8/3/2019 Safe Driving Game Proposal

1/2

Steven Entezari Safe Driving Game Proposal September 27, 2011In 2008 there were over ten million traffic accidents that resulted in fatalities

(United States Census Bureau, 2011). Fear-based PSA commercials as well as other

passive safe driving campaigns have proven themselves ineffective in behavior

modification for their target audiences (Tay & Ozanne, 2002). Drivers need

immediate and custom motivators to modify driving behaviors.

Passive approaches to inform the public of safe driving practices such as slogans andpersuasive messages have been initiated by the government (Levy, Compton, &

Dienstfry, 2004) and industry (Kohli, Leuthesser, & Surl, 2007). These tactics focus

on a large group and are never tailored to an individual. Simply raising the drivers

awareness of their speed, by way of a Your Speed Is sign has been shown to

reduce drivers speeds as well (van Houten, Paul, & Marini, An analysis of public

posting in reducing speeding behavior on an urban highway, 1980). However, it was

later shown that this feedback alone would do little to change the drivers behavior

in the long run (van Houten & Nau, FEEDBACK INTERVENTIONS AND DRIVING

SPEED: A PARAMETRIC AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS , 1983).

Motivational strategies such as behavior-modifying games have been used in thehealth sector for some time now (Baranowski, Buday, Thompson, & Baranowski,

2008). The sense of playing a game gives individuals a reason to monitor their

behaviors, a chance to be reinforced for a desired behavior, and to be made aware of

incorrect or unacceptable behavior.

The long term goal of this research is to explore the benefits of a real-time game that

is played simply by collecting statistics from the driving patterns and behaviors of

the player. Feedback about the players driving habits, social ranking for a

competitive edge, and positive reinforcement from partners in industry are all

factors that will motivate safe-driving beliefs within the individual.

To address the missing sense of active engagement in corrective behavior by the

driver we will establish an in-situ game to encourage safe driving that will act as

a motivational component for the player to drive safely, as well as a reminder of

their behaviors within the context of their situation. There are two main aims:

Aim 1: Challenge the player to drive safely. Constant reminders and social

comparisons will give the user a sense of their habits when compared with that of

their peers and a safe standard. The driver does better in the game by driving safer

and displaying safer behaviors, as collected by an in-vehicle monitor.

Aim 2: Reinforce safe driving practices. Being a game, users are not only

challenged to drive safely but also reinforced when they do. Partnerships withbusinesses who emphasize safe driving will allow top-ranked users to receive

positive reinforcements, such as discounts on insurance or safest driver in the

area prizes, similar to Foursquares mayorship benefits.

Applying motivation from games and social feedback as well as reinforcement

theories into driving practices in an ubiquitous manner will increase the drivers

awareness of how safely they drive and establish person-centered, motivating factor

for the driver to change any unsafe driving practices.

8/3/2019 Safe Driving Game Proposal

2/2

Steven Entezari Safe Driving Game Proposal September 27, 2011

Works Cited

Baranowski, T., Buday, R., Thompson, D., & Baranowski, J. (2008). Playing for Real:

Video Games and Stories for Health-Related Behavior Change.American Journal of

Preventitive Medicine , 74-82.

Kohli, C., Leuthesser, L., & Surl, R. (2007, October). Got slogan? Guidelines for

creating effective slogans. Business Horizons , 415-422.

Levy, M., Compton, R., & Dienstfry, S. (2004, March). Public Perceptions of the July2003 You Drink & Drive. You Lose. Crackdown: Telephone Surveys Show the Media

Campaign Reaches Target Audience. Retrieved September 22, 2011, from National

Highway Traffic Safety Administration:

http://www.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/research/rn-

public04/rn%20publicpercep/images/Public_Perceptions.pdf

Tay, R. S., & Ozanne, L. (2002). Who are we scaring with high fear road safety

advertising campaigns.Asia Pacific Journal of Transport, 1-12.

United States Census Bureau. (2011). Transportation: Motor Vehicle Accidents and

Fatalities. Retrieved September 22, 2011, from Census.gov:

http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2011/tables/11s1102.pdf

van Houten, R., & Nau, P. A. (1983). FEEDBACK INTERVENTIONS AND DRIVINGSPEED: A PARAMETRIC AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS .Journal of Applied Behavior

Analysis , 253-281.

van Houten, R., Paul, N., & Marini, Z. (1980). An analysis of public posting in reducing

speeding behavior on an urban highway.Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis , 383-

395.