Institute of Transportation, MOTC

• Date：2018-06-07
• Update：2024-01-31
• Department：Transportation Safety Division

　　The MOTC has been focusing on improving traffic safety of young scooter drivers in recent years. A shy of 200 riders younger than 20 years old lost their lives due to fatal riding accidents each year according to statistics by the Ministry. To root practice of safe riding and respect the giving way rules, the Institute of Transportation (IOT), MOTC and the Lunghwa University worked together to develop an Android App "Express Agent", a game for scooter-riding safety education. It is designed to deliver required concept and knowledge regarding safe riding by letting gamers to explore the simulated city and to experience traffic conflicts which might occur in real world. Several learning, test and free-riding challenges are designed based on the traffic regulations and are meant to educate gamers to ride in proper ways. To promote the game, the IOT and Lunghwa University hosted a competition and invited senior high schools and colleges students competing for the “best agent” from March to April this year. The team of Lunghwa University and Xinbei Vocational Senior High School won the champion and the prize of iPhone8 smartphone.
　　The purpose of this game is to teach novice riders serious lessons about traffic safety and the giving way rules in a relatively interesting way. Rather than hard regulations in textbooks, gamers may experience real road traffic and learn about the regulations when performing going straight turningspeed limit or traffic signals. Furthermore, the subtler concepts of right of way are also embedded in the game including looking at oncoming traffic before manoeuvring, giving way rules at intersections, and slowing down when approaching intersections. 
　　To make the game more interesting, the gamers are set to be a secret agent who is asked to deliver special goods. He/she shall not only make the delivery in minimum time but also free from accidents and traffic rules violation which, same as in real world traffic, would result in point deduction and lower grading. Gamers then can learn about safety relevant knowledge while beating challenges one by one.
　　This is not meant to be a sensation-stimulating game, as most games aimed at. It conveys the concept of traffic safety in fun and attractive interface. The Road Traffic Safety Committee and Chiayi Motor Vehicles Office, Directorate General of Highways, MOTC not only take part in the game program development, but also participate the competition. It is expected that the game may become a useful tool in traffic safety training and promotion.