Active prompting to decrease cell phone use and increase seat belt use while driving.
A single caring sign at a parking-lot exit cut cell-phone use and raised seat-belt use with no extra staff.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Michael and his team set up two signs at a busy university parking-lot exit. One read "Please Hang Up, I Care." The other read "Please Buckle Up, I Care."
They watched drivers leave the lot for 30 minutes each weekday. They counted how many people wore seat belts and how many talked on cell phones. After two weeks they put the signs up and kept watching.
What they found
Seat-belt use jumped from a large share to a large share. Cell-phone use dropped from a large share to a large share.
The changes happened right after the signs went up and stayed while the signs stayed. No extra staff, tickets, or rewards were needed.
How this fits with other research
Rutter et al. (1987) got kids buckled up by teaching them to speak up and praising them. Michael et al. show adults will buckle up when a simple sign reminds them they are cared about. Same goal, different route.
Bachman et al. (1988) also raised seat-belt use, but they added police checks outside taverns. Michael’s team got similar gains with only a polite sign. No flashing lights, no tickets.
Meuret et al. (2001) built a hidden camera tool that could check these results without a person standing there. Future studies could park that camera near the sign to see if the effect lasts.
Why it matters
You can change driver safety in minutes for the cost of two pieces of cardboard. Post a caring prompt at any exit you control—school, clinic, or workplace lot. Track belt or phone use for one week, add the sign, and watch the numbers shift. If it works on your campus, share the template with local businesses. One sentence, one ask, no staff time.
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Join Free →Print a large "Please Buckle Up, I Care" sign, post it at your facility exit, and count seat-belt use for one week.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Automobile crashes are the leading cause of death for those aged 3 to 33, with 43,005 (118 per day) Americans killed in 2002 alone. Seat belt use reduces the risk of serious injury in an accident, and refraining from using a cell phone while driving reduces the risk of an accident. Cell phone use while driving increases accident rates, and leads to 2,600 U.S. fatalities each year. An active prompting procedure was employed to increase seat belt use and decrease cell phone use among drivers exiting a university parking lot. A multiple baseline with reversal design was used to evaluate the presentation of two signs: "Please Hang Up, I Care" and "Please Buckle Up, I Care." The proportion of drivers who complied with the seat belt prompt was high and in line with previous research. The proportion of drivers who hung up their cell phones in response to the prompt was about equal to that of the seat belt prompt. A procedure that reduces cell phone use among automobile drivers is a significant contribution to the behavioral safety literature.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 2006 · doi:10.1901/jaba.2006.153-04