A newly released study found that car crashes spiked on major music album release days than on the 10 days before and after, according to “Smartphones, Online Music Streaming, and Traffic Fatalities,” published on the JAMA Open Network.

The cross-sectional study of 233,809 traffic fatalities occurring in the U.S. between 2017 and 2022, revealed a 15.1% increase, when daily online music streaming increased by approximately 43%.

Researchers suggest that the findings indicate that online music streaming through smartphones is associated with distracted driving and traffic fatalities.

The research, the result of collaboration among researchers from the Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the National Bureau of Economic Research, found that daily music streaming volumes rose on dates of major album releases compared with the 10 days before and after releases, from 86.1 million to 123.3 million, an increase of 43%.

Excess fatalities occurring on album release days were higher among drivers who were younger and male and among crashes where a single occupant was involved, the weather was clear, alcohol was not involved, and vehicles were manufactured with infotainment systems.

The authors, Vishal R. Patel MD MPH, Christopher M. Worshum MD MPH, and Michael Liu MD Mphil, opined that the results suggest drivers were distracted by smartphone infotainment systems.