Feedback plus cash incentives reduce phone use while driving, researchers discover

To make somebody put their cellphone down whereas driving, present them the cash—with a catch, in line with analysis printed in JAMA Community Open. When a bunch of auto insurance coverage prospects had been tempted with a money incentive—and common suggestions letting the driving force know the way they had been doing in comparison with different drivers attempting to scale back their cellphone time—handheld cellphone use dropped considerably, a staff on the Perelman College of Drugs on the College of Pennsylvania discovered.

The researchers examined a number of totally different methods knowledgeable by conduct science to curb distracted driving in a seven-week trial. One technique paired weekly suggestions on cellphone use with a money incentive of as much as $50 on the finish of the examine if the drivers used their telephones lower than others.

That method yielded a 15% lower in handheld cellphone utilization in comparison with drivers given no incentive or suggestions. Nonetheless, when drivers had been informed that they’d obtain the identical sum of money paid out in weekly installments, however lose it in the event that they engaged in handheld cellphone utilization whereas driving, cellphone use decreased by 21%.

“In the USA, there are over 800,000 crashes per yr because of distracted driving, with cellphone use whereas driving being a number one trigger. This happens regardless of quite a few legal guidelines banning handheld cellphone use, suggesting further scalable interventions are wanted,” mentioned lead writer M. Package Delgado, MD, MS, school director of Penn Drugs’s Nudge Unit and an affiliate professor of Emergency Drugs and Epidemiology.

“We had been ready to make use of the ability of people’ pure aversion to loss and remorse, in addition to our want to slot in to social norms, to attain some vital outcomes.”

Insurance coverage firms noticed a 30% climb in distracted driving-related crashes between 2011 and 2020, largely tied to cellphone utilization. Twenty-eight states have passed bans on handheld cellphone utilization whereas driving, with Pennsylvania the most recent state to enact a legislation, which takes impact mid-2025.

The follow of incentivizing drivers’ behaviors is rising. Auto insurance coverage firms are growing “usage-based insurance (UBI)” the place prospects conform to obtain smartphone apps to observe driving efficiency and cellphone utilization. The information is then used to regulate charges for particular person drivers, with safer drivers being supplied reductions on future insurance coverage insurance policies.

For the examine, Penn Drugs researchers labored with researchers at Progressive Insurance coverage, which invited prospects taking part in their very own UBI program to take part, enrolling over 2,000 contributors within the examine.

With deidentified information, Penn Drugs’s researchers decided {that a} group of drivers who had been informed (and up to date weekly) that they may lose as much as $7.15 every week had been those who used their telephones least in comparison with the management group of drivers that had no incentives or suggestions.

Curiously, doubling the inducement to $14.29 per week did not result in a better discount in cellphone use, although there was a big decline. There have been additionally notable outcomes amongst drivers who acquired suggestions and had been supplied the $50 incentive on the finish of the take a look at interval.

Drivers supplied the delayed $50 incentive on the finish of the intervention however acquired no weekly suggestions and no incremental loss for weekly efficiency didn’t obtain vital outcomes.

The rationale why suggestions and loss-framed funds seemed to be so vital, Delgado believes, is innately human.

“Folks are likely to assume they’re higher drivers than others,” he mentioned. “Offering goal information on how they examine to others is a confirmed method to encourage individuals towards a social norm. Additionally, prior research have proven that those that have interaction in handheld cellphone use are likely to have ‘current bias’ and place stronger weight on payoffs which might be nearer to the current time.”

When damaged down into time, the highest attaining intervention—the $7.15-per-week group—lowered their cellphone utilization by a mean of 56 seconds per hour down from a baseline of 216 seconds per hour. When taking one’s eyes off the highway for five seconds increases the risk of crash nine-fold, at scale, these interventions may cut back distracted driving by tens of millions of hours per yr.

This work continues analysis carried out by Delgado into distracted driving courting again to 2016 (which led to a 2018 paper) and continues with additional nudge information evaluation. Future analysis consists of testing interventions leveraging smartphone utilization information that would assist high-risk drivers construct lasting habits.

“This line of labor is promising as a result of insurance coverage firms already spend billions of {dollars} per yr providing incentives for secure driving behaviors,” mentioned Delgado. “Rigorously testing methods these firms can use to interact prospects to be safer will help cut back crashes, save lives, and lower your expenses, and, importantly, be sustained by means of a powerful enterprise case.”