Using Bluetooth Beacon Technology to Reduce Distracted Pedestrian Behavior

Over 4,800 American pedestrians die annually, a figure that is current increasing. One hypothesized reason for the increasing trend in pedestrian injuries and deaths is the role of mobile technology in distracting both pedestrians and drivers. The investigators propose to develop and then evaluate Bluetooth beacon technology as a means to alert and warn pedestrians when they are approaching dangerous intersections, reminding them to attend to the traffic environment and cross the street safely rather than engaging with mobile technology. One aspect of the research will involve a crossover research trial to evaluate efficacy of the program.

Bluetooth beacons are very small (about the size of a dime) and inexpensive (~$20 range) devices that broadcast information unidirectionally (beacon to smartphone) within a closed proximal network. The investigators propose placing beacons at intersection corners (e.g., on signposts) frequently trafficked by urban college students. The beacons will transmit to an app installed on users' smartphones, signaling users to attend to their environment and cross the street safely. The app will be developed to be flexible based on user preferences; for research purposes, the app also will download data concerning the users' behavior while crossing the street. The crossover trial will evaluate the app with a sample of about 411 young adults whose behavior is monitored for: (a) 3 weeks without the app being activated, (b) 3 weeks with the app activated, and then (c) 6 weeks without the app activated to assess retention of behavior. Throughout the 12 week period, the investigators will monitor user behavior at multiple intersections around campus, along with gathering self-report questionnaire perceptions and behavior at baseline and 12-week post-intervention assessments.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Health Behavior
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: beacon alerts; Behavioral: no alerts retention

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 437
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Alabama
    • Birmingham, Alabama, United States, 35294
      • UAB Youth Safety Lab, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 25 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• individuals who cross streets on the UAB campus at least twice daily
• ownership of an Android phone
• willingness to install the app on phone
• ability to communicate in English

Exclusion Criteria:

• none

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: beacon alerts; active intervention - participants are receiving alerts to warn them about distracted pedestrian behavior near intersections	Behavioral: beacon alerts; alerts via unidirectional communication from beacons to smartphones when smartphones are approaching pedestrian crossing at activated intersection
No Intervention: no alerts baseline; baseline - participants do not receive any alerts on their mobile smartphone when near intersections
Other: no alerts retention; retention phase - alerts have stopped after active intervention and behavior is monitored to test retention of learned behavior	Behavioral: no alerts retention; no alerts will appear, but we will measure retention of behavior learned during the active intervention stage

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Percentage of Street Crossings Distracted	percentage of street-crossings participants is distracted while crossing streets in intersections involved in the study, as measured electronically by smartphone behavior near those intersections. Electronic measurement was based on x-y-z coordinates of the smartphone during the crossing, as assessed and stored in the participants' phone storage.	12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Alabama at Birmingham
• Collaborators: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD); National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 15, 2019
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 21, 2019
• Study Completion (Actual): December 21, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 11, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 19, 2018
• First Posted (Actual): July 27, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): November 24, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 2, 2020
• Last Verified: November 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: R21HD095270 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: Will communicate with qualified investigators to share anonymous data if research goals are justified
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: after publication of final results and for 3 years
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: contact study PI
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; ICF

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No