Lobbying from Cootamundra MP Katrina Katrina Hodgkinson on behalf of Rotary resulted in the Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight Melinda Pavey, paying a visit to Young to try the simulator for herself.

"I felt it was important for the Minister to see the driver simulator in action so she can go back to her portfolio with a more informed view and perspective of how it works," Ms Hodgkinson said.

"One of the things Rotary is very keen on is to have time on the machine accredited against the 120 hours behind the wheel L platers have to do to get their P plates.

"As the mother of an L plater, I would certainly encourage decision makers to allow this to happen because it would be of benefit to all families going through the L plate experience."

Young Rotarian Frank Lincoln said the simulator is a valuable tool for driver education.

"Our proposal makes sense, and we are happy it is being considered," he said.

Mrs Pavey said the 120-hour requirement had reduced the P plater road toll by about half and she is taking the Rotary proposal seriously.

"It is a worthy idea for us to explore further, and there is research that does say driver simulator time has a positive effect," she said.

"As I have said to the centre for road safety if we didn't have simulators for airlines I don't think we'd have pilots to fly our aeroplanes.

"So it has been a worthwhile piece of technology for the aviation sector, and I think we need to explore its capacity for the graduated licensing scheme.” 

Recent police figures show Young in the top ten of the worst towns or suburbs for drug driving, and Mrs Pavey said time on the simulator could be used to educate drug driver offenders as part of their sentencing.

"Time on the simulator could be a really important aspect regarding rehabilitation if people have done the wrong thing," she said.