Objective: The purpose of the Campaign against Texting and Driving is to discourage drivers on the Virginia Tech campus from texting while operating a motor vehicle and decrease the percentage of drivers on campus that text while driving. It is the hope of the Student Government Association that providing the Hokie community with information about the dangers of texting and driving.

Background:In June of 2013 the Virginia State Code was amended to prohibited drivers (other than emergency vehicle operators) from sending or reading text messages under any circumstance other than reporting an emergency. (§ 46.2-1078.1) This new legislation coupled with recent studies (completed by researchers at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, VTTI, which also informed the Virginia State Crime Commission in their study of texting and driving) quantifying the dangers of texting while driving, brought the issue to the attention of the Virginia Tech Student Government Association (SGA). This indicates that the campaign is timely. The SGA Director of Transportation subsequently began developing a campaign to address this issue and formed a partnership with VTTI to assist in analyzing and disseminating information. The objective of this campaign is to reduce the percentage of drivers, on the Virginia Tech campus, that text while driving.

Methods: The Virginia Tech Student Government Association’s Campaign against Texting and Driving will take place in a series of cycles. Each cycle will consist of periods of data collection, analysis and dissemination. Ideally multiple cycles would occur during each semester so that data will be framed by time periods campus users (students and University faculty and staff) are accustomed to operating in thus making it most accessible. Additionally, multiple cycles will allow campus users to observe how increased awareness of the issue (texting and driving) affects driving habits on campus over time.

Analysis:

Appendix

International Research Board Approval Office of Research Compliance

Institutational Review BoardNorth End Center, Suite 4120, Virginia Tech

300 Turner Street NWBlacksburg, Virginia 24061 540/231-4606 Fax 540/231-0959 email irb@vt.edu

website http://www.irb.vt.edu

MEMORANDUM

DATE: April 16, 2014

TO: Jaime L Williams, Gregory Malcolm John Fitch, Mackenzie Jarvis

FROM: Virginia Tech Institutional Review Board (FWA00000572, expires April 25, 2018)

PROTOCOL TITLE: Texting and Driving Observational Study

IRB NUMBER: 14-379

Effective April 16, 2014, the Virginia Tech Institution Review Board (IRB) Chair, David M Moore, approved the New Application request for the above-mentioned research protocol. This approval provides permission to begin the human subject activities outlined in the IRB-approved protocol and supporting documents. Plans to deviate from the approved protocol and/or supporting documents must be submitted to the IRB as an amendment request and approved by the IRB prior to the implementation of any changes, regardless of how minor, except where necessary to eliminate apparent immediate hazards to the subjects. Report within 5 business days to the IRB any injuries or other unanticipated or adverse events involving risks or harms to human research subjects or others. All investigators (listed above) are required to comply with the researcher requirements

outlined at: http://www.irb.vt.edu/pages/responsibilities.htm

(Please review responsibilities before the commencement of your research.)

PROTOCOL INFORMATION:

Approved As: Exempt, under 45 CFR 46.110 category(ies) 2

Protocol Approval Date: April 16, 2014Protocol Expiration Date: N/A

Continuing Review Due Date*: N/A*Date a Continuing Review application is due to the IRB office if human subject activities covered under this protocol, including data analysis, are to continue beyond the Protocol Expiration Date.

FEDERALLY FUNDED RESEARCH REQUIREMENTS:

Per federal regulations, 45 CFR 46.103(f), the IRB is required to compare all federally funded grant proposals/work statements to the IRB protocol(s) which cover the human research activities included in the proposal / work statement before funds are released. Note that this requirement does not apply to Exempt and Interim IRB protocols, or grants for which VT is not the primary awardee. The table on the following page indicates whether grant proposals are related to this IRB protocol, and which of the listed proposals, if any, have been compared to this IRB protocol, if required.

IRB Number 14-379 page 2 of 2 Virginia Tech Institutional Review Board

Date* OSP Number

Sponsor Grant Comparison Conducted?

* Date this proposal number was compared, assessed as not requiring comparison, or comparison information was revised.

If this IRB protocol is to cover any other grant proposals, please contact the IRB office (irbadmin@vt.edu) immediately.

Campaign Protocol

The Campaign against Texting and Driving

1. Purpose: The purpose of the Campaign against Texting and Driving is to discourage drivers on the Virginia Tech campus from texting while operating a motor vehicle and decrease the percentage of drivers on campus that text while driving.

2. Additional Authority:a. Virginia State Law - § 46.2-1078.1b. Virginia Tech Student Government Association – Constitution of the

Student Government Association of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and the Bylaws of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Study Government Association

c. Virginia Tech Transportation Institute

3. Scope: This campaign will study all individuals operating motor vehicles on the Virginia Tech campus. The data dissemination will be directed at Virginia Tech students, faculty and staff.

4. Responsible Party: The Virginia Tech Student Government Association will be the party responsible for conducting and subsequently utilizing this campaign. The organization’s Director of Transportation will oversee the campaign with the collaboration Transportation Committee and the support of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.

5. Definitions: a. Data cycles: Cycles consisting of data collection periods, followed by

analysis periods and finally, dissemination periods. b. SGA: Student Government Association. For the purposes of this protocol,

SGA always refers to the Virginia Tech Student Government Association. c. “Texting”: for the purpose of this protocol and the data collection and

distribution portions of the campaign, “texting” will refer to the visual manipulation of a personal cellular device.

d. VTTI: Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.

6. Policy Statement: In June of 2013 the Virginia State Code was amended to prohibited drivers (other than emergency vehicle operators) from sending or reading text messages under any circumstance other than reporting an emergency. (§ 46.2-1078.1) This new legislation coupled with recent studies (completed by researchers at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, VTTI,

which also informed the Virginia State Crime Commission in their study of texting and driving) quantifying the dangers of texting while driving, brought the issue to the attention of the Virginia Tech Student Government Association (SGA). This indicates that the campaign is timely. The SGA Director of Transportation subsequently began developing a campaign to address this issue and formed a partnership with VTTI to assist in analyzing and disseminating information. The objective of this campaign is to reduce the percentage of drivers, on the Virginia Tech campus, that text while driving.

a. Policy: Students will be recruited (these students may or may not have previous associations with the Student Government) to serve as data collectors. The data collectors will be provided with a data collection app for their mobile devices (alternatively work sheets will be provided for data collection and the information will later be entered, by the individual collectors, into a shared database) and asked to observe traffic at a given station on campus. These stations will be areas on campus that experience significant traffic volume throughout the day. During their observations data collectors will tally each motor vehicle that passes them, indicating if each driver was “texting” or not. The data from all collectors will later be collated, after an allotted collection period has concluded. The data will then be analyzed, recorded in a format that is easily accessible and decimated to the Virginia Tech community. After a series of data cycles have occurred, trends will be isolated and also shared with the Virginia Tech community. Students, faculty and staff will then be encouraged to work together as the “Hokie family” to either maintain a downward trend in the percentages of texting drivers or work to create one. Data cycles will continue until the objectives of the campaign have been achieved.

i. Procedure: 1. Determine high traffic volume areas on campus. 2. Determine data collection periods. 3. Create a data collection and analysis platform.

a. This may include mobile phone app development and corresponding databases or paper and pen collection systems and corresponding databases.

4. Recruit students to serve as data collectors. These students may or may not have a pre-existing connection with SGA.

a. Assign students to pre-determined locations on campus.

b. Provide students with data collection platforms.5. Close data collection period.

6. Analyze collected data and create methods of reporting the data to the Virginia Tech community.

a. Preferable reports are accessible and may include, but are not limited to, graphs, charts and short descriptions.

7. Data collection cycles will continue until the objectives of the campaign are achieved.

7. Objectives: The objective of this campaign will be to reduce the percentage of drivers on the Virginia Tech campus that text while operating motor vehicles. After the first data cycle has concluded, a feasibly achievable goal will be determined and a time frame to achieve this goal will be set. This will ensure that goals are measurable and obtainable.

Instructions for Data Collectors

Hey Hokies!Thank you so much for volunteering to help with the campaign against texting and driving!

Texting while driving makes you 23 times more likely to crash (National Highway Transportation Safety Administration) and has recently (June, 2013) become illegal in the state of Virginia yet people still do it. Even some Hokies. The objective of this campaign is to raise awareness of, and discourage texting while driving. The campaign will consist of a series of data collection cycles. Each cycle will have three periods: data collection, analysis and dissemination of results. Volunteers will be involved in the data collection period.

Procedure: Collectors will observe traffic at any one (per observation period) of the predetermined

locations around campus, at their convenience, for any period of time exceeding 5 minutes. These stations experience high traffic flow and will be observed at varying times and dates.

Collectors will observe passing traffic and record the following, via an application or website for mobile devices:

o The location of observationo Time frame of data collectiono The number of vehicles that pass

The number of vehicles with drivers that are “texting” The number of vehicles with drivers that are “not texting”

Data will then be submitted to the campaign conductor (the SGA Director of Transportation) to be analyzed and shared with the Virginia Tech community.

Collection methods:

The collector will be provided with an application (in the case of Android Devices) or website (In the case of IOS devices) to be used on their mobile device.

Collectors will be required to log into the application (or site) using their Virginia Tech PID and a campaign-wide password but should not do so until they have arrived at their assigned location.

o For Android devices: the application may be downloaded from the app storeo For IOS devices: the collector will be given a URL. They should access their web browser

and enter the URL. After logging in the collector may use the share icon at the bottom of the screen to “Save to Home Page”. This will create an icon for the site on the device’s home screen and allow for easy access. (Adding the site to the device’s home page is optional, the application may also be used directly from the web browser.)

When the collector is at one of the specified observation locations, they should access the app and log in with their PID and password. The app will record the collector’s identification, location and prompt the collector to start a timer.

The collector should then observe traffic flow and make a data entry for each vehicle that passes them.

o All types of vehicles should be included. o For each vehicle the collector should record if the driver was texting or not. This is done

by tapping either the “Yes” to denote the driver is “texting” or “No”, to denote that they were not, buttons in the app.

For the purposes of this campaign, “texting” will be considered any observed manipulation of a telephone. Please see the “Important Information” section to review exactly what this means.

If the data collector mistakenly records an incorrect data entry, press the “Undo” button in the app.

Pressing this button will undo the most recent data entry. The collector should then end the timer and log out of the application. The data collected will

automatically populate a database. It is very important that collectors log out of the application at the conclusion of an observation period!

Please note:

Collectors can observe and collect data at any time on any day of the week, unless otherwise instructed by the project leader(s).

Observation periods may be as long as is convenient for the collector but should not be shorter than 5 minutes.

If there are any issues with an observation period or data set, the collector should notify the campaign conductor who can then address the issue or discard the compromised data.

If a collector has any questions, they can and should contact the campaign conductor directly.

Important Information: According to the National Highway Safety Administration’s (NHSA) National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS), the act of texting while driving is categorized as visual manipulation of a handheld device. For the purposes of this study we will adhere to the NOPUS definition of this category:

Drivers are classified into this category if they appear to be manipulating some type of electronic device such as a cell phone, a smart phone, PDA, video game, or some other device. This includes text messaging; using a Web-capable smart phone (such as an iPhone) or a PDA (such as a BlackBerry phone) to view travel directions, check e-mails or calendar appointments, or surf the Internet; manual dialing; playing hand-held games; and holding phones in front of their face to converse or check messages via speakerphone or use voice-activated dialing. Manipulation of the non-hand- held devices (adjusting volume on stereos, pressing but- tons on a dashboard GPS unit, etc.) is not included in this category.

So, what should you look for?

Drivers holding a phone in front of their face Thumbs or fingers moving on a phone Drivers looking down (as if there were a phone on their lap) for 2 or more seconds

What if?

You aren’t sure if you should record a driver as texting -> record the driver as “not texting”o If there is visibly a phone on the driver’s lap but the driver is not interacting with it ->

this is not manipulation of the phone, record as “not texting” The vehicle is sitting still (i.e. at an intersection) -> record the driver as “texing” or “not

texting” regardless You are unsure if the vehicle is in the observation location -> this packet includes images of each

observation location. There is a red arrow drawn on each location, record data for the driver once the vehicle has crossed said arrow.

You make a mistake in recording the data -> there is an “undo” button in the app. pressing this button will undo the most recent data entry.

Observation Locations and times:

These locations were selected because they experience high traffic flow and are key locations on the Blacksburg campus.

1. Drill Field, Buruss Hall

2. Drill Field, War Memorial Hall

3. Washington St.

4. Stanger St.

5. West Campus Dr.

That’s all for now:Thank you again, you’re help with this campaign will provide the University and the Hokie community with invaluable data and hopefully will encourage a change for the better!

-Keep moving forward, Mackenzie Jarvis 2013-2014 SGA Director of Transportation

Campaign Branding