John Quee is an enterprising small businessman from western NSW, Australia.

Moved by the trauma and loss of life caused by car crash fires, the Nyngan-based mechanic invested more than 12 months developing a commercially viable safety system that would tackle the fundamental reasons for vehicles catching fire.

John drew on more than 45 years experience in the motor vehicle and heavy transport industry to fulfil his quest to make road travel safer.

The Vehicle Safety Shutdown (VSS) prototype is the end result - a system that can reduce the risk of car crash fires as much as 80%.

"I found that almost all the research and development to date had focused on the design and placement of the fuel tank," John said.

"While that is beneficial, there is still a risk of fuel leaking, particularly if the delivery pipe from the fuel tank to the engine is ruptured."