Drive Focus App
This is a fantastic app (on apple ipad or android tablet only), that helps to focus your visual searching skills for driving. The app is American but has Brisbane and Melbourne real-life driving videos, where you have to tap on all the “critical items” during the drive.
Here is a one-minute about the app. Watch the video
We encourage all of our drivers to purchase and practice using this app – you will really find that it helps to improve your alertness on the road.
- A university study identified that six one-hour sessions of Drive Focus significantly reduced driving errors among learner drivers (Alvarez et al 2018). The subjects also rated Drive Focus as valuable for improving their driving skills.
- Users watch high-definition videos filmed from the driver’s perspective and “tap” on the critical items – whilst reacting as quickly as possible and prioritizing critical items in the correct order (eg brake lights of the car in front before the green traffic light).
- The app is American with tours of 3 or 4 cities including San Francisco and Vermont – and yes, we have “Australian-ised” the app, with a Brisbane “tour” available on android and i-pad versions, and a Melbourne tour also available on the android version– these include 7 drives lasting three to four minutes, that have a levelling-up element and can be practiced over and over again.
- Visual cues for critical items can be turned on and off, and the videos can be slowed down to allow more processing time.
- At an advanced level, there are 2 “emergency services” drives from American cities – complete with lights, sirens and radio distractors.
- The user’s score is presented at the end of each practice, and android users can email the results to their OT.
- The app costs approximately $20AUD (once-off fee) which includes access to ALL tours. No renewal fee, no ongoing membership.
- There are other studies currently taking place in the USA and Canada to examine the efficacy of Drive Focus with populations such as stroke, autism, and combat veterans with post-traumatic stress.
Drive Focus was winner of the Technology category of the 2021 Australian Road Safety Foundation awards, and was Finalist for Best Assistive Technology Product for the 2022 Australian Disability Services Awards (November 2022).
Driving with a medical condition or disability?
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Driving Well Occupational Therapy is a busy practice that provides OT driving assessment and vehicle modification services for people with medical conditions and injuries in Brisbane, Ipswich and northern Gold Coast. We service clients who are self-funding, NDIS and other compensable (WorkCover, NIISQ, TAC, iCare).
On behalf of the team at Driving Well Occupational Therapy and in the spirit of reconciliation, I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Turrbul and Yuggera country, where our team live and serve the majority of our clients, as well as to all Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to the land, sea and community. I pay my respects to Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all First Nations people today.
On behalf of the team at Driving Well Occupational Therapy and in the spirit of reconciliation, I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Turrbul and Yuggera country, where our team live and serve the majority of our clients, as well as to all Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to the land, sea and community. I pay my respects to Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all First Nations people today.
