Distracted DrivingNCT04587609
Reducing Cell Phone Use While Driving Among High Risk UBI Auto Policy Holders
A study testing Free Phone Mounts, Commitment Contract and Personalized Habit Tips in people with Distracted Driving and Driving Impaired, run by University of Pennsylvania at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
Insurance User Based Insurance (UBI) users will be invited to participate in a randomized control trial where they will be randomized into 1 of 4 arms: (Arm 1) standard UBI, (Arm 2) Standard UBI + Free phone mounts (Arm 3) Commitment + Habit Tips, (Arm 4) Gamification + Social Competition,(Arm 5) Contest Financial… Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and olderHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Distracted Driving, Driving Impaired
- What is being tested?
- Free Phone Mounts, Commitment Contract and Personalized Habit Tips
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 1,668 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 1 Mar 2021to 30 Jun 2021
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 years and older
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Progressive Snapshot Users with policy activated within recruitment period AND reducing in a state which phone use while driving is factored into insurance rating at the time of enrollment
- Has email address
Who cannot join
- Progressive Snapshot Mobile App not updated to enable push notifications
- Baseline phone use must be greater than or equal to 2 min/hour
- Customer's Snapshot Mobile App does not collect trop data with all sensors active
- Customer in Snapshot program for <30 days or more >70 days
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
United States1 site
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104
About this study
Official title: Comparative Effectiveness of Behavioral Interventions, Safety Devices, and Financial Incentives to Reduce Cellphone Use While Driving Among UBI Policy Holders
Insurance User Based Insurance (UBI) users will be invited to participate in a randomized control trial where they will be randomized into 1 of 4 arms: (Arm 1) standard UBI, (Arm 2) Standard UBI + Free phone mounts (Arm 3) Commitment + Habit Tips, (Arm 4) Gamification + Social Competition,(Arm 5) Contest Financial Incentives. Each successive arm will experience all of the elements that the lower-numbered arms will.
Read the detailed description
Insurance company will invite User Based Insurance app users with more than 2 minutes per hours of handheld phone use in their first month of the insurance program to participate in a study to help them reduce their phone use while driving. Email invitations will include max insurance discount amount for the safest drivers in the customer's demographic group receive for not using their phone while in the User based insurance app. Participants that enroll into the study will be randomized to 1 of 4 arms: (Arm 1) standard UBI where they will continue to be monitored and receive educational material about distracted driving in the enrollment period; (Arm 2) Free phone mounts Arm, this arm will be monitored through standard UBI and receive educational material about distracted driving in the enrollment period, and free phone mounts (Arm 3)+ Commitment + Habit tips, this arm will receive educational material about distracted driving during the enrollment period, be sent a free phone mount with installation instructions, sign a personalized commitment contract to reduce their phone use, set personal phone use reduction goals, and be sent personalized habit tips framed to help them reduce their handheld phone use while driving; (Arm 4) will receive all treatments assigned to arm 2, plus social gamification feedback, where each week participants are told if they've reach their weekly handheld phone use while driving reduction goal, and receive or lose points based on whether or not they met their goal. Based on their points participants can either move up or down a level. Each week the participants will also be sent a leader board of their ranking within their group. (Arm 5) will receive all of the treatments of arm 3 plus be entered into a financial incentive contest where they can either finish in the highest level and split the prize money amongst all participants that reached that level, or the safest driver (driver ranked #1 on the leader board of their group) will receive a small weekly financial prize.
- Conditions
- Distracted Driving, Driving Impaired
- Being tested
- Free Phone Mounts, Commitment Contract, Personalized Habit Tips, Social Gamification Feedback, "Contest" Financial Incentives
- Keywords
- financial incentives, gamification, habit formation
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Free Phone MountsBehavioural
Participants will receive free phone mounts
Commitment ContractBehavioural
Participants will develop and sign a personalized commitment contract where they will create their own weekly goals for phone use reduction, and plan potential future obstacles that may hinder them from reaching their goal and how and plan to overcome that obstacle.
Personalized Habit TipsBehavioural
Participants will receive weekly habit formation tips by text message. These messages will be tailored to encourage use of phone mounts, setting up do not disturb while driving, and include their personal obstacles and plans they developed to overcome.
Social Gamification FeedbackBehavioural
Each week of the intervention period, the participant will be notified whether they met their prior week's goal, stayed about the same, or backslid. Participants will all start with 100 points, and can gain/maintain/lose points each week in the intervention period. Levels are as follows:
Copper: 0-40 points Bronze: 50-80 points Silver: 90-120 points Gold: 130-160 points Platinum: 170-200 points
Social competition: participants will be placed in groups of 10 based on similarity of baseline phone use. Weekly leaderboard reports will be sent via email, with SMS reminder. In the leaderboard they'll see themselves as "You".
"Contest" Financial IncentivesBehavioural
Participants who finish in the platinum level will receive equal share of a prize, or a small amount will be awarded each week over the course of the intervention period to the weekly "Safest Driver" in each of the social competition cohorts.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Control - Standard UBI | No intervention | Participants will continue to be monitored as a part of their standard UBI and receive educational material about distracted driving in the enrollment period |
| Free Phone mount | Other | Participants in this arm will be monitored through standard UBI, receive educational material about distracted driving in the enrollment period, and free phone mounts Receives: Behavioral: Free Phone Mounts |
| Commitment + Habit tips | Other | Participants in this arm will receive educational material about distracted driving during the enrollment period, be sent a free phone mount with installation instructions, sign a personalized commitment contract to reduce their phone use, set personal phone use reduction goals, and be sent personalized habit tips framed to help them reduce their handheld phone use while driving; Receives: Behavioral: Free Phone Mounts; Behavioral: Commitment Contract; Behavioral: Personalized Habit Tips |
| Habit Formation + Social Gamification | Other | Participants in this arm will will receive all treatments assigned to arm 3, plus social gamification feedback, where each week participants are told if they've reach their weekly handheld phone use while driving reduction goal, and receive or lose points based on whether or not they met their goal. Based on their points participants can either move up or down a level. Each week the participants will also be sent a leader board of their ranking within their group. Receives: Behavioral: Free Phone Mounts; Behavioral: Commitment Contract; Behavioral: Personalized Habit Tips; Behavioral: Social Gamification Feedback |
| All + Contest Financial Incentive | Other | Participants in this arm will receive all of the treatments of arm 4 plus be entered into a financial incentive contest where they can either finish in the highest level and split the prize money amongst all participants that reached that level, and the safest driver (driver ranked #1 on the leader board of their group) will receive a small weekly financial prize. Receives: Behavioral: Free Phone Mounts; Behavioral: Commitment Contract; Behavioral: Personalized Habit Tips; Behavioral: Social Gamification Feedback; Behavioral: "Contest" Financial Incentives |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Seconds of active handheld phone use per hour of driving, using smartphone hardware sensors collected via Snapshot telematics app installed on phone
Seconds of active handheld phone use per hour of driving, or percentage of active phone use, including tapping, swiping, and typing. This does not include hands-free phone calls or voice texts. Measurements will be collected using the smartphone's internal hardware, such as an accelerometer gyroscope, and more.
Measured: 120 days
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted14 Oct 2020
- Study start1 Mar 2021
- Primary completion23 May 2021
- Study completion30 Jun 2021
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Publications (7)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for Distracted DrivingStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- More trials run by University of PennsylvaniaThe sponsor's other registered studies.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Factorial
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 1,668 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- University of Pennsylvania
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Progressive Auto Insurance
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
- Investigators
- Mucio K Delgado, MD, Principal investigator, University of Pennsylvania
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT04587609
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 842968
- Status last verified
- Jun 2021
- First submitted
- 7 Oct 2020
- Last updated
- 2 Jul 2021
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No
Publications
Hayashi Y, Russo CT, Wirth O. Texting while driving as impulsive choice: A behavioral economic analysis. Accid Anal Prev. 2015 Oct;83:182-9. doi: 10.1016/j.aap.2015.07.025. Epub 2015 Aug 13.
PubMed 26280804Asch DA, Rosin R. Engineering Social Incentives for Health. N Engl J Med. 2016 Dec 29;375(26):2511-3. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp1603978. No abstract available.
PubMed 28029924Kervick AA, Hogan MJ, O'Hora D, Sarma KM. Testing a structural model of young driver willingness to uptake Smartphone Driver Support Systems. Accid Anal Prev. 2015 Oct;83:171-81. doi: 10.1016/j.aap.2015.07.023. Epub 2015 Aug 13.
PubMed 26277411Klauer 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.
PubMed 24382065Loewenstein G, Asch DA, Volpp KG. Behavioral economics holds potential to deliver better results for patients, insurers, and employers. Health Aff (Millwood). 2013 Jul;32(7):1244-50. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2012.1163.
PubMed 23836740Loewenstein G, Brennan T, Volpp KG. Asymmetric paternalism to improve health behaviors. JAMA. 2007 Nov 28;298(20):2415-7. doi: 10.1001/jama.298.20.2415. No abstract available.
PubMed 18042920Ebert JP, Xiong RA, Khan N, Abdel-Rahman D, Leitner A, Everett WC, Gaba KL, Fisher WJ, McDonald CC, Winston FK, Rosin RM, Volpp KG, Barnett IJ, Wiebe DJ, Halpern SD, Delgado MK. A randomized trial of behavioral interventions yielding sustained reductions in distracted driving. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024 Aug 6;121(32):e2320603121. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2320603121. Epub 2024 Jul 29.
PubMed 39074277
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 2 Jul 2021. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Comparative Effectiveness of Behavioral Interventions, Safety Devices, and Financial Incentives to Reduce Cellphone Use While Driving Among UBI Policy Holders
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT04587609
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- 842968
- Conditions
- Distracted Driving, Driving Impaired
- Keywords
- financial incentives, gamification, habit formation
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 1,668 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- University of PennsylvaniaUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Progressive Auto Insurance
- Study start
- 1 Mar 2021 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 23 May 2021 (actual)
- Study completion
- 30 Jun 2021 (actual)
- First posted
- 14 Oct 2020 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
Insurance User Based Insurance (UBI) users will be invited to participate in a randomized control trial where they will be randomized into 1 of 4 arms: (Arm 1) standard UBI, (Arm 2) Standard UBI + Free phone mounts (Arm 3) Commitment + Habit Tips, (Arm 4) Gamification + Social Competition,(Arm 5) Contest Financial Incentives. Each successive arm will experience all of the elements that the lower-numbered arms will.
Detailed description
Insurance company will invite User Based Insurance app users with more than 2 minutes per hours of handheld phone use in their first month of the insurance program to participate in a study to help them reduce their phone use while driving. Email invitations will include max insurance discount amount for the safest drivers in the customer's demographic group receive for not using their phone while in the User based insurance app. Participants that enroll into the study will be randomized to 1 of 4 arms: (Arm 1) standard UBI where they will continue to be monitored and receive educational material about distracted driving in the enrollment period; (Arm 2) Free phone mounts Arm, this arm will be monitored through standard UBI and receive educational material about distracted driving in the enrollment period, and free phone mounts (Arm 3)+ Commitment + Habit tips, this arm will receive educational material about distracted driving during the enrollment period, be sent a free phone mount with installation instructions, sign a personalized commitment contract to reduce their phone use, set personal phone use reduction goals, and be sent personalized habit tips framed to help them reduce their handheld phone use while driving; (Arm 4) will receive all treatments assigned to arm 2, plus social gamification feedback, where each week participants are told if they've reach their weekly handheld phone use while driving reduction goal, and receive or lose points based on whether or not they met their goal. Based on their points participants can either move up or down a level. Each week the participants will also be sent a leader board of their ranking within their group. (Arm 5) will receive all of the treatments of arm 3 plus be entered into a financial incentive contest where they can either finish in the highest level and split the prize money amongst all participants that reached that level, or the safest driver (driver ranked #1 on the leader board of their group) will receive a small weekly financial prize.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Factorial
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 5
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Control - Standard UBI | No intervention | –Participants will continue to be monitored as a part of their standard UBI and receive educational material about distracted driving in the enrollment period |
| Free Phone mount | Other | Behavioral: Free Phone MountsParticipants in this arm will be monitored through standard UBI, receive educational material about distracted driving in the enrollment period, and free phone mounts |
| Commitment + Habit tips | Other | Behavioral: Free Phone Mounts, Behavioral: Commitment Contract, Behavioral: Personalized Habit TipsParticipants in this arm will receive educational material about distracted driving during the enrollment period, be sent a free phone mount with installation instructions, sign a personalized commitment contract to reduce their phone use, set personal phone use reduction goals, and be sent personalized habit tips framed to help them reduce their handheld phone use while driving; |
| Habit Formation + Social Gamification | Other | Behavioral: Free Phone Mounts, Behavioral: Commitment Contract, Behavioral: Personalized Habit Tips, Behavioral: Social Gamification FeedbackParticipants in this arm will will receive all treatments assigned to arm 3, plus social gamification feedback, where each week participants are told if they've reach their weekly handheld phone use while driving reduction goal, and receive or lose points based on whether or not they met their goal. Based on their points participants can either move up or down a level. Each week the participants will also be sent a leader board of their ranking within their group. |
| All + Contest Financial Incentive | Other | Behavioral: Free Phone Mounts, Behavioral: Commitment Contract, Behavioral: Personalized Habit Tips, Behavioral: Social Gamification Feedback, Behavioral: "Contest" Financial IncentivesParticipants in this arm will receive all of the treatments of arm 4 plus be entered into a financial incentive contest where they can either finish in the highest level and split the prize money amongst all participants that reached that level, and the safest driver (driver ranked #1 on the leader board of their group) will receive a small weekly financial prize. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (2 listed)
- Progressive Snapshot Users with policy activated within recruitment period AND reducing in a state which phone use while driving is factored into insurance rating at the time of enrollment
- Has email address
Key exclusion criteria (4 listed)
- Progressive Snapshot Mobile App not updated to enable push notifications
- Baseline phone use must be greater than or equal to 2 min/hour
- Customer's Snapshot Mobile App does not collect trop data with all sensors active
- Customer in Snapshot program for <30 days or more >70 days
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Free Phone MountsParticipants will receive free phone mounts | Behavioural | All + Contest Financial Incentive, Commitment + Habit tips, Free Phone mount, Habit Formation + Social Gamification |
| Commitment ContractParticipants will develop and sign a personalized commitment contract where they will create their own weekly goals for phone use reduction, and plan potential future obstacles that may hinder them from reaching their goal and how and plan to overcome that obstacle. | Behavioural | All + Contest Financial Incentive, Commitment + Habit tips, Habit Formation + Social Gamification |
| Personalized Habit TipsParticipants will receive weekly habit formation tips by text message. These messages will be tailored to encourage use of phone mounts, setting up do not disturb while driving, and include their personal obstacles and plans they developed to overcome. | Behavioural | All + Contest Financial Incentive, Commitment + Habit tips, Habit Formation + Social Gamification |
| Social Gamification FeedbackEach week of the intervention period, the participant will be notified whether they met their prior week's goal, stayed about the same, or backslid. Participants will all start with 100 points, and can gain/maintain/lose points each week in the intervention period. Levels are as follows: Copper: 0-40 points Bronze: 50-80 points Silver: 90-120 points Gold: 130-160 points Platinum: 170-200 points Social competition: participants will be placed in groups of 10 based on similarity of baseline phone use. Weekly leaderboard reports will be sent via email, with SMS reminder. In the leaderboard they'll see themselves as "You". | Behavioural | All + Contest Financial Incentive, Habit Formation + Social Gamification |
| "Contest" Financial IncentivesParticipants who finish in the platinum level will receive equal share of a prize, or a small amount will be awarded each week over the course of the intervention period to the weekly "Safest Driver" in each of the social competition cohorts. | Behavioural | All + Contest Financial Incentive |
Primary outcome
Seconds of active handheld phone use per hour of driving, using smartphone hardware sensors collected via Snapshot telematics app installed on phone
Time frame: 120 days
Seconds of active handheld phone use per hour of driving, or percentage of active phone use, including tapping, swiping, and typing. This does not include hands-free phone calls or voice texts. Measurements will be collected using the smartphone's internal hardware, such as an accelerometer gyroscope, and more.
Results and safety
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 2 Jul 2021.
- Background: PubMed 26280804Hayashi Y, Russo CT, Wirth O. Texting while driving as impulsive choice: A behavioral economic analysis. Accid Anal Prev. 2015 Oct;83:182-9. doi: 10.1016/j.aap.2015.07.025. Epub 2015 Aug 13.
- Background: PubMed 28029924Asch DA, Rosin R. Engineering Social Incentives for Health. N Engl J Med. 2016 Dec 29;375(26):2511-3. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp1603978. No abstract available.
- Background: PubMed 26277411Kervick AA, Hogan MJ, O'Hora D, Sarma KM. Testing a structural model of young driver willingness to uptake Smartphone Driver Support Systems. Accid Anal Prev. 2015 Oct;83:171-81. doi: 10.1016/j.aap.2015.07.023. Epub 2015 Aug 13.
- Background: PubMed 24382065Klauer 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.
- Background: PubMed 23836740Loewenstein G, Asch DA, Volpp KG. Behavioral economics holds potential to deliver better results for patients, insurers, and employers. Health Aff (Millwood). 2013 Jul;32(7):1244-50. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2012.1163.
- Background: PubMed 18042920Loewenstein G, Brennan T, Volpp KG. Asymmetric paternalism to improve health behaviors. JAMA. 2007 Nov 28;298(20):2415-7. doi: 10.1001/jama.298.20.2415. No abstract available.
- Derived from this study: PubMed 39074277Ebert JP, Xiong RA, Khan N, Abdel-Rahman D, Leitner A, Everett WC, Gaba KL, Fisher WJ, McDonald CC, Winston FK, Rosin RM, Volpp KG, Barnett IJ, Wiebe DJ, Halpern SD, Delgado MK. A randomized trial of behavioral interventions yielding sustained reductions in distracted driving. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024 Aug 6;121(32):e2320603121. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2320603121. Epub 2024 Jul 29.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No
Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Mucio K Delgado, MD principal investigator
University of Pennsylvania
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Free Phone Mounts, Commitment Contract and Personalized Habit Tips in people with Distracted Driving and Driving Impaired, run by University of Pennsylvania at 1 site in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 2 inclusion and 4 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 2 Jul 2021. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Seconds of active handheld phone use per hour of driving, using smartphone hardware sensors collected via Snapshot telematics app installed on phone (time frame: 120 days). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT04587609, which also lists 7 linked publications.
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 2 Jul 2021; AzTrials last refreshed its copy on 29 Oct 2026.