High School Case Study
High school students pick up MINTDRIVER VR within minutes, driving with focus, rapidly improving skill levels and confidence, achieving very high pass rates in practical road tests.
The MINTDRIVER concept was born a few years ago in a police patrol car while chasing young drivers in stolen vehicles. How can we teach our young drivers about road risks and safe decision making?
The actual testing shows that MINTDRIVER enables all learner drivers at different stages of the graduated licencing system.
This poses a new challenge – Can we give all high school students the opportunity to learn about safe driving and get licenced?
Let me know your thoughts and how we can do this in the comments.
Details on the High School Case Study below: –
MINTDRIVER VR High School Case Study – group and individual observations
Conducted over two years with 16-year-old high school students in Auckland NZ.
No fear – After a few hours using MINTDRIVER students who had never driven, drove with an instructor and were able to drive confidently with good vehicle control for an hour, reverse parallel park successfully, maintain a good outward focus scanning for risks, and apply road rules.
First attempt -Several students close to sitting their practical driving test used MINTDRIVER to and sharpen their driving skills and obtain their restricted licenses. MINTDRIVER has been exceptionally successful with young learners who are new to driving, teaching them best practice and enabling them to pass practical driving tests.
Self-taught learner – 16-year-old Learner X approached his teacher to be enrolled to the MINTDRIVER VR program. Learner X had failed his practical driving test twice, he had been driving for a few months without any coaching/formal instruction. While driving in VR X would get annoyed and frustrated with the software as he was unable to pass several assessment criteria – safe gap selection, speed management, vehicle positioning and communicating with other road users. Over time, Learner X realised that he needed to improve his driving, took on the feedback that MINTDRIVER was giving him, and his driving skills and decision making showed a marked improvement. A short while later Learner X informed his teacher that he had attempted and passed his practical driving test – “Got the job done thanks for hooking me up with the VR Sir.”
A neuro diverse learner– A trial was done with a selected neurodiverse learner, Learner C to check if learning to drive in virtual reality would assist with understanding road rules and enable him to prepare for and pass the required tests. Learner C enjoyed the practical experience (visual and kinaesthetic) of using MINTDRIVER, and with learning support was able to pass the learner licence theory test. A year later after extensive driving practice and coaching Learner C was still having an issue with conducting blind spot checks. Learner C was reintroduced to MINTDRIVER, practicing the observation drills in VR further sharpened his driving skills. Learner C was able to pass his practical test on the first attempt giving him a huge sense of achievement. Learner C’s family and teachers were ecstatic – a driver’s licence opened a range of career opportunities for Learner C.
