Evaluating the impact of real-time coaching programs on drivers overtaking cyclists

Abstract Innovative motor insurance schemes involve the use of on-board devices to collect kinematic driving data as part of the so-called ‘Pay-How-You-Drive’ schemes, which charge premiums based on drivers’ behavior. Some of these schemes also involve on-board coaching programs, which give real-time feedback to users. Here, we aimed to investigate the influence of motor insurance on-board real-time coaching programs on drivers’ behavior while overtaking cyclists, as motor vehicle/bicycle interactions are a relevant issue in road safety. The tested programs give real-time feedback to users on their acceleration, promoting smoother and safer driving styles. Data were collected with a driving simulator experiment involving 67 young drivers. The experiment was divided into two trials: in the first, participants drove as normally as possible without receiving any type of feedback; in the second, which took place one month later, they received feedback based on their driving behavior. Using data from the first trial, participants were clustered (k-mean approximation) into two groups, according to their driving style (aggressive vs. defensive). For each group, half of the drivers received contingent positive feedback (when a smooth driving event occurred) and the other half received contingent negative feedback (when a harsh driving event occurred). Feedback was presented in the form of auditory cues (for half of one group) or as visual cues (for the others). Thus, there were eight groups based on driving style, feedback type, and feedback modality. Multiple kinematic variables were studied with mixed ANOVA, and included not only clearance distances, speeds, and acceleration, but also the chosen overtaking strategy (accelerative vs. flying). Driving style, gender, car usage, feedback type and modality were considered as factors in the analysis. Results showed that the coaching programs had a significant positive effect, in terms of safety, reducing acceleration and speeds during the overtaking and inducing drivers to adopt the safer accelerative strategy. It was also particularly effective in improving the performance of aggressive drivers. These results are of high interest for real-world applications because they were obtained with a general-purpose coaching program; conversely, it might be impractical to develop dedicate programs for specific situations such as drivers overtaking cyclists.