By MATTHEW L. WALD
From The New York Times, June 5, 1998

"Note: While this article was written back in 1998 during the inception of ZED as a CD-ROM (it's now in DVD format), the article's content still applies today--maybe even moreso given that the program has been updated and improved.

IT'S not Doom or Flight Simulator, but the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has concocted a lively computer game for teen-agers called Driver-ZED that shows half a dozen ways to crack up a car, in city, suburban or country driving.

The CD-ROM game is run through a mouse, and the player has to identify potential hazards or take action to prevent accidents. The screen shows the view through the windshield, with rear-view and side-view mirrors and instrument panel, including speedometer and turn-signal indicators.

In one scene, the player's car is signaling for a left turn, following another car also signaling for a left. A car is coming in the opposite direction, and a pedestrian is waiting to cross the street onto which the player wants to turn.

To gain points, the player has to click on the pedestrian, the approaching car and the back bumper of the car ahead as potential hazards.

Click, and the action moves ahead. The pedestrian starts across the street, drops some papers and stoops to retrieve them; the car ahead stops and the player's car is marooned in the middle of the intersection as the oncoming car bears down.

If the player spots the hazards and avoids the accidents, the game awards points. But it is designed with teen-agers in mind; it still shows the crackup the player averted, complete with squealing tires, crunching metal and shattering glass.

"Otherwise," said Stephanie Faul of the AAA Foundation, "the kids would do the wrong thing just to see the crash."

The program is designed for 16-year-olds, but younger children would probably enjoy it. It keeps score, so siblings can compete.

Because the game is heavy on full-motion video, it requires a premium computer: a Pentium 90 with Sigma Designs Realmagic MPEG1 video accelerator, or a 200-megahertz Pentium with 32 megabytes of RAM.

The $19.95 program is available from A.A.A. Foundation at (800) 305-SAFE. It can be ordered on the World Wide Web at www.driverzed.or

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