A Randomized Field Trial of Smartphone-based Feedback to Encourage Safe Driving
1 other identifier
interventional
1,449
1 country
1
Brief 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.
Trial Health
Trial Health Score
Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach
participants targeted
Target at P75+ for not_applicable
Started Jan 2024
Shorter than P25 for not_applicable
1 active site
Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.
Trial Relationships
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Study Timeline
Key milestones and dates
First Submitted
Initial submission to the registry
July 27, 2023
CompletedFirst Posted
Study publicly available on registry
October 26, 2023
CompletedStudy Start
First participant enrolled
January 25, 2024
CompletedPrimary Completion
Last participant's last visit for primary outcome
July 30, 2024
CompletedStudy Completion
Last participant's last visit for all outcomes
September 30, 2024
CompletedJuly 2, 2025
July 1, 2025
6 months
July 27, 2023
July 1, 2025
Conditions
Keywords
Outcome Measures
Primary Outcomes (1)
Overall Driving Score
This is the mean of the four behavior scores for the intervention period (and, in a follow-up analysis of effect sustainability, the post-intervention period). Scores can range from 0 -100, 100 being the safest driving score.
12 weeks of the intervention period + separate analysis of 6 week post intervention.
Secondary Outcomes (4)
Distraction score
12 weeks of the intervention period + separate analysis of 6 week post intervention.
Speeding score
12 weeks of the intervention period + separate analysis of 6 week post intervention.
Braking score
12 weeks of the intervention period + separate analysis of 6 week post intervention.
Acceleration Score
12 weeks of the intervention period + separate analysis of 6 week post intervention.
Other Outcomes (10)
Handheld phone use per hour of driving
12 weeks of the intervention period + separate analysis of 6 week post intervention.
Overall riskiness metric
12 weeks of the intervention period + separate analysis of 6 week post intervention.
Disabled SMS messaging
18 weeks of the study (6 - week baseline; 12- week intervention period)
- +7 more other outcomes
Study Arms (4)
Control
NO INTERVENTIONParticipants will have the Way to Drive app monitoring in the background throughout the intervention period for overall driving score, handheld phone use, speeding, hard braking, and fast acceleration. They will not receive feedback, driving tips or UBI-like behavioral incentives. Participants will also receive payment or non-adherence messages as needed for having the app functioning.
Standard Feedback + UBI-like Behavioral Incentive
ACTIVE COMPARATORParticipants will have the Way to Drive app monitoring in the background, and will receive payment or non-adherence messages as needed, but will also receive, Standard Feedback, Study Dashboard, Driving Tips, and UBI-like Behavioral Incentive
Assigned Goal with UBI-like Behavioral Incentive
ACTIVE COMPARATORParticipants will have the Way to Drive app monitoring in the background, and will receive payment or non-adherence messages as needed, but will also receive Assigned Focus Area Feedback, Driving Tips, a Study Dashboard, and UBI-like Behavioral Incentive
Self-Chosen Goal with UBI-like Behavioral Incentive
ACTIVE COMPARATORParticipants will have the Way to Drive app monitoring in the background, and will receive payment or non-adherence messages as needed, but will also receive Self-Chosen Focus Area Feedback, Driving Tips, Study Dashboard, and UBI-like Behavioral Incentive.
Interventions
Each week participants will receive a safe driving tip for one of the four behaviors via text message.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Eligibility Criteria
You may qualify if:
- years of age or older
- Has an Apple or Android smartphone (iPhone iOS 12 or later or Android OS 7 or later)
- Drives at least 2 days per week
- English reading ability
- Passes an attention check
- Provides valid email address, cell number, name, address, and date of birth
Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.
Sponsors & Collaborators
- University of Pennsylvanialead
- AAA Foundation for Traffic Safetycollaborator
Study Sites (1)
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104, United States
Study Design
- Study Type
- interventional
- Phase
- not applicable
- Allocation
- RANDOMIZED
- Masking
- NONE
- Purpose
- TREATMENT
- Intervention Model
- PARALLEL
- Sponsor Type
- OTHER
- Responsible Party
- PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
- PI Title
- Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and Epidemiology
Study Record Dates
First Submitted
July 27, 2023
First Posted
October 26, 2023
Study Start
January 25, 2024
Primary Completion
July 30, 2024
Study Completion
September 30, 2024
Last Updated
July 2, 2025
Record last verified: 2025-07