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Steven Entezari Safe Driving Game Proposal September 27, 2011 In 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 and persuasive 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 the health 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 with businesses 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.

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 July 2003 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/rnpublic04/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 DRIVING SPEED: 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 , 383395.

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