Imagine you are driving along a highway when smoke starts filling the sky. Visibility is dropping, emergency vehicles are approaching, and you need to decide what to do, all within a few seconds.
How would you react?
Would you slow down, follow the speed limit, notice the traffic lights, or safely move aside for emergency vehicles?
These are some of the questions behind **UNBCSIM**, a driving-simulator research project being developed at the University of Northern British Columbia.
UNBCSIM is not just a driving game. It is a realistic virtual environment designed to help researchers understand how people drive under normal conditions and how their behaviour may change during emergencies such as wildfires.
The simulator recreates parts of Prince George’s road network, including sections of the Hart Highway. Participants drive through different scenarios while the system records information such as speed, acceleration, braking, steering, reactions to traffic lights, and responses to emergency vehicles.
The idea is simple: emergency situations are difficult, and often unsafe, to study in the real world. We cannot create an actual wildfire on a highway just to observe driver behaviour. A simulator gives us a safe and controlled way to study those situations without putting anyone at risk.
## Built at UNBC, for Northern Communities
One of the coolest parts of the project is that it is being developed locally at UNBC and focuses on transportation challenges that matter to northern communities.
Northern British Columbia faces unique conditions, including long travel distances, limited alternative routes, severe winter weather, and increasing wildfire risk. Research based only on large metropolitan areas may not fully represent these realities.
UNBCSIM helps bring a northern perspective into transportation and emergency-management research.
The project combines several areas of study, including transportation engineering, human behaviour, emergency management, computer simulation, and data analysis. It also shows how technology normally associated with gaming can be used to solve real-world problems.
## What Is It Like to Participate?
Volunteers sit behind a steering wheel and drive through virtual scenarios shown on a large screen. They may experience both a regular driving condition and a wildfire-related condition.
There is no need to be a professional driver, a gamer, or a technology expert. The purpose is not to judge anyone’s driving skills or see who gets the highest score. The goal is to understand how real people make decisions in different situations.
Every participant helps create a stronger and more realistic dataset. Different ages, driving experiences, backgrounds, and levels of familiarity with Prince George roads can all add valuable perspectives to the research.
## Students Can Be Part of the Research
UNBCSIM is still growing, and community participation is an important part of its development.
For students, volunteering is a chance to experience research from the inside rather than only reading about it in a textbook. Participants can see how a driving simulator works, learn how behavioural data is collected, and contribute to research that may support safer communities.
It is also a fun opportunity to try something different on campus, and yes, you get to drive through a wildfire scenario without actually being anywhere near a real fire.
Your driving experience, whether you have been driving for many years or are relatively new, could help us better understand how people respond when the road ahead becomes uncertain.
Interested in volunteering? Email noory@unbc.ca for more information.
