Here at autoevolution, we’re not too fond of time-consuming apps on the Play Store and Appstore. However, we’re fond of apps that teach us how to be better drivers, as in being more responsible behind the wheel.
Introducing “Plimba Ursul,” an educational game developed by the Romanian Auto Club (Automobil Clubul Roman) with financing from the FIA Road Safety Programme. That translates to “Walk the Bear.” Curiously enough, the official handle of the game is Mr. Bear Driver.
According to the game's developers, Mr. Bear Driver has been conceived with two purposes in mind. Because long road trips can get boring for the little ones, an anti-boredom game is a perfect solution to keep the little ones happy and entertained. Secondly, Mr. Bear Driver “teaches kids traffic rules and actively involves them in road safety.”
The latter part, the one with “actively involves them in road safety,” is where the magic happens. At first glance, this may look like your run-of-the-mill side-scrolling racing game. But it has a big twist. Mr. Bear Driver uses GPS to track the speed at which the real-life car is driven.
If daddy or mommy exceed the speed limit on a given road, the main character’s car speed up as well in the game. If that’s the case, Mr. Bear asks the kid to tell his parent to slow down. If the one behind the wheel doesn’t comply with that immediately, the child loses points and the game ends abruptly. Thus, children can become indirect co-pilots if they’re given Mr. Bear Driver to play on the phone or tablet.
What the developers of Mr. Bear Driver want from this game is to help children understand that excessive speed is a big no-no. To boot, a child who is actively engaged in issues of road safety has a positive influence on his parent as well. Check out the video below to better understand how Mr. Bear Driver can help (or exasperate) moms and dads from all across the world.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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