Mobile Road Safety and Road Rules Education for Indigenous Communities – Info News

The Story of Clinton Hoffmann

Because of poor English literacy, people from Indigenous communities in Australia do not have access to driver education. As a result, many of them end up in jail every year due to recurring driving offences, while they could have a driver’s license and gain employment.

Multicultural Australians are often not familiar with Australian road rules. Moreover, for most of them, the learning language is not English, which makes it twice as difficult to get a driver’s license and ensure road safety.

Urban digital youngsters do not read the road rules book. They practice the written test online and pass the driving one not actually knowing the road rules, which increases the possibility of car accidents.

Disruptive Solution

The DriveAbout Application has been designed for all people regardless of literacy levels and a learning language to provide high-quality animated competency-based instruction and testing required to obtain your Learner’s Permit.

DriveAbout is the first initiative in Australian history that has translated driving laws in eight indigenous languages.

The Founder

Clinton is a chartered accountant and an accredited trainer with over 20 years’ experience in the assurance, tax and consulting fields.

Since founding Ambrose Business Solutions, he has been responsible for a range of large and small-scale business projects aimed at delivering sustainable and cost-effective improvements to businesses both mainstream and Indigenous.

Clinton’s personal experience and the fact that he has grown up in a rural area with Aboriginal people have inspired him to create DriveAbout. Now he is personally driving the project through many challenges and obstacles investing his own time and financial resources into the project.

“DriveAbout unites passionate, dedicated experts with a mixed range of skills who are committed to changing lives one license at a time.”

Initial Release

The initial release of the DriveAbout App represents a world-first learner licensing mobile application, featuring highly engaging animated content with a built-in test. It takes you on a five-part journey to learn everything you need to know to pass the Learner Permit test (Ls test) in South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory.

The DriveAbout journey includes five sections: ‘You’re the Driver’, ‘Community/Local Area’, ‘Highway’, ‘Town/Suburb’, and ‘City’. At the end of each section, there are ten multiple choice questions which are randomised and help test your understanding.

The App is now available in English and eight Indigenous languages: Yolngu Matha (Djambarrpuyngu), Eastern Arrente, Warlpiri, Pitjantjatjara, Murrinh-Patha, Torres Strait Creole, Anindilyakwa, and Kimberley Kriol.

Business Model

Everyone can now download the App for $49.99. However, for people from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander’s communities, it is for free. At the moment, the DriveAbout team is negotiating with the sponsors and trying to bring the price down for other users.

A revenue model of DriveAbout is based on a combination of license fee income, sponsorships, and advertising opportunities.

The target customers are learners license applicants, Government and other relevant automobile bodies. Some of the potential customers include Health and Roads Departments, motor companies, insurers and legislators.

Opportunities

DriveAbout can provide an outsourced solution to State and Territory Governments and organisations, such as Royal Automobile Club of Queensland (RACQ), the Automobile Associations of Australia, Uber and many others, which would help the company ensure a revenue stream, a customer base or a risk management mechanism. Partners can also obtain valuable data and be recognised as sponsors and advertisers through the app.

Through the partnerships with experts in eLearning, design, and technical execution, DriveAbout content will also be available in text, video, animation and multi-lingual audio for distribution through social media and other channels, such as Imparja TV, Qantas and Virgin in-flight TV, and the motoring industry in Australia.

At the moment, the DriveAbout team is creating Mexican road rules based on American standards, which means that this project breaks new ground and goes global.

In perspective, the application will be translated into ten most common international languages to target culturally and linguistically diverse participants.

Social Impact

For Indigenous people who live in remote areas, not having a driver’s license can affect every aspect of their life, from employment all the way through to the safety of lives. DriveAbout allows them to learn road rules in their own language and to obtain this valuable qualification. In perspective, based on this example, other laws may also be translated into Aboriginal languages.

Young and tech-savvy adults and people from various backgrounds have an opportunity to learn road rules through visually-driven content. DriveAbout is inclusive of everyone wanting to drive.

The countries that do not have road rules and where road safety is very low can now have a tool to solve this issue.

DriveAbout animations are also available for use in a ‘Fatal Five’ campaign addressing drink driving, speeding, fatigue, distraction and seat belts.

Clinton Hoffmann believes that it is vital to engage to truly educate.

“Our theory of change is to make driver education accessible and understandable for people around the world, which ensures road safety and improves employability.”