More than 40,000 deaths due to motor vehicle crashes in the United States are attributed to risky behavior like speeding, impairment and aggressive driving.

Efforts to change these behaviors often involve driver education, public awareness, and legislation.

Though these approaches can be effective, they often require significant resources and time to yield results.

Current crash trends suggest that additional countermeasures are needed, according to the American Automobile Association.

One possibility is smartphone technology which can be used to measure dangerous driving behaviors.

To explore this issue further, The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety examined whether providing feedback and incentives—typical of UBI programs—enhances driver safety.

Researchers also explored whether targeted goals, either assigned or self-selected, lead to greater improvements.

“This research, with over 1,400 study participants, gauges what motivates individuals to change certain risky driving behaviors,” said Dr. David Yang, president and executive director of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. “Finding ways to reduce these behaviors can positively impact traffic safety and reduce injuries and fatalities on our roads.”

The trial examined the use of handheld phones, speeding, hard braking, and rapid acceleration. Participants were divided into four groups, with different levels of feedback and advice over a 12-week period. All groups, except the observation group, could earn bonus incentives based on their overall driving safety.

The Observation group – served as the control; their driving was monitored during this period, but they received no feedback or bonus incentive.
The Standard Feedback group – given weekly feedback and advice via text messages on all behaviors monitored.
The Assigned Goal group – focused on one specific behavior assigned to them and were given weekly feedback and advice via text messages on that one behavior.
The Chosen Goal group – participants selected one behavior to focus on and set a goal for improvement; were given weekly feedback and advice via text messages on that goal.

Among the three feedback groups, there were clear improvements in driver behavior:

• Up to a 13 percent reduction in speeding
• Up to a 21 percent reduction in hard braking
• Up to a 25 percent reduction in rapid acceleration

The use of handheld phones remained unchanged, leading researchers to conclude the baseline safety scores provided to participants at the start of the study for this behavior led drivers to believe that they were being safer than they actually were—and therefore, there was less need for improvement.

Participants also reported how helpful the following tactics were in changing their behaviors:

• 67.4 percent– the potential to earn extra money
• 53.9 percent – weekly driving feedback via text message
• 45.8 percent – weekly dashboard (provided detailed driving information for the week)

Participants in the “Assigned Goal” and “Chosen Goal” groups also displayed higher engagement with the dashboard, which correlated to greater improvement in risky driving behaviors.

After the 12-week period, participants were monitored for an additional six weeks without any feedback or incentives to determine if their habits would persist in the absence of reinforcement. The study found that, generally, participants continued to drive more safely, indicating that they did so without receiving feedback or incentives.

“It’s encouraging to see that many individuals stuck with safer habits even after the study,” said Jake Nelson, AAA’s director of traffic safety advocacy. “This shows that positive reinforcement, not just punitive measures, can lead to safer driving habits that can save lives.”

AAA’s research shows that the kinds of feedback and incentives offered by UBI programs can improve driver safety across a range of behaviors and developers of thr technology can maximize benefits by looking for ways to enhance participant engagement.