( ©Anne Sutherland / Montreal Gazette)

This is Jim (white beard) from Pointe-Claire, Montreal. He’s just been handed a ticket for good behaviour by Mayor Morris Trudeau (white shirt, former cop, no relation to Justin) in a pioneering project we’re studying as part of our Smart Cities research at Fluxx.

Since May 2015, over 1,000 citizens have been given tickets for good behaviour like “using roads in a safe and respectful manner, stopping at red lights and stop signs, obeying signals, waiting for the crossing lights at busy intersections and neither texting nor talking on a cellphone while driving.”

Citizens are a little confused: “I saw the flashing lights of the police car but I had no idea what was going on,” Scott told the Montreal Gazette. “I wondered why they were approaching me.” The ticket he received has a thumbs up logo, and no monetary or prize value.

This kind of positive reinforcement can seem strange in the context of police enforcement, but is rooted in the most basic behavioural psychology, and is increasingly being used by cities around the world to deal with a range of issues.

Turin’s terrible traffic was a key plot point in The Italian Job (1969), which is still probably the most entertaining film ever made about smart city infrastructure. (Image IMCDB)

Milan: The insurer paying drivers to leave their cars at home

Milan has the worst traffic in Europe and North America. Drivers there spend 57 hours a year in jams. (INRIX data, reported here in the Daily Mail).

To counter this and following a similar approach to Montreal campaign the second largest insurance company in Italy Unipol came up with an interesting solution to the city’s problems. By giving the residents of Milan free public transit vouchers in return for leaving their cars at home.

“The city is using connected car devices made by Octo Telematics, a Rome-based telematics provider, installed behind the dashboards of Unipol customers’ vehicles, to transmit location data and ensure that cars remain parked on the driveway.” (FT).

This is the little box of traffic magic from Octo, called Unibox

Unipol policyholders receive a credit of €1,50 — the cost of one public transportation ticket — for every day their vehicles remain parked during peak hours.

In a lovely connected cities detail, participants can collect their tickets at any ATM ticket machine, in Milan.

Breda, Netherlands: The city rewarding drivers for staying at home

Dealing with traffic issues of their own, the Dutch city of Breda in 2012 launched the initiative ‘Positive Drive’. Instead of an expensive telematics box that needs to be installed in the car, they used a simple smartphone ap.

The Positive Drive app uses nudges (coaching, prizes, social status, achievements, etc) to strengthen the positive behaviours.

“Positive Drive rewards car drivers who respect speed limits with (s)miles. If they cycle instead of driving, they earn more (s)miles. Bonus (s)miles are rewarded when road users choose certain trajectories over others. In this way, the municipality can promote particular cycle routes and locations, and with their ‘smiles’ the participants can win prizes donated by enterprises based Breda” (Eltis).

Yes, the Dubai police do have a Bugatti Veyron, a Ferrari and a Lamborghini, although they’re parade cars, not actually out chasing criminals. Jalopnik have the story.

Dubai: White Points to reduce deaths in traffic

Back in 2013 the city of Dubai together with its police department launched a project called the ‘White Point’ system. Where participants can earn points by following traffic laws and avoid getting fines and tickets.

It was launched by Maj Gen Mohammed Al Zafeen, head of the Federal Traffic Council and assistant to the Dubai Police chief in operational affairs as an experiment that hopefully could help reducing the amount of deaths in traffic, but also encourage positive driving.

“We started in 2013 by honouring 700 motorists, and now in 2016 we’ll be honouring more than double that amount. The system is still being developed, and we believe the more we reward people for good behaviour, the more positive the effect will be.” Maj Gen Al Zafeen (The National)

The participants can then earn a maximum of 24 points in one year. In case of a traffic violation, motorists can lose a month’s points and if involved in a huge violation, may lose their accumulated white points. These violations also include traffic fines such as ‘Salik’ (tolls) and parking fines. The system also allows drivers to recover points lost on their licences by driving without any infringement over a period of time.

Why does positive reinforcement work?

In 1938 B.F Skinners book “The Behavior of Organisms” was published, where the term “operant conditioning” was coined.

In his research, Skinner kept half-starved pigeons and rats in boxes equipped with levers that triggered rewards (food) and punishments (electric shocks).

To oversimplify enormously, rewards turned out too be more powerful than punishments. This is the effect that Milan and Pointe-Claire are hoping to use to improve behaviour on their roads.

Perhaps the most extreme and notorious example of positive reinforcement is the project in Richmond, California, where criminals were paid up to $1,000 month not to kill each other. The project, which combines mentorship with foreign travel and cash gifts, was created by DeVone Boggan, whose own brother died in a shooting.

“One night in 2010, he persuaded them to come to city hall, where he invited them to work with mentors and plan a future without guns. As they left, Boggan surprised each one with $1,000 — no strings attached.

“No cop had ever handed them money without asking for something in return,” Boggan said. “And it had the intended effect. It sent a shock wave through the community. People sat up and began watching.”

Here’s a great read about the Richmond project, which shows the remarkable impact that positive reinforcement can have.

If you enjoyed this piece, please recommend it, and share it. You might also enjoy: 14 Cities trying to be smart, AI, virtual assistants and chat bots before, now and in the future or read about our work with Atkins.