The Exploratory Advanced Research Program Fact Sheet: Safer, More Reliable Transportation With Behavioral Economics: Cellphone Use and Managed Lane Choice
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Summary
This fact sheet outlines two research initiatives funded by the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Exploratory Advanced Research (EAR) Program, which applies behavioral economics to improve transportation safety and reliability. The EAR Program supports high-risk, long-term research aimed at transformative improvements in highway systems. These specific projects leverage insights from psychology and economics to understand cognitive biases and heuristics, such as loss aversion and present bias, to develop "nudges" that influence traveler behavior and enhance predictive modeling. The first project, conducted by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, addresses the discrepancy between knowledge and behavior regarding distracted driving. Despite 97% of teen drivers acknowledging the dangers of cellphone use while driving, crash rates associated with distraction have remained steady since 2012. To mitigate this, the team is conducting field experiments to evaluate technology-based nudges, such as smartphone settings like "Do Not Disturb While Driving," which automatically restrict handheld use and silence notifications. Additionally, the study compares tiered incentive structures to reduce cellphone use. These include standard usage-based insurance rewards, social comparison feedback, and alternative payout structures, such as weekly cash incentives rather than lump sums. The goal is to determine which strategies effectively reduce dangerous driving behaviors and can be scaled into public safety programs. The second project, led by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, focuses on improving travel demand models for priced managed lanes (MLs). Current models often fail to accurately predict traveler choices between MLs and general-purpose lanes. To address this, researchers are differentiating travelers into "choosers" and "non-choosers" and applying behavioral economics methodologies to understand habitual versus deliberative decision-making. The team is identifying behavioral traits that predict these decision styles and constructing survey questions to capture these traits among participants. These participants will undergo laboratory experiments and field trials, including data collection from highways such as the Katy Freeway in Houston and the Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway in Dallas. The resulting data aims to refine prediction algorithms and enhance the accuracy of travel demand modeling for toll roads and managed lane infrastructure. Together, these initiatives demonstrate how integrating behavioral science with transportation engineering can lead to more accurate behavioral models and effective policy interventions. By understanding the psychological drivers behind distracted driving and lane choice, the FHWA aims to develop safer transportation environments and more reliable infrastructure planning tools.
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| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 8 | 2026-06-15 |
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| verify | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-15 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-15; verification: verified.
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