Interactive 3D content is being used more and more across various industries for different causes.  Today, our good friends at The Naledi3d Factory in South Africa have begun an IndieGogo campaign that would allow them to create fun, interactive 3D games to promote driving safety education among South Africa’s young drivers.

About the Campaign

Over 15,000 people die on South African roads each year and more than 150,000 become injured.  This equals one person dying in a road accident every 30 minutes, where the majority are young male drivers aged between 16 and 35.  Naledi3D hopes to create a series of short, focused, and fun interactive 3D educational games that will look at a different aspects of road safety.  At least six game modules are currently planned on the following topics:

  • Safe driving – Negotiating intersections: traffic lights, give-way, stop streets and roundabouts (we call them “traffic circles”)
  • Safe driving – Different road types (divided roads, freeways, single carriageways, one-way streets)
  • Safe stopping – Stopping distances, the impact of worn brakes and shocks, including the impact of alcohol (and other drugs!) on reaction times
  • Interacting with the road and world around you, especially anticipation
  • Passing and overtaking safely
  • Pedestrian and cyclist safety (visibility, especially at night).

Players will be given tasks that must be completed safely in a given time frame.  A scoreboard will introduce an element of competition and minor mistakes will lead to a time penalty or loss of points. The fastest time may not necessarily lead to a top score – scoring will be based on how safely the player has responded to the challenges. In the worst case, a “game over” could result from a “fatality”, but perhaps not before a visit is made to the mortuary to view yourself “on the slab”.

Sure, this may all seem a bit morbid (especially the visit to the mortuary), but it may be the key to bringing down South Africa’s high mortality rates from unsafe habits among young drivers.  Want to help? Visit Naledi3D’s IndieGoGo page to learn more about their campaign and to see how you can become involved today!

About The Naledi3D Factory

The Naledi3d Factory uses VR to communicate concepts and practices in a wide range of disciplines including industrial training and safety awareness, health and sanitation, heritage, new technology concepts etc. including applications that can impact on community development. We focus our efforts in Africa – where we have worked with organisations in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Mozambique, Sudan, Senegal, and Zimbabwe – as well as South Africa itself.