Eyes on road for mix of fact and fun

The game lets you hone driving skills. Photo / Supplied

Robert Islers's research has shown that our brains can be trained to see hazards faster, a skill which cuts our crash risk, and the Waikato University road safety researcher has developed a computer game that lets you hone your skills at home.

Isler isn't paid to put his research into practice, so he took time off and set out in a Suzuki loaded with eight cameras and "lots of computers".

His game comes after a real-time drive from Bluff to Cape Reinga, filming the scene ahead and the view in all three mirrors as other drivers, pedestrians, dogs and livestock pass by - or cut across his path.

The result is a series of modules to improve your visual scanning skills, hazard perception and risk management.

Participants click on hazards, select speeds, answer questions, and learn a safer approach to the road while having fun along the way.

"Driving distracts people from learning higher-level skills because they're focused on the physical tasks like steering," Isler says, "so we take that away and ask them to focus on higher order skills." Participants can print out a completion certificate from safety evangelist and V8 Supercar driver Greg Murphy. Isler says the game will be further developed.

"We can track every person, see how they improve, which questions they got wrong and how long it takes them to make a decision, to confirm the training has been effective."

The game, available free to drivers under 19, will be sold at BP stations from tomorrow, so their parents can benefit, too.

It costs just $25 thanks to generous sponsorship from the Transport Authority. ACC, BP and Suzuki.