A Randomized Field Trial of Smartphone-based Feedback to Encourage Safe Driving

Summary

The study team are proposing to conduct a randomized controlled trial to determine the effectiveness of focused feedback vs standard feedback and self-chosen vs assigned goals on driving behaviors targeted by behavior-based insurance apps: hard braking, fast acceleration, handheld phone use, and speeding. The interventions arms will receive feedback on their driving behaviors, tips for safe driving, and a UBI-like financial incentive. The Penn research team will use Meta advertisements to recruit for the study and determine eligibility via an online survey. Those who enroll will undergo a 6-week run-in period during which their driving trips will be monitored by a mobile app. Individuals with a sufficient number of trips during this period will be randomly assigned to one of four arms for the intervention period. Target enrollment is 1,300 participants (325 per trial arm). The power analysis assumed an attrition rate of 20% over the course of the study.

Conditions

• Distracted Driving
• Injury Prevention
• Behavioral Economics

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Driving Tips

Each week participants will receive a safe driving tip for one of the four behaviors via text message.

BEHAVIORAL

Standard Feedback

Each week participants will receive a text message showing their overall driving score (out of 100) and subscores for distraction, hard braking, fast acceleration, and speeding (all running averages). The scoreboard will indicate whether their scores have gone up, down, or stayed the same. The message will include a link to a dashboard.

BEHAVIORAL

Assigned Focus Area Feedback

Each week feedback will focus the participant's attention on the driving behavior with the greatest opportunity for improvement based on their baseline driving behavior. Participants will be assigned a goal for the week of a score 5 points (3 points in the case of Driver Focus) better than their baseline for that area. If they meet the goal, they will be given a new goal 5 points higher; if they fall short, they will be asked to try for the same goal again. If they improve sufficiently-or if their improvement stalls out-they will be assigned a new behavior to focus on.

BEHAVIORAL

Study Dashboard (Standard)

By clicking the link in the feedback text, they will be able to view a weekly dashboard that provides detailed information about their baseline, best, last, and average scores for each of the four behaviors, plus descriptions of the four behaviors.

BEHAVIORAL

Study Dashboard (focused)

Same as standard study dashboard, except participants will see at the top of the dashboard how well they are doing relative to their weekly goals.

BEHAVIORAL

UBI-like Behavioral Incentive

At the end of the 12-week intervention period, their overall driving score will be translated into a $0-$100 reward amount. For example, a participant with an overall driving score of 84 at the end of the intervention period would receive $84 in compensation.

BEHAVIORAL

Sef-Chosen Focus Area Feedback

Participants will be asked to select which driving behavior they want to focus on improving, and to set a goal for the week that is above their baseline score. If they meet the goal, they will be asked to set a new, higher goal; if they fall short, they will be asked to try for the same goal again. If they improve sufficiently-or if their improvement stalls out-they will be asked if they want to focus on a new behavior.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• University of Pennsylvania

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-01-25

Primary Completion

2024-07-30

Completion

2024-09-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations