The use of VR has been skyrocketing, with players from all around the world coming together to join in on the virtual fun. Players can find themselves playing all manner of games. From slashing blocks in the rhythm game Beat Saber to chilling with friends in VR Chat or even solving puzzles in the whimsical world of Myst. Players from all around the world can enjoy the benefits of VR. However, there’s now a real-life use for headsets outside of entertainment, and South Korea is one of the first countries to jump in on it by implementing VR in driving tests.

Something that has been a rising issue in South Korea is the number of automotive accidents in the country caused by senior citizens. Something that the country is now looking into remedying by having older citizens retake their driving tests to ensure that they’re able to drive safely. However, putting senior citizens back out on the road for another driving test may not be in the country’s best interests. So the police department of South Korea is attempting something new by injecting 2 Million dollars into the countries infrastructure by implementing VR into driving tests for Senior citizens. 

As the country is starting to increase in its average age, populations forecasts for the country state that by 2050 the average age of a South Korean citizen is going to sit at 56 years old, with the current amount of senior citizens over 64 being a surprising 15% of the population. The past year has been victim to around 209,654 road accidents, among 31,072 of which were caused by elderly citizens. This is also extremely important as the vast amount of taxi drivers in South Korea are senior citizens, and with some citizens who could pose as the cause of an accident being those who drive around people, there could be the possibility of more dangerous accidents with unnecessary victims who may board taxis driven by senior citizens.

“To reduce accident rates among the elderly, authorities had launched a program that encouraged seniors to surrender their driver‘s licenses in return for financial support for public transport use. However, the participation rate in this program was a sobering 2.8%.”

Implementing the VR driving tests is going to help older drivers make their way back onto roads safely and through a controlled environment that’s going to reduce the number of accidents during traditional driving tests, as well as help the senior citizen of South Korea test their abilities behind the wheel.

Fortunately, the technology is already there to simulate driving in a controlled environment, with the number of competitive racing gamers using VR for this very purpose. Before the advent of VR, racing rigs have been established with multiple monitors to enhance the experience of the driver behind the wheel. Now with VR, monitors aren’t required and multiple benefits have been provided for players who opt to switch to the headset.

For one, the need for multiple monitors for a proper field of view is diminished to a single headset, with a full 360 degree of view. As well, the refresh rate for these headsets is extremely high and works well for those who can react fast to high speeds. Depth perception is also a non-issue when racing with the headset on, as players are able to see just how far other racers and obstacles are from the player.

With the implementation of racing rigs with the VR headset, aside from the feeling of the shifting of weight when driving a car in real life, players are going to be able to experience the closest thing to driving a vehicle in real life. This is where South Korea aims to carry out its driving tests. 

Using all of these, it seems like a no-brainer to test those who have proven to be a danger on the road, and those who want to be able to experience driving once again but are afraid to get onto the road. These drivers are going to be able to sit down in one of these virtual vehicles and make their way through their test in a safe environment without having to worry about hitting someone else.

This new step in road safety for South Korea proves to be a turn in the right direction for the country and could possibly lead to safer roads in the future as citizens start to age