The analysis of the driving style allows us to determine what type of driver we deal with − safe or one who is prone to risky behavior. UBI policies, thanks to the promise of paying lower insurance premiums in exchange for safe driving, attract less risky drivers − those who have nothing to hide from the insurer. This is confirmed by our data.

It happens, however, that such offers are chosen by drivers who think of themselves as better drivers than they really are. This is a cognitive bias in which we overestimate our skills and qualities in relation to other people. Already in 1981, research on drivers in Sweden and the USA carried out by O. Svenson showed that 80% of them count themselves among above-average drivers in terms of their skills! 

Unfortunately, this approach leads to reckless driving behavior. As Anna Małdzińska, transport psychologist admits: This is confirmed by my experience with drivers delegated by the police to psychological tests for breaking road regulations. In separate surveys, drivers evaluate themselves and other road users. Usually they judge themselves much better. 

So if you care not only about the analysis of the driving style of drivers, which allows you to diagnose the actual state, but also want to motivate them to improve − use the tools we have prepared. 

Personal Driving Style Trainer

Manage How You Drive is an additional module for UBI (Usage Based Insurance, in particular Pay How You Drive) policies that allows drivers to engage and motivates them to improve their driving style by providing them, inter alia, with specific, individual guidance that acts as a personal trainer to improve their driving technique. 

My driving style bookmark

This is the place in the application where the user can see all their routes driven with detailed information concerning: distance, travel time, and an assessment of the driving style, and a report on specific events such as sudden maneuvers or speeding. We believe that the key to improving driving style is understanding what is the problem, so we pay a lot of attention to explaining why a given behavior has been negatively assessed − for example, because braking was accompanied by severe speeding or a specific sequence of maneuvers. 

Personalized tips − how to improve your driving style

Different users are motivated by different factors. We follow a number of measurements and behavioral conditions, and select messages in such a way as to affect the long-term improvement of driving habits. 

The tips that the driver sees in the application are based on the routes traveled by them and concern: compliance with the law (driving in accordance with the applicable speed limits), smoothness, using the phone while driving (distraction), but also taking breaks in the event of long journeys. 

The way we provide drivers with feedback on their driving style is to make them excited about their progress and enthusiastic about further cooperation with the app. 

Commitment has another side effect − it creates multiple touchpoints with the insurer’s brand and helps build customer loyalty!

Gamification in telematics

Gamification is ‘the use of known games to change behavior in other situations that are not games, for example, to increase the involvement of these people’. 

There are many advantages of this method. First of all, it helps to effectively fight the vision of telematics as the Big Brother in the car. By introducing fun elements, for example by comparing ourselves with other drivers in rankings, implementing competitions, challenges and prizes, we influence the motivation of drivers. 

Gamification is perfect for both individual drivers and fleet drivers. 

In order to wisely implement gamification, it is worth taking care of several elements:

Most importantly: the driver needs immediate feedback to know how their performance affects how they are judged. 

Secondly, let’s say openly what goals the implemented telematics system is to achieve and what criteria we expect to be met. The more readable the rules are to drivers, the easier it is to understand them. 

If, for example, we are dealing with a complex telematics system that analyzes the driving style in several areas, e.g. changing habits in the field of safer driving, smoother road movements or distracted driving − it is worth working on each of these habits separately. How? For example, by announcing a competition rewarding drivers who, in a given period, will most improve their driving style in terms of only kilometers driven in accordance with the regulations. It is easier to work on one habit than several at once. Of course − we can change the criteria after some time, informing drivers about it in advance. 

Another element that may increase the effectiveness of gamification − defining the date by which a given ‘game’ will be finalized, when a competition, challenge or specific action will be closed. 

The next point that can improve the operation of gamification, especially in fleets − when creating challenges for drivers, it is worth considering dividing drivers into groups in which they compete with people from one branch. Competing with someone you know is more fun.

Since we have challenges, we should also take care of rewards. Cinema tickets, fuel vouchers, gadgets? They will work. In the case of challenges for fleets, it is worth thinking about less standard prizes such as the priority of purchase of the car used by the driver, the best parking spaces, non-standard equipment of a company car. The only limit is your imagination. 

If we want to reward a larger number of contestants or challenge participants − it is worth ensuring the efficient distribution of prizes. This will be provided by electronic vouchers.

Challenge program

In competitions and rankings, drivers always compare themselves to other participants in the telematics program. But it is also possible to apply challenges where the driver’s goal is simply to reach a certain ‘ceiling’. This is where challenges come in handy. This element is perfect for those drivers who have difficulty following some element of a safe driving style.  What could be the goal of the challenge?

• Driving 500 km without being distracted
• 300 km of smooth driving around the city
• Driving a long route without speeding (e.g. 700 km in one day)

Progress in the implementation of the challenge is presented in the form of an attractive, interactive visualization, for which the insured can receive attractive gifts, e.g. a voucher for a free coffee at a gas station or refueling.

Prevention

In order to ‘manage’ the driver’s driving style, we also use other mechanisms in our mobile applications. They make it possible to provide feedback to drivers in real time when certain behavior occurs. In the case of our applications, these are:

• Reminders about the speed limit in force on a given road section − when the driver exceeds the speed limit, the application informs them about it and encourages them to slow down,
  
• Messages encouraging to slow down can be recorded with the voice of a loved one − the voice of a child, partner or other close person asking, ‘Dad, slow down. I will wait for you’, as they motivate much more than the standard: ‘Slow down’ spoken by the application,
  
• Speed cameras and road checks are very often located in particularly dangerous places, and our applications inform when approaching them, which has a direct impact on the speed developed by the driver.