As a probation officer, part of Ian Elford’s job is to help people reintegrate into society after an offence.

For some people, that reintegration process could include getting a drivers’ licence. Ian identified that getting (and keeping) a drivers’ licence could be a real stumbling block for people - resulting in low esteem, unemployment, and re-offending, with driving related offending often being a contributing factor.

“As part of my work as a probation officer, I was supporting people who were on a community-based sentence in getting a learners driver’s licence. I noticed that people often found it difficult to absorb all the information you need to know for the test, and I thought, there must be an easier way for people to learn.”

It was this observation that inspired Ian to take the problem into his own hands and see if he could contribute to the solution. Over the next 24 hours, he created a prototype for a brand-new board game - Driven for Success.

Driven for Success makes it easier and more fun for people to get their licence. Ian describes it as a more interactive way of learning the road code, which creates natural points for discussion with others.

“When you’re playing the game, you’re doing it with other people - so you’re learning with and from them, as well as learning from yourself and the choices that you’re making in the game,” Ian says.

The game is currently in ten prisons, as well as at several community corrections sites nationwide, available for use by our staff and the people they work with. For example, Ian says that a programme facilitator plans to use it for one of the youth programmes that he will soon be running.

The company has just completed an adapted Australian Driven for Success prototype, which was recently sent to contacts in Australia to begin playtesting. In New Zealand, it is in over 100 schools, colleges, and libraries, helping other members of the public to study for their test.

Ian hopes that the game will support people to make safer decisions when driving, helping to prevent driving related offences.

“My hope is that that it will help the information to stick more, so that the knowledge and confidence will be instilled in them when they are on the roads, having to make quick decisions.”