A survey published in Traffic Injury Prevention indicated that teen drivers are receptive to relinquishing some, but not all, mobile device habits, at least if they are offered a compelling incentive.
Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia conducted the survey for the Center for Injury Research and Prevention. The vast majority of the 173 teens in the study were reportedly texting while driving at a high frequency, and responded to ideas about incentives to curb their phone usage.
The ideas the teens were found to be most receptive to involved some kind of monetary incentive to keep from texting and driving, like reduced insurance rates or cash rewards, with their driving activity monitored by an app. Some indicated that an automatic phone lock for texting would be just as effective.
However, the teens were not willing to give up their phones entirely. Nearly half of the survey responses were unwilling to part with music or navigation apps behind the wheel. And, like many parent-teen negotiations, the subjects were as resistant to behavior monitoring apps as they traditionally are to parents monitoring their behavior. Says study lead author Kit Delgado, “we need a better understanding of how to design interventions that optimally balance parental engagement and acceptance by teens.”
Read more at Penn Medicine News.
