Our View: Reward the good drivers

Wyoming’s roads have been deadly in May.

The information signs spanning Interstate 80 between Rock Springs and Green River have attempted to drive home a few sobering statistics: 10 people have died on state roads since the start of the month and 63 percent of vehicle crash deaths involved people not using their seat belts.

While attempting to warn people of the inherent dangers driving without being buckled in can bring is a way to use fear as a motivator for seat belt use and safer driving, the Wyoming Department of Transportation might be approaching the issue from the wrong angle.

As the saying goes, a person can attract more flies with honey than vinegar. If WYDOT decided to find ways to reward good driving habits in a way that encourages people become safer drivers, it might go a long way in reducing crashes and highway fatalities. One method of doing this in use is through a speed camera lottery.

The lottery works by using a mobile speed camera to record the speeds of people driving along a road, then entering the plate numbers of vehicles driving at or below the speed limit in a lottery for a cash prize. The town of Canmore in Alberta, Canada hosts a weekly drawing for a $250 gift certificate to one of the town’s local businesses in its “I Drive Safely” campaign.

A similar program set up statewide, awarding a monthly cash prize or gift certificate in each WYDOT district could help promote safe driving and be a meaningful means of encouraging compliance.

A second route might be to reward drivers who do not have traffic violations on their record with a discount on vehicle registration fees.

For example, each year a person does not receive a ticket or warning for their driving awards them with a 2 percent discount off their registration fee, which stacks each year for 10 years and is capped at 20 percent.

If a driver receives a ticket or warning, that discount is eliminated for a year and builds again at the 2 percent per year rate.

The fear of being pulled over can be a motivating factor in ensuring people follow the rules of the road.

However, a means of rewarding good behavior may have a larger impact on creating better, more careful drivers in Wyoming.

People tend to respond better to reward than punishment and giving an incentive to be safe drivers could go a long way in curbing deadly crashes.