A smile on the Abu Dhabi’s traffic radars

Study uses positive psychology to encourage good driving.

Smile, you are not on camera. — Supplied photo

Positive reinforcement, such as a smile, can go a long way in effecting behavioural change. This theory, which has been proven several times, was put to test as a tool in saving lives — to reduce overspeeding among motorists.

A study carried out by a professor and some students at the UAE University (UAEU) has shown that a simple smile may just be the solution to deter speedsters more effectively than traffic radars.

Selecting Maqqam Street, a busy thee-lane road with a speed limit of 80kmph behind the UAEU campus, the group erected a large LED panel programmed to detect speed. Those who drove within the speed limit were rewarded with a smile but it vanished as soon as someone went above the limit.

“Usually, 30 per cent of drivers drive over the speed limit. There is no radar in this area and they know it,” explained Dr Jose Berengueres, assistant Information Technology (IT) professor at the UAEU, and also the brain behind the study. He noted that the Maqqam Road sees a vehicle per second every day.

After four days, the group’s theory was proven right. During the days when the smiling radar was on the street, drivers slowed down by an average of 17kmph and speeding violations dropped by 50 per cent.

Compare these results with similar studies carried out in the US and the UK, — which used only radar and numerical speed indicators — speeds dropped from between 1-15kmph in the US and only 5kmph in London. Speed violations in London also went down by just 35 per cent.

“Using positive psychology will encourage drivers to drive at good speed,” stated Alreem Rashed Al Kaabi, senior IT student at the UAEU and one of the five students on the project.

“This is aimed at raising awareness about speed, with the smiling face as the speed indicator,” added the 22-year old.

For their graduation project, the students used an open source programme, which they developed to match their requirements. “After we developed it, we contacted the Abu Dhabi Police and they provided us with the panel and equipment. They supported our research,” Alreem said.

According to Dr Berengueres, the police have expressed interest in adopting the programme in the Capital and will be carrying out similar studies within school areas in the coming days. He termed their interest as “positive”.

“When people interact with the traffic system, it is always a negative interaction… we only interact with the police on negative things,” he pointed out.

This smiling radar could just be what is needed to change this into a positive encounter and could prove to be more effective, he said. He noted that when a motorist overspeeds, the driver following him would observe that the smiley vanishes, which would serve as a reprimand for him.

“And if you’re driving with your kid and you are over speeding, your kid would ask why it doesn’t smile. Again, this could get motorists to think twice before committing a violation,” Dr Berengueres reasoned.

Getting the smiley emoticon to remind you of what you should or shouldn’t do on the road is well and good. But happens when it is not there anymore? Will the positive behaviour stick or would overspeeding return?

“This is exactly what the UAEU team hopes to measure next, if the positive reinforcement will stay on even after the panel is taken out,” said Dr Berengueres.

olivia@khaleejtimes.com