Final Year Mini Project - Road Safety
The research & concepting phase of this project was paired, however the development and completion of final product was individual work. (Sept-Dec 2024)
Brief
For this project, we were given a choice of five briefs under the themes of sustainable water consumption, road safety, renewing Ireland's waterways, reducing energy consumption in the home and diversity in modern Ireland. We chose this brief due to our current experience as learner drivers and our passion to reduce rising road incident trends.
Research
Throughout three weeks of initial research we identified three key insights - Majority of road incidents are caused by inexperienced drivers , Irish people have a more relaxed attitude towards the rules of the road & authority figures, There is a lack of trust towards the RSA and Gardaí when it comes to taking efforts to reduce road incidents - these insights were founded on statistics, expert & user interviews, podcasts, observations and more.
Insight one recap
Insight two recap
Insight three recap
We also compared the learning to drive journey in Ireland vs Norway and examined why Norway has lesser road incidents due to their comprehensive educational driving programmes. Through this research we also found that young drivers (age 18-24) were taking risks on the road due to costs, lack of road policing and an overall cultural acceptance of speeding. We eventually set a design challenge of:
'How might we help prospective drivers in Ireland gain more experience outside of EDT (essential driver training) lessons?'
User interview quotes
Learning to drive in Ireland - journey map
Learning to drive in Norway - journey map
When surveyed 90 people aged between 18-24, here are the answers that stood out.
Concepts
After analysing our research, we created two strong concepts to consider developing. My concepts were eRace & DriveSync. With these concepts I hoped to educate learners on how to properly drive, force drivers to pay more attention to their driving habits to form better ones.
Cautious persona
Reckless persona
Concept one - eRace
eRace app prototype
Concept one - DriveSync
Development
The development process of this project was a challenging one! I set out developing DriveSync - an in-car portable driving simulator. However I learned a lot through weeks of prototyping, user testing and further research. After a total of nine iterations, I decided to return to the core brief of road safety and reflecting on all my research and learnings to far to ideate around very specific problems such as pedal confusion (which was identified through user testing of previous concepts). With this I came to my final product bRIGHT box.
The main project objective was to create a new culture of safe, confident, intuitive drivers, keeping the focus on helping learner drivers with a low cost solution. I noticed pedal confusion with users when testing earlier concepts so explored this more. After finding that approx. 16,000 car accidents are caused by pedal errors every year in the US (source:NHTSA) I then conducted a poll which showed 77% of respondents had experienced pedal confusion/misapplication.
Early prototypes
Process
After making lo-fi prototypes to find the most suitable shape and size, I then went on to build a working and a more hi-fi lookalike prototype. I firstly crafted a shape out of high density ciba tool, I then used black acrylic sheet to vacuform over this shape to make the shell. I then cut 'window' shapes out of this shell and cut out the 'windows' in clear and opalescent acrylic as well as etching letters A, B & C into the clear acrylic all using a laser cutter. I also re-taught myself some coding using Arduino in order to code a light sequence to portray my vision for this product. Finally, I assembled these pieces using clear super glue.
Outcome
‘bRIGHT box’ is a visual learning aid for learner drivers practicing in manual cars to help eliminate pedal confusion/misapplication. This driving aid would be available for all driving schools across Ireland allowing driving instructors to lend to students learning to drive a manual car so they can attach to the dashboard of the car they’re practicing in to help them use the correct pedals and find the ‘biting point’ at the right times. Once their confidence and experience increases, they return the device to their driving instructor for another learner to benefit from!
SCENARIO OF USE: ‘bRIGHT box’ has three compartments/boxes - C (for Clutch) B (for Brake) & A (for Accelerator). The letters C, B & A are located in order of how your pedals are located to further help visually guide you. When on the road, C, B or A will light up to tell you when you need to press on that pedal.When driving, if you see one of the letter boxes glow/light up you should press down on the corresponding pedal.
Final prototype
Working prototype in use
Technology & network diagram
Reflections
This project was a great learning experience in terms of reinforcing the importance of user testing and iteration. Going forward I aim to be less afraid of sharing lo-fi prototypes and ideas so that I can test and iterate sooner to work on the most ideal final solution. It was also crucial to step back and keep broader picture and brief in mind which helped keep me focused as my love for research could've led me to exploring various topics for months! Overall balance is crucial - make informed decisions but stick to the timeline - with that I'm very happy with the outcome.
User quotes
CAD render
A1 board
GA drawing
Accompanying instruction booklet
Development video