Parents urged to support virtual learner driving system

Parents are being called to support a simulator training system with the potential to transform the safety of learner drivers.

Starting learners on a simulator, before they hit the road, has been the 10-year passion and objective of road safety campaigner Lisa Skaife.

She has watched the frightening increase in the road toll and the over-involvement of young drivers and believes her approach to training could make a serious impact.

“In Victoria alone last year the number of fatalities in the 16-20-year-old bracket was up by 300 per cent,” Skaife told carsales.

“The crash rate incidence is higher than it’s ever been and the only thing we haven’t changed is the way we teach people how to drive.”

Her simulator-based system, mydriveschool.com, has already been widely adopted in schools but the impact of the coronavirus pandemic has changed her focus.

“Schools had been our main target but when COVID came along everything changed. It was all cancelled and we lost projected income of around $300,000,” she said.

“But I decided there was no point in sitting around and doing nothing, so we decided to bring forward our development work on a range of things including the dangers of drugs and texting when driving.”

Skaife will soon be returning to lobbying governments at all levels for support, but can see that parents should also be joining her support network.

She has surveyed a group of parents and found that 100 per cent of them would want their children to complete the mydriveschool.com program before they sat in the passenger seat to begin their kids’ real-world instruction.

More than 90 per cent also believe that simulator training would be an advantage, while 95 per cent would happily pay $60 for an annual licence for the package.

“We want positive training, as opposed to scaring the shit out of them. We don’t show kids footage of people drowning before we teach them to swim. And we don’t expect kids to read a book to learn how to ride a bike,” Skaife said.

“Kids need to learn autonomously, as they’re all digital natives, to bridge the gap between theory and practical. And, and even more so, about the dangers associated with texting and drugs, and we can do this in a safe and controlled environment.”

With more youngsters turning to high-tech simulators for gaming, Skaife says her software is an easy plug-in for learning.

“It will work with multi-screen systems, virtual reality, motion simulators, and the full-scale racing simulators that are used by racing drivers,” she said.

“It has all the other applications to be put in driving centres or simulation companies.”

But to drive the system forward Skaife is desperate for backers.

“I’ve been working on this for nearly 10 years. It’s cost me close to $1 million and I’ve never drawn a salary,” she said.

Parents are her new target and she is hopeful that there will be many who are prepared to invest.

“Driving is a skill and it has to be taught and practiced, and lots of parents can see the value. We’re looking to raise a minimum of $100,000,” she said.

“I need this to build a team, and if we can raise more than $250,000, we can finish development of our new program.”

Potential investors can find a link to her crowd funding program through birchal.com or through a link at mydriveschool.com.