A father and daughter team are driving round New Zealand in a specialised video car as part of a new project to set up a realistic driving simulator for learner drivers.
Nadine Isler and her father, Dr Robert Isler, a psychology lecturer at Waikato University, hope to have the online system, which is a world first, launched by late 2010 to early 2011.
"The programme will allow young drivers to experience a virtual and safe drive from the Bluff in the South Island to the very tip of the North, providing them a rich experience in recognizing and responding to hazards and risks," Ms Isler said.
"We felt that something needed to be done about the road toll in New Zealand."
Dr Isler is no stranger to projects aimed at reducing the road toll and he was part of a team which created virtual driving software in 2003.
Traffic simulation was not a new idea and has been applied in the United States and Australia for more than a decade, but the thing that made their system unique was its highly interactive nature and use of the web, Ms Isler said
The Government have been fully behind the initiative and its support would help make the training resource free of charge to learner drivers.
