Smartphone apps that monitor driving habits can be the solution to fewer accidents and safer roads.
Since no one can look at the driver’s behavior while driving except if there is a passenger, the apps could immediately inform the person how he/she behaves inside the car through a data dashboard or summary.
How Smartphone Apps Improve Driving Behavior
Smartphone Apps Can Make You a Safer Driver Even After
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According to a recent study conducted by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, driving is made much safer by employing these apps to monitor driving habits and give drivers feedback.
The research examined how phone-based monitoring, like usage-based insurance (UBI) programs, can impact driving behavior. UBI programs apply real-time data to evaluate risky behavior such as hard braking, abrupt acceleration, and aggressive speeding.
Rather than merely considering actuarial information, like vehicle type and driving record, these applications provide a truer picture of how drivers behave.
In contrast to insurance tracking programs that potentially increase or decrease insurance rates, the AAA study isolated itself from influencing behavior modification through premium effects.
Participants knew that their information would not affect insurance rates, so researchers could measure the effect of real-time feedback without financial consequences.
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Monitoring Results in Safer Driving
Researchers enrolled 1,400 drivers and divided them into four groups:
- A control group with no feedback.
- A standard feedback group receiving weekly summaries via text.
- An assigned goal group, which concentrated on one specific driving habit.
- A selected goal group, in which subjects chose a habit to track.
According to the researchers, the findings were enlightening. The Verge summarized the results through the following: 13% of the subjects decreased speeding, 21% reduced frequency of hard braking, and 25% accelerated less sharply.
What Drives Drivers to Change?
The research also investigated what would motivate drivers to change. According to the study, 67.4% responded that monetary incentives (like extra money) would encourage them.
On the other hand, 53.9% preferred to receive weekly feedback via text messages, while 45.8% of the respondents appreciated a comprehensive driving dashboard.
In an interesting finding, though participants improved speed and braking, the drivers did not substantially alter how they used phones while driving. Researchers speculated that early safety scores might have given participants the perception that they had already driven safely and thus reduced the perceived necessity to improve.
Permanent Effect of Smartphone Monitoring
To determine whether changes continued, scientists observed participants for a further six weeks after the experiment was concluded. The results indicated that better driving behavior still occurred even after the feedback ended, which shows that positive reinforcement lasts.
According to AAA’s director of traffic safety policy, Jake Nelson, it’s “encouraging” to know that most people remained with better habits even after the study. He believes that safer driving is the result of positive reinforcement.
With more than 40,000 traffic deaths in the United States two years ago, new approaches to decreasing accidents are needed. As much as motorists oppose real-time monitoring, research shows that keeping tabs on how people drive makes a difference.
We already wear our phones like pedometers, tracking our steps, sleep, and diets. If technology can make us healthier, we could also do the same thing with smartphone apps to help us drive more safely.
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