Going to high school each day in the inner city means 12-year-old Abigail Van Ballegooyen has to navigate her way through plenty of traffic.
It inspired the Merici College student to develop an idea for a Bluetooth-enabled device which would issue drivers with a voice alert on approach to a school zone, reminding them to slow down.
Now her idea has seen Abigail named among 12 national finalists in the Origin Little Big Idea competition, which encourages young inventors to develop concepts to improve the world around them.
Abigail said her first idea to keep children safe on and near roads was for a device installed in cars which would physically slow down speeding drivers in school zones.
"Then I realised how dangerous that would be. I kind of just had to think of a solution that would be as useful and reminds people to slow down. So a voice - you can't really miss a voice," she said.
She said she realised one day when she was driving to school with her dad speed signs could be easily missed.
"People could miss them and speed up in really dangerous areas that you really need to slow down in, for example, school zones. And it really grew from there," she said.
"I catch public transport - the tram and the bus - so I have to walk along these roads and often there are people going quite fast and you have to either run or stop because it's very dangerous when they're going fast."
Abigail said she looked into school zone crash statistics and was surprised by the results. Although crashes in school zones in NSW fell by 45 per cent following the introduction of 45km/h zones, there were still accidents.
"It's supposed to be a spot where you're safe, but it's not really," she told the Sunday Canberra Times.
After being named a finalist out of more than 2000 entries, Abigail got to participate in a mentoring session with Engineers Without Borders Australia.
Abigail, who will receive a $1000 education grant for being named a competition finalist, said she liked investigating problems, and the integrated humanities subjects were a way to express herself.
"Which is kind of how I made my idea, expressing my interests in safety of children, because they are the next generation, it's what we have to carry [us forward]. But I also really like science," she said.
Macinley Butson, a competition judge and former NSW Young Australian of the Year, said she was in awe of the creativity and thoughtfulness of this year's entries.
"Amid a worldwide pandemic, we have seen some inspiring ideas focused on improving people's health and well being in particular," Ms Butson said.
"So many entries demonstrated extraordinary thinking, empathy for others and care for our environment. I'm excited to see these budding young inventors continue to evolve their ideas and problem-solving skills in the future."
Three national winners of the competition, who will each receive a $10,000 educational grant, will be announced in November.
