Road safety takes to the wide screen

By ELIZABETH BINNING

The new car hooked up to a giant video screen at Waikato University may look like the perfect toy - but it won't be used for fun and games.

The car and screen are an advanced new driving simulator which will be used for road safety research aimed at saving lives and reducing the number of injuries.

The simulator, the first of its type in the country, will be used by Dr Robert Isler and Dr Samuel Charlton and their team at the university's traffic and road safety research group.

Dr Isler said the simulator would enhance research already done by the team, which advises organisations such as Transit, the Land Transport Safety Authority and local roading authorities.

Using the BMW-based simulator gives the researchers a better understanding of how drivers make decisions and how cars handle different road surfaces.

Test drivers sit behind the wheel of the dark blue vehicle (which is complete except for a motor) and look out the windscreen for a 180-degree view of the road on the giant video screen.

The simulator can display three-dimensional images, including oncoming cars and road hazards, and researchers can monitor the driver's actions.

Dr Isler said testing young motorists' driving patterns was one example of the research that could be done on the new simulator.

The technology could also record where motorists were looking while driving (in many cases that seemed to be directly in front of the car, rather than further down the road).

Dr Isler said such findings could help in driver training by teaching young people how to look for hazards.

Other research would include looking at road engineering to help decide where to place passing lanes, for example.

Dr Charlton said the wide field of view and the use of a real car made the simulator driving experience realistic.

Young drivers

* Sixteen per cent of drivers are aged 15 to 24 - but they accounted for 28 per cent of crashes between 1999 and 2001.

* The social cost of these crashes is estimated at $850 million.