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NTU alumni wins national award

6 April 2017

Aaron Howard, (BSc Hons Psychology 2016), won the Sean Morley Memorial Prize for his road safety project. The project aimed at training car drivers to spot motorcyclists at T-Junctions won the national competition.

The project, created while a student at the university, involved creating a simple online game to provide car drivers with perceptual training, designed to improve their ability to spot motorcyclists while driving.

The prize is open to UK undergraduates who want to showcase their thesis, research and projects aimed at improved road safety and reducing accidents. It is named after 20-year-old Sean Morley, who was killed in a hit and run incident in September 2012. Aaron presented his project in Westminster to judges, who included experts from the road safety industry and potential employers. 

He said: "I am deeply grateful to have received the Sean Morley Award and to have presented alongside such excellent competition. It is my hope that my research will go on to help improve road safety in honour of Sean. I would like to thank the psychology department and in particular David Crundall for his belief in my work."

Aaron also won the prize for best dissertation at the competition and was presented with a trophy.

David Crundall, professor of psychology at NTU said: "I am extremely proud of Aaron winning the Sean Morley memorial prize against stiff competition. He took an innovative approach to improving road safety by training drivers to spotmotorcyclists via a perceptual game. While the research is at an early stage, we hope to build upon these findings to create novel and fun methods ofmaking drivers safer on UK roads."

The Sean Morley Memorial Prize competition was hosted by Sean's MP for North Warwickshire and Bedworth, Craig Tracey, who has called for strongerpunishments for dangerous drivers.