Enhancing Teen Driving Safety through a Smartphone Application: A Hybrid Trial of Effectiveness and Implementation

/ ABSTRACT Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death among teens aged 15-17 years, with the national death rate for teen drivers increased 26% from 2019 to 2022. Research on supervised driver training for novice teen drivers is limited, particularly interventions using smartphone technology and involving parents. Therefore, we propose a hybrid randomized controlled trial to simultaneously test the effectiveness and implementation of a theoretically informed smartphone app, Drive Ready Venture (DRV). The aims of this project are to determine the effective- ness of the DRV app intervention in improving driving safety scores among novice teen drivers (Aim 1); and to identify contextual factors associated with the adoption and implementation of the DRV app intervention (Aim 2). We propose a prospective, randomized, controlled, parallel-group, three-arm trial. A total of 465 novice teens drivers (15.5-17 years) beginning their learner period of licensure and one of their parents will be randomized to receive: (1) DRV only. The app tracks driving performance while providing individualized feedback and educa- tional materials on driving errors and a driving safety score with gamification-centered activities and incentives (e.g. badges). (2) DRV + parent engagement. In addition to the above features, parents will participate in situa- tional supervised driving practice with their teens, utilizing their teen’s driving data and motivational interviewing (MI) based communication strategies (e.g., MI-based conversation starters). or (3) active control. The app will only track driving performance and be paired with passive education materials on car maintenance (sham DRV app). We hypothesize that teens in the DRV-only and DRV + parent engagement groups will demonstrate higher driving safety scores compared to controls. Participants will be studied for six months. Outcomes will be driving safety scores and high-risk driving events as measured by the DRV app. In addition, we will employ quantitative and qualitative approaches to identify contextual factors associated with the adoption and implementation of the DRV app intervention. Guided by strong preliminary data, this study is innovative because, although app have been used to track driving behavior, they have yet to be tested comprehensively for behavior change. This study is significant, because it will establish the effectiveness of the DRV app with teen-parent dyad intervention in improving driving safety scores and reducing high-risk driving events, speeding incidents, and phone use, while also enhancing driving skills. The findings will provide critical insights into the facilitators and barriers to imple- menting this intervention among the general population of teen drivers. If successful, the DRV app will be dis- seminated at no cost to families across all socioeconomic levels and to driver’s licensing and education systems as part of learning-to-drive practices. Project Number: 1R01HD119722-01 | Fiscal Year: 2025 | NIH Institute/Center: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) | Principal Investigator: Motao Zhu (+1 co-PI) | Institution: RESEARCH INST NATIONWIDE CHILDREN'S HOSP, COLUMBUS, OH | Award Amount: $693,751 | Activity Code: R01 | Study Section: Special Emphasis Panel[ZRG1 SCIL-B (90)] View on NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/1R01HD11972201