Behavioral Interventions for Increasing Seat Belt Use and Decreasing Distracted Driving Using Telematics: A National Randomized Trial

A modest incentive tied to maintaining streaks of seatbelt use led to sustained increase use of seatbelts in this study.

This randomized controlled trial was a partnership with General Motors and involved 1,100 divers from 49 states.

Drivers were 26% less likely drive unbuckled when they were promised a share of $125 weekly prize money for maintaining a streak of always buckling up. The weekly $125 prizes were divided among drivers who maintained their perfect streak.

In a follow-up period after the intervention ended, there was a 33% reduction in unbuckled trips, indicating that the habit persisted.

The total cost of incentives for drivers assigned to this 10-week intervention was only $4.40 per driver—a cost that could be sustained within auto-insurance programs that currently offer billions of dollars in safe-driving discounts each year.