Comparative Effectiveness of Alternative Smartphone-Based Nudges to Reduce Cellphone Use While Driving

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This work builds on the innovative, cross-disciplinary collaboration for testing behavioral economic strategies for health behavior change and experts in traffic safety. Two field experiments will test scalable smartphone-based "nudge" strategies to reduce cellphone use while driving. The first randomized trial tests the effect of policies requiring smartphones to have a "car mode," akin to "airplane mode," and enhancements for uptake and sustained use via potential auto insurance incentives. Specifically, the effect of "opt-out" vs. "opt-in" deployment of a smartphone "car mode" setting that blocks cellphone use while driving, with and without financial incentives. The second randomized trial compares the effects of social, individual, and team-based incentives by employers that could be scaled to reduce cellphone use while driving. This research may assist policymakers to make decisions concerning cellular-based distracted driving countermeasures and lead to transformative innovation through the translation of insights from behavioral economics to the design of more effective usage-based insurance programs and employer and fleet management programs for motivating safer driving.