian Unlimited blog (tied to The Guardian, another UK paper) also criticized The Times, particularly for including a “list of killer video games” suspected as causing or promoting violent crimes, including Manhunt and Bully. These were found to be out of context references – not to mention in the case of Manhunt, where it was seen by members of the press as connected to a murder, police have already discredited the connection.

And Gran Turismo isn’t even anywhere close to being bloody, for crying out loud.

The driver was an idiot

See what we mean about conclusions being drawn? Fine, The guy who thought he was the reincarnation of Schumi really was an idiot for driving like that, but having a video game in the car involved really does complicate matters. D*** it, I’ve played Gran Turismo before getting into the driver’s seat of a Civic, but even I’m not that stupid enough to turn the real world into my very own Gran Turismo.

What we really have here is a guy who cannot recognize that he was in no condition to drive, and no judgement behind the wheel – video games or real-life. If you can’t amp down, my driving instructor told me, you can’t gas up. Between a worried judge and potentially careless reporting, on the other hand, anything can be taken out of context, out of proportion.