If you're trying to keep drivers from picking up their phones, make it a game, according to a new Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) study led by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine. When drivers could earn points for making reductions in handheld phone use and had the chance to compete in a weekly leaderboard of others like them, researchers saw as much as a 28% reduction in handheld phone use while driving, a habit that stuck once the intervention-and the games-ended.

"Distracted driving is responsible for almost 1 million crashes in the United States each year. Interventions like this could start to bring that number down," says study lead author Jeffrey Ebert, director of applied behavioral science at the Nudge Unit, part of Penn Medicine's Center for Health Care Transformation & Innovation.

Previous workby Ebert and this study's senior author, M. Kit Delgado, the faculty director of the Nudge Unit and an associate professor of emergency medicine, determined that a combination of interventions including weekly feedback and monetary incentives could result in significant reductions in handheld phone usage time-up to 21%. But the reductions declined as time wore on and the interventions ended.

"The fact that we tested these interventions within an auto insurer's existing program suggests that they also could be scaled up quickly, especially since these types of behavior-based auto insurance programs are also rapidly growing across the U.S. and internationally," Delgado says. Ebert adds, "We see this as a proof of concept: When you offer drivers the knowledge, tools, and feedback needed to succeed, they are willing and able to give up a risky driving behavior for little or no money."

Read more at Penn Medicine News.