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PHILADELPHIA, PA – While the familiar “Click It, or Ticket” campaign has long been a staple of road safety, a new study suggests that a “Click It and Win It!” approach may be more effective in fostering lasting seatbelt habits. Research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania reveals that offering small, shared incentives significantly increases seatbelt use, even after the incentives are removed.
The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, involved over 1,100 drivers from 49 states. Participants who were promised a share of $125 weekly prize money for maintaining perfect seatbelt use streaks showed a 26% reduction in driving without seatbelts during the incentive program, compared to a control group. Remarkably, even five weeks after the program ended, this group maintained a 33% lower rate of unbuckled trips.
“We know that seatbelts reduce serious crash-related injuries and death by about half,” said lead author Jeff Ebert, Ph.D., director of Applied Behavioral Science at the Penn Medicine Nudge Unit. “About 3,000 lives could be saved each year in the United States if everyone wore seatbelts. If this ‘nudge’ combined with incentives could be scaled up, our results show it could lead to a substantial reduction in driving without seatbelts. Even a 25% decrease in unbuckled trips would mean about 750 more people going home to their families every year.”
The shared prize approach outperformed two other intervention methods: a weekly lottery entry for the full $125 prize and personalized text message feedback on seatbelt habits. The shared prize group drove unbuckled 8.7% of the time, compared to 10.5% for the lottery group, 10.6% for the feedback group, and 11.9% for the control group.
In addition to seatbelt use, the study examined handheld phone use while driving. Participants offered the shared pot incentive showed a reduction in phone use, though the results were not statistically significant in the smaller sample. Researchers noted that for more complex behaviors like reducing phone use, gradual rewards might be more effective.
“Tying incentives to perfect streaks worked really well for buckling up—a simple, one-click behavior that most drivers already perform, but sometimes forget,” said M. Kit Delgado, MD, MS, faculty director of the Penn Medicine Nudge Unit. “For behaviors like reducing handheld phone use, which require more effort to change, we’ve found in prior studies that rewarding step-by-step improvements can be a more effective long-term strategy, especially among high-risk drivers.”
The study highlights the potential of using connected vehicle data and behavioral science to improve road safety. The researchers suggest that auto insurance companies could incorporate similar incentive programs into their usage-based insurance models.
“Auto insurance companies already pay billions per year to customers who drive safely in their ‘usage-based insurance’ programs,” said Delgado. “By applying lessons from this study—offering real-time feedback and shared prizes for perfect streaks—insurers can improve driver safety and their bottom lines.”
Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is based on the research findings presented in the study. Individual results may vary. This study was conducted with participants who drove General Motors vehicles and volunteered to participate. The results may not be generalizable to all drivers or vehicle types. Always follow local traffic laws and regulations regarding seatbelt use and distracted driving.
