Analysis of an Incentive-Based Smartphone Application for Young Drivers

Abstract

Traffic crashes remain the leading cause of unintentional youth deaths and injuries across the United States. Development of new and innovative interventions continues, with the aim of addressing this public health issue for the high-risk youth driving population. This report shares results associated with an incentive-based smartphone application (app) developed by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute as part of the peer-to-peer safe driving program, Teens in the Driver Seat®. One of the core features of the app is a reward system, in which drivers earn points for miles driven without any phone interaction. Points earned can be redeemed for rewards and are used as a basis for competitions and achievement of safe driving levels. This project examines data collected from two distinct smartphone app deployments—one in 2017 and one in 2018 —each over a timespan of several months. The datasets included over 12,200 trips and more than 100,000 miles logged using the app. Statistical analyses were performed to assess the influence of incentives on the frequency of distracted driving. Statistically significant reductions in distracted driving (at the 95% confidence level) were shown to have occurred when incentives were awarded for distraction-free driving. Several other data points of interest are presented herein as well.