So you're thinking of getting a paper route, or perhaps you're somewhat older now and you're mulling over cycling to work to get fit and reduce your fuel bill. The roads are no longer friendly, even deep in the suburbs, and you should brush up on your riding and road laws.

Honda aims to make your training a task that bears fruit and has created a bicycling simulator in response to a rise in the number of fatalities in cycle collisions in Japan that involve teenagers and senior citizens.

Data show that bicycle riders aged 10 to 19 years and above the age of 50 have the highest chance of becoming involved in a collision, and approximately 70 percent of incidents are caused by violation of traffic rules.

Ride without risk

Honda's device exposes riders to road risks in a safe environment to raise their safety awareness. The simulator also provides a post-ride evaluation session to ensure that traffic rules and manners are memorised.

The simulator, which weighs about 88kg, is equipped with monitors that allow a rider to view traffic coming from the sides and from behind. It also has a "walking sensor" that recognizes the action of walking a bicycle.

After the simulation, the rider's path can be reviewed from multiple vantage points and the riding evaluation will be displayed on the monitor.

The simulator is expected to retail at about Y732 900 (about R62 000), which includes delivery.

Over 40 years of safety

Using know-how accumulated through its activities to promote traffic safety since 1964, Honda has been developing and selling motorcycle and automobile simulators since 1996 and 2001, respectively, as traffic safety educational devices which enable users to safely experience the risks based on real-world traffic situations.

By offering these simulators, Honda's goal is to improve people's ability to predict risks and increase safety awareness.