Can I interest you in an app that tracks your driving behavior?

Smartphone apps that way our driving behaviour whitethorn beryllium the cardinal to safer roadworthy conditions. 

The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety conscionable published a survey that recovered that utilizing smartphone apps to show operator behavior, and past providing summaries of that behaviour via substance connection oregon a information dashboard, leads to safer driving. 

Researchers borrowed techniques from usage-based insurance (UBI) programs, successful which security companies usage smartphone apps to measurement unsafe driving behaviors, similar hard braking, abrupt acceleration, and speeding. Rather than trust connected actuarial data, similar driving records and conveyance type, UBI programs usage real-time information from app trackers to find premiums. These are typically opt-in programs, marketed arsenic a mode to little premiums. But if your driving isn’t arsenic harmless arsenic you think, it tin pb to higher monthly payments. 

Most radical person an aversion to being tracked successful real-time by their security company. But the AAA radical was capable to amusement that these methods tin pb to safer driving — even aft the tracking apps are turned off. Participants were told their information was being reviewed arsenic portion of a probe study, and not being utilized by security companies to little oregon rise their rates. 

The probe squad corralled 1,400 participants and divided them into 4 groups: a power group; a modular feedback group, which were fixed play feedback via substance connected each behaviors monitored; an assigned extremity group, which were fixed play substance feedback connected 1 behavior; and a chosen extremity group, which selected their ain behaviour connected which to person feedback. 

Among the 3 feedback groups, 13 percent of participants showed a simplification successful speeding, 21 percent showed a simplification successful hard braking, and 25 percent experienced little accelerated acceleration. 

Participants besides gave their ain feedback connected tactics for changing their driving behavior: 67.4 percent said they would beryllium persuaded by the imaginable to gain other money; 53.9 percent liked play feedback via substance message; and 45.8 percent preferred a play dashboard that provided elaborate driving accusation for the week. 

The probe squad besides monitored the groups’ usage of smartphones portion driving, and were amazed to find that unspeakable behaviour remained mostly unchanged. They theorized that providing baseline information scores astatine the commencement of the survey led drivers to judge they were being safer than they really were — and therefore, little successful request for improvement. 

After the 12-week study, participants were monitored for an further six weeks without immoderate feedback to find whether their improved driving would persist. The survey recovered that mostly they continued to thrust much safely. 

“It’s encouraging to spot that galore individuals stuck with safer habits adjacent aft the study,” said Jake Nelson, AAA’s manager of postulation information advocacy, successful a statement. “This shows that affirmative reinforcement, not conscionable punitive measures, tin pb to safer driving habits that tin prevention lives.”

In 2023, implicit 40,000 radical died successful conveyance crashes successful the US. AAA says the probe results constituent to the request for innovative approaches to educating radical astir safer driving behavior. 

Most radical person an aversion to being tracked portion they thrust — particularly erstwhile you see that astir drivers person an overinflated consciousness of their ain behavior. But UBI programs are growing. In 2020, 16 percent of car security shoppers were offered UBI and 12 percent of them enrolled, according to USA Today. In 2024, 15 percent of buyers were offered UBI, but a astir a 5th of them signed up.

We already usage our phones to show a batch of our behavior, including our steps, our sleep, and our eating habits. Why not driving?