Driver training is a technology winner

An innovative driver training scheme that puts kids in front of computers before they hit the road is now an Australian technology champion and heading for a world final in the USA in December.

myDRIVESCHOOL, which uses a computer simulation program to introduce Gen Z youngsters to driving, finished on top at the Australasian Serious Game Challenge with a record score to win a spot at the global finals in Florida after more than seven years of dedicated hard work by its creator, Lisa Skaife.

The global contest has been running since 2006 and is judged by industry experts in simulation, gaming, technology and innovation. It is intended to foster creativity and innovation in serious games and a previous Australian winner went on to work with NASA.

Skaife, the sister of champion racer Mark Skaife, believes her success with myDRIVESCHOOL is down to the combination of modern technology and an innovative learning system.

“It's using technology that is both engaging and educational for the target market of 'digital natives’,” Skaife tells carsales.

“They should be allowed to make mistakes, and learn from them.”

She is keen to drive a digital revolution in driver training through a schools-based program.

“My objective is to bring driver training into the 21st century. Over the past 50 years every aspect of road safety has been changed and improved except for the way we teach people how to drive.

“In Primary School we have seven years of compulsory swimming lessons, and in high school we have no driver training.”

Skaife has invested more than $400,000 in the project and worries that, even after the creation of the program and the website www.mydriveschool.com, there is not enough interest to drive it to the next level.

“In Victoria alone fatality rates in the 16 to 20-year-old age bracket are up over 200 per cent. This program costs $60 a head,” Skaife says.

“Over the past four years the Victorian government has spent over $56 million on the Road Safety Complex and approximately $40 million on their Road Smart initiative. We could roll this out to every kid in Victoria for $5.4 million.”

She also has results from a recent blind test with teenagers heading into a government-funded in-car lesson at the Metec training centre in Kilsyth, Victoria, where half were run through the myDRIVESCHOOL program before driving.

https://www.facebook.com/mydriveschool/photos/a.2006729576024597/2563046250392924/?type=3&theater

“Our students rated 48 per cent more competent and 17 per cent less anxious. Mind boggling,” says Skaife.

Apart from the competition in Florida, Skaife is pushing hard to get myDRIVESCHOOL to the next stage.

“Right now we're looking for investors to hire and build the team, so we can sell and facilitate programs in more schools, lobby harder, and market the program so people know it's out there.”

But, despite the contest success, Skaife says she is not relaxing.

“When this program is in every school and every kid has the opportunity to learn the basics, in a safe and controlled environment -- that will be my measure of success.”