Skip to main content
OpenTrials
Completed

NCT Number: NCT05469477

Increasing Seat Belt Wearing and Decreasing Handheld Phone Use While Driving

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.

Completed

Looking for future studies?

Notify Me

Key information

Conditions

Distracted Driving Driving Behaviors Impaired Driving

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104, United States

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

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

Treatment and study plan

Persuasive education

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.

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

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

Behavioral

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

Raffle Financial Incentive

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.

Shared Pot Financial Incentive

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

Behavioral

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

Weekly SMS Encouragement

Behavioral

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

Primary outcomes

  1. Proportion of trips with seat belt use

    Time frame: 105 days

    Calculated as the number of trips during which a driver's seat belt click was detected, divided by total number of trips (defined as 1/10 of a mile or greater).

Secondary outcomes

  1. Seconds of active (handheld) phone use per hour of driving

    Time frame: 105 days

    This is a composite outcome that measures the proportion of total trip time in which the driver is engaged in handheld phone call use or non-call handheld use (e.g. texting, swiping, and typing), as measured by the Way to Drive app.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of Pennsylvania

Other

Collaborators

  • General Motors (GM)

Registry information

Official study title

Behavioral Interventions to Increase Seat Belt Wearing and Decrease Handheld Phone Use While Driving

Important dates

Study start
2023
Primary completion
2023
Study completion
2023
First posted
Jul 21, 2022
Registry last updated
Oct 3, 2023

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

Related clinical trials

Published trials that share one or more normalized conditions with this study.