Amanda Forrester / news@whmi.com

Certain smartphone apps both reduce risky driving habits and enable drivers to save on auto insurance, research by AAA showed.

“More than 40,000 people die in crashes each year, often because of risky driving behaviors,” Adrienne Woodland, spokeswoman for AAA – The Auto Club Group, said. “Technology that encourages drivers to avoid these behaviors could be the key to reducing injuries and fatalities on our roads.”

The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety looked at the effectiveness of “usage-based insurance” programs, which allow customers to receive incentives for safe driving from their insurance companies. Customers download an app that monitors their driving habits, such as hard braking, speeding and distracted driving. Feedback and tips for safer driving are offered, which can improve the driver’s score. A final UBI score is issued after a series of drives, which helps determine if the customer is eligible for any savings on their insurance premiums.

More than 1,400 people participated in the 24-week study, which examined the use of speeding, hard braking and rapid acceleration.


“During the first six weeks of the study, participants were asked to complete a minimum number of drives to establish a baseline score,” the release about the findings said. “Through the next 12 weeks, drivers received weekly text messages with a safe driving tip, designed to motivate and help them change a risky driving behavior.”

Researchers found that there was up to a 13% reduction in speeding, up to a 21% reduction in hard braking and up to a 25% reduction in rapid acceleration. Participants also reported that certain tactics were helpful in changing their behaviors. 67.4% said the potential to earn extra money, 53.9% said weekly driving feedback via text message and 45.8% said the weekly dashboard which provided detailed driving information for the week were all helpful.

Participants were monitored for an additional six weeks without any feedback or incentives to see if their habits would persist without reinforcement. The study showed participants generally continued to drive more safely, which researchers said indicates they did so without feedback or incentives.