Exploring Behavioural Responses of Motorists to Risk-Based Charging Mechanisms
Prepared for AAMI Ltd
Prepared by Associate Professor Stephen Greaves
In association with The Institute of Transport & Logistics Studies University of Sydney
published 17 oct 2011 ( Now Public Domian)
Within the context of the continuing search for approaches to reduce the societal and
financial costs of road crashes, this report presents the rationale for and development,
implementation, and evaluation of a kilometre-based charging scheme designed to
reduce kilometres of car use, encourage safer driving practices and reduce the risk of
crash involvement.
The report provides details of the rationale for the study, the innovative
methodologies used, the implementation of the field study (with a particular focus on
participant reaction and data quality), and the main results/findings of the study to
date. While the reader is referred to the report for full details, the main insights are as follows:
1)While a number of scientific investigations have been conducted into motorist
responses to various types of charging regimes, few have focused on driving
behaviour and risk reduction per se. This is (perhaps) surprising given that the
commercial sector is increasingly embracing this notion through the offering of payPage
vias-you-drive (PAYD) insurance policies, which financially incentivise safer on-road
driving behaviour by differentiating premiums to kilometres driven and in some
cases time, location and speed.
2) New technologies have opened up the potential for these types of investigations both
in terms of providing the detail/accuracy of data required on individual-level driving
and keeping participants engaged in a potentially burdensome task over several
weeks. Crucial to the current project was the ability to process the GPS data quickly
and accurately into a familiar and attractive web-based environment such that
participants could log-on each day and see their travel and associated charges.
Responses to the GPS field study, Stated Choice survey and prompted-recall website
were largely positive and clearly participants enjoyed the chance to be ‘engaged’
with their travel through the visualisation tools developed.
3) The GPS device used in this study was selected after consideration of the technical
parameters (second-by-second data, accuracy of data, GPRS capability) and
pragmatic issues (easy installation, unobtrusive as possible, minimal involvement
from the participant). Overall the device performed well, although missing data,
particularly at the start of trips (colloquially referred to as the ‘cold start’ issue)
remained a problem. This was primarily attributed to the fact that the device had to
be ‘installed’ via the cigarette lighter because ethics and pragmatic reasons
precluded installation into the engines of participant vehicles. This increased the
chance of inadvertent or deliberate tampering and while the project team was able
to develop algorithms to infer much of the missing information, this remains an
important consideration for future studies of this nature.
4) Recruitment of participants proved challenging both because of the eligibility
requirements imposed (see Section 4) and the fact that it was an opt-in study
requiring several weeks of commitment and provision of potentially sensitive
information about driving. The recruitment of young males in particular, proved
challenging, a problem encountered in other studies of this nature and clearly
results/findings must be interpreted within this context.
5) Overall, while 61 percent of participants made money (i.e., they made some
reduction in kilometres and/or speeding and/or night-time driving relative to the
before period), a substantial proportion (39 percent) did not, suggesting they were
unwilling/unable to change given the monetary incentives on offer.
6) Vehicle Kilometres of Travel (VKT) were reduced by around ten percent overall, a
large reduction in the context of behavioural change experiments. However, around
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half the sample decreased VKT (and half did not) highlighting for many the
difficulties involved in reducing car-dependency, an assertion corroborated by exit
surveys in which participants were probed for reasons behind the observed changes
in behaviour.
7) Analysis of changes in VKT by trip purpose showed that overall participants had
most flexibility in reducing travel that might be considered more discretionary (e.g.,
social/recreational trips) although there was considerable variation. Perhaps the
most surprising observation was the lack of flexibility for shopping/personal
business VKT, suggesting that participants were less willing/able to change these
patterns.
8) The most marked change in behaviour was with regards to speeding, with the
kilometres spent speeding being reduced by over 40 percent following the imposition
of the scheme and over three-quarters of the sample reducing their speeding. It was
also notable that the amount (in effect) spent on speeding by participants decreased
from $61 (20 percent of total charges) in the before period to $34 (13 percent of total
charges) in the after period. Arguably, this was the parameter that was most easy to
change because it did not require a reduction in the amount of driving per se. It is
not conclusive to what extent this change was due to the money or simply being
made aware of speeding via the website; however, results from the exits surveys
indicate that it is likely a function of both. The evidence also showed that a ‘hard
core’ of perennial speeders remain for whom such a charging scheme had little effect
even if the incentives were greatly increased.
Inevitable caveats aside, this study demonstrates that it appears possible to
significantly change aggregate behaviours (particularly speeding) of a segment of the
motoring public through financial leverages based on (in effect) incentivising better
driving behaviour. Such a notion is being taken up through the Pay-How-You-Drive
(PHYD) products being increasingly offered through the commercial insurance sector.
While undoubted challenges remain, GPS technology opens up the possibility for
developing greater equity in charging systems that reflect not just the kilometres driven
but when, where and how they are driven.
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