Young drivers face the highest crash risk of any age group, with limited experience and developing hazard perception skills very much in development. Hazard Hero helps tackle this challenge head-on, giving road safety professionals an interactive, evidence-based tool to develop young drivers’ risk awareness, improve their hazard perception skills, and ultimately reduce their chances of being involved in a collision.

What is Hazard Hero?

Hazard Hero is an interactive online game designed to enhance young drivers' hazard perception and risk awareness skills. Originally developed for the British Horse Society with funding from Warwickshire's Police and Crime Commissioner, it is now part of Co-Pilot's suite of road safety interventions.​

Players watch real-life driving clips and click when they identify a hazard or risk, such as a distracted passenger or an unexpected road user. Immediate feedback reinforces learning, and at the end of the game, players see how their score compares to others. They can also opt to receive follow-up educational emails with valuable advice for new drivers.​

Hazard Hero is versatile and can be used both online and in group settings, making it ideal for schools, colleges, and community outreach events.​

Key features

  • Real driving footage featuring scenarios relevant to young drivers​

  • Instant feedback to reinforce learning​

  • Scoring system encourages engagement and repeat play​

  • Dynamic outcomes: if players miss one of four randomly presented hazards, they are shown the potential consequences, such as a horse kicking the car or a near-miss with a motorcyclist​

  • Custom codes available for local competitions or incentive-based campaigns​

  • Data capture enables authorities to track engagement and impact locally

Why hazard perception training matters

Studies have consistently shown that effective hazard perception training improves road safety outcomes for young drivers. Research by Robert Isler (Waikato University) and others highlights that strong hazard perception skills are linked to:

  • Reduced crash risk

  • Better situational awareness

  • Improved decision-making under pressure

Hazard Hero builds on this evidence base by providing engaging, scenario-based training designed to build young drivers’ skills in a fun, accessible format.

Affordable and effective

Hazard Hero can be used as a standalone engagement tool or integrated into wider young driver interventions, such as pre-driver education sessions, safer driving workshops, and online campaigns.

Hazard Hero is available for £975 per year, which includes:

  • Full access to the online game

  • Ability to embed Hazard Hero within local young driver programmes

  • Custom competition codes for local events and campaigns

  • Access to engagement data to measure local uptake and performance

  • Print and digital signposting materials to help promote the game locally

Consequences

The clip above shows what a player would see if they failed to click when their passenger starts distracting them by showing photos on their phone. In this case, we miss a red light and almost collide with a motorcyclist (filmed under controlled conditions!). In the clip that follows, we see a red light office NIP land on the doormat.

Promotional assets