Increasing Seat Belt Wearing and Decreasing Handheld Phone Use While Driving

NCT ID: NCT05469477

Last Updated: 2023-10-03

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

1139 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2023-03-12

Study Completion Date

2023-06-29

Brief Summary

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The study team is proposing to conduct a randomized controlled trial to determine the effectiveness of behavioral and financial incentives on phone use while driving and seat belt adherence. Each arm will receive a support text if their app is not collecting data. The behavioral engagement intervention includes persuasive education, mental contrasting with implementation intentions, customized habit tips, weekly feedback about participants' streaks, and encouraging SMS texts. The two financial incentive interventions add on weekly raffles or shared pots for participants with perfect streaks.

Detailed Description

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Conditions

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Distracted Driving Impaired Driving Driving Behaviors

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

FACTORIAL

Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

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Control

Participants are asked to buckle up and not engage in handheld phone use while driving. No further messaging will be provided about their behavior, and participants will not receive financial incentives for avoiding risky driving behavior.

Group Type OTHER

Weekly SMS Support text

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Participants will receive a support SMS to troubleshoot, etc. if the Way to Drive app is not collecting trip data.

Behavioral Engagement

Participants will receive a multicomponent safer driving intervention based on behavioral science. This will include persuasive education, WOOP (mental contrasting with implementation intentions) and customized habit tips.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

WOOP (aka, mental contrasting with implementation intentions., Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Participants will receive an intervention on improving driving behavior with a specific goal in mind and how to reach that goal. Participants will do this by thinking through 4 parts: a wish, an outcome, an obstacle and a plan. This has been shown to build motivation, and help achieve the desired change.

Customized Habit Tips

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Participants will receive weekly text-message tips, informed by findings from survey responses, plus reminders to address stated obstacles.

Weekly SMS Support text

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Participants will receive a support SMS to troubleshoot, etc. if the Way to Drive app is not collecting trip data.

Weekly SMS Encouragement

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Those who have a perfect streak going midway through each week will receive an additional encouraging message cheering them on.

Persuasive education

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The research team will use psychology and communications research to present information about seat belts and distracted driving in a way that builds intrinsic motivation to change. Because positively framed messages are more effective at promoting seat belt wearing, the team's messaging will employ this framing. Education will address common reasons that survey participants give for not consistently buckling up or for phone use while driving.

Raffle incentive + behavioral engagement

Participants will receive the entire multicomponent safer driving behavioral intervention from arm 2. Participants will also be eligible for the Raffle Financial incentive, where participants can earn prize money for seat belt adherence and/or no phone use while driving.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

WOOP (aka, mental contrasting with implementation intentions., Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Participants will receive an intervention on improving driving behavior with a specific goal in mind and how to reach that goal. Participants will do this by thinking through 4 parts: a wish, an outcome, an obstacle and a plan. This has been shown to build motivation, and help achieve the desired change.

Customized Habit Tips

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Participants will receive weekly text-message tips, informed by findings from survey responses, plus reminders to address stated obstacles.

Raffle Financial Incentive

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Each week, participants who adhere to seat belt use or abstain from phone use while driving get a chance at prize money. One winner will be randomly chosen for each target behavior and earn prize money; the rest will not receive compensation.

Weekly SMS Support text

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Participants will receive a support SMS to troubleshoot, etc. if the Way to Drive app is not collecting trip data.

Weekly SMS Encouragement

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Those who have a perfect streak going midway through each week will receive an additional encouraging message cheering them on.

Persuasive education

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The research team will use psychology and communications research to present information about seat belts and distracted driving in a way that builds intrinsic motivation to change. Because positively framed messages are more effective at promoting seat belt wearing, the team's messaging will employ this framing. Education will address common reasons that survey participants give for not consistently buckling up or for phone use while driving.

Shared pot incentive + behavioral engagement

Participants will receive the entire multicomponent safer driving behavioral intervention from arm 2. This arm will be identical to Arm 3, except there will be a shared pot financial incentive instead of a raffle. Participants that abstain from phone use while driving and seat belt adherence earn an equal share of prize money allocated for the entire group.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

WOOP (aka, mental contrasting with implementation intentions., Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Participants will receive an intervention on improving driving behavior with a specific goal in mind and how to reach that goal. Participants will do this by thinking through 4 parts: a wish, an outcome, an obstacle and a plan. This has been shown to build motivation, and help achieve the desired change.

Customized Habit Tips

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Participants will receive weekly text-message tips, informed by findings from survey responses, plus reminders to address stated obstacles.

Shared Pot Financial Incentive

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

This will be identical to the raffle incentive, except that each week participants who adhere to seat belt use or abstain from phone use while driving will be guaranteed an equal share of prize money.

Weekly SMS Support text

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Participants will receive a support SMS to troubleshoot, etc. if the Way to Drive app is not collecting trip data.

Weekly SMS Encouragement

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Those who have a perfect streak going midway through each week will receive an additional encouraging message cheering them on.

Persuasive education

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The research team will use psychology and communications research to present information about seat belts and distracted driving in a way that builds intrinsic motivation to change. Because positively framed messages are more effective at promoting seat belt wearing, the team's messaging will employ this framing. Education will address common reasons that survey participants give for not consistently buckling up or for phone use while driving.

Interventions

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WOOP (aka, mental contrasting with implementation intentions., Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan)

Participants will receive an intervention on improving driving behavior with a specific goal in mind and how to reach that goal. Participants will do this by thinking through 4 parts: a wish, an outcome, an obstacle and a plan. This has been shown to build motivation, and help achieve the desired change.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Customized Habit Tips

Participants will receive weekly text-message tips, informed by findings from survey responses, plus reminders to address stated obstacles.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Raffle Financial Incentive

Each week, participants who adhere to seat belt use or abstain from phone use while driving get a chance at prize money. One winner will be randomly chosen for each target behavior and earn prize money; the rest will not receive compensation.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Shared Pot Financial Incentive

This will be identical to the raffle incentive, except that each week participants who adhere to seat belt use or abstain from phone use while driving will be guaranteed an equal share of prize money.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Weekly SMS Support text

Participants will receive a support SMS to troubleshoot, etc. if the Way to Drive app is not collecting trip data.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Weekly SMS Encouragement

Those who have a perfect streak going midway through each week will receive an additional encouraging message cheering them on.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Persuasive education

The research team will use psychology and communications research to present information about seat belts and distracted driving in a way that builds intrinsic motivation to change. Because positively framed messages are more effective at promoting seat belt wearing, the team's messaging will employ this framing. Education will address common reasons that survey participants give for not consistently buckling up or for phone use while driving.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Are a GM/OnStar customer.
* Are 18 or older.
* Meet minimum trip requirements.
* Uses vehicle with OnStar
* At least 5 weeks of baseline trip data with \>=8 trips/week at baseline on average
* Baseline seat belt use \<= 75% on trips less than 2 miles and \<= 90 on trips greater than 2 miles
* English reading ability
* Have an email address
* Have a smartphone with iPhone iOS 12 or later or Android OS 7 or later

Exclusion Criteria

* You are unable to read and understand English
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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General Motors (GM)

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role collaborator

University of Pennsylvania

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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M. Kit Delgado, MD

Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

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Mucio Delgado

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Pennsylvania

Locations

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University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Site Status

Countries

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United States

References

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Dingus TA, Guo F, Lee S, Antin JF, Perez M, Buchanan-King M, Hankey J. Driver crash risk factors and prevalence evaluation using naturalistic driving data. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 Mar 8;113(10):2636-41. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1513271113. Epub 2016 Feb 22.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 26903657 (View on PubMed)

Gershon P, Sita KR, Zhu C, Ehsani JP, Klauer SG, Dingus TA, Simons-Morton BG. Distracted Driving, Visual Inattention, and Crash Risk Among Teenage Drivers. Am J Prev Med. 2019 Apr;56(4):494-500. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2018.11.024. Epub 2019 Feb 21.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 30799162 (View on PubMed)

Klauer SG, Guo F, Simons-Morton BG, Ouimet MC, Lee SE, Dingus TA. Distracted driving and risk of road crashes among novice and experienced drivers. N Engl J Med. 2014 Jan 2;370(1):54-9. doi: 10.1056/NEJMsa1204142.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 24382065 (View on PubMed)

Simons-Morton BG, Guo F, Klauer SG, Ehsani JP, Pradhan AK. Keep your eyes on the road: young driver crash risk increases according to duration of distraction. J Adolesc Health. 2014 May;54(5 Suppl):S61-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2013.11.021.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 24759443 (View on PubMed)

Ebert JP, Yan R, Friday S, Small D, McDonald CC, Bartolozzi K, Delgado MK. Behavioral Interventions for Increasing Seat Belt Use and Decreasing Distracted Driving Using Telematics: A National Randomized Trial. Am J Public Health. 2025 May;115(5):758-768. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2024.307980. Epub 2025 Mar 13.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 40080744 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

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851411

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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