How simulator training promotes safer roads and property
P&C insurance carriers can boost roadway safety and reduce losses by embracing virtual reality simulator training for truck drivers.
Why do we have driving accidents? There are many reasons. Among them is the lack of adequate training and refresher training for experienced professional drivers.
In earlier automotive years, the dominant training method was to put the new driver in a vehicle and have a trainer guide him. The trainer might have been his dad.
As the commercial driving world developed, driving schools with classroom instruction emerged. Eventually, computer-based training (CBT) and on-the-road driving in the vehicle with an instructor/trainer alongside became the norm. Reputable schools developed — along with some less reputable ones.
Today, legislation is in place that will require the right training by qualified schools. Should it become regulation, it would result in a certificate requirement that indicates each student has passed the required training in order to take a professional driving test.
Safety is no accident
Over 90% of workplace vehicle accidents occur because of driver error. The only way to know that the student learned basic driving and safety knowledge is with the use of virtual-reality simulation. Simulation is a safe way to have a student drive, make an error, and repeat the right way to negotiate the situation multiple times ─ until truly learned.
Unfortunately, the expanded training modalities will not count as drive time in a truck. By contrast, simulation used in the training of pilots is a must and must be completed before the future pilot flies.
Simulation training also will help the experienced driver relearn to stop making the subtle errors that creep into driving habits or muscle memory over time.
Here’s why insurers should pay attention
Insurance companies will be able to track accident rates and adjust premiums. Required training also could reduce the accident rate and losses for the trucking industry.
It follows that simulator training could keep insurance rates down and result in fewer highway deaths. Though the law does not require it, insurance companies should look at the losses and the benefit of training in simulation.
Simulation is the only safe way to train drivers to deal with rare but extremely dangerous situations such as a power-wheel blowout, an unexpected patch of black ice or sudden excessive winds. When these events occur and are trained in a simulator, there is no loss resulting in a costly lawsuit or vehicle damage. Training operational costs such as fuel, maintenance and tire depreciation also disappear.
Many seemingly minor events that cause accidents are rehearsed including turning or backing into the path of an adjacent vehicle, misjudging distances, looking in the wrong place, distraction due to unfamiliarity with location or distracting vehicle features.
Shifting the perspective
What is needed for a much safer driving world is the required use of simulation in the training requirements for a license for all commercial vehicles. If we have simulation, we can determine whether the student learned the driving exercise and can drive properly. Making it mandatory for all drivers will simply make driving in this country safer.
So why isn’t simulator training a requirement for commercial drivers? Because regulators are looking for proof that training simulation impacts driving safety. What is needed is data on how many accidents drivers did NOT have because they were trained and avoided it. We currently cannot acquire that information.
What we do know is that if you put a pilot in a plane with no training, that pilot can’t fly. If you put a student in a car with no training, that student may be able to duplicate the process to drive but will be much more likely to have an accident.
Here’s one more benefit: Simulation training for commercial drivers will attract more women to trucking, an industry that’s suffering through a driver shortage. Women have a 20% better driving safety record, so we need them in the field.
Does “driverless” really mean driverless?
Because driverless vehicle tests have taken place, some argue driverless vehicles will soon dominate the roadways. Is it really going to happen? Not likely.
We will always have drivers, but we won’t think of them as drivers. In time, they may operate the vehicle from an office. New technology developments will enable commercial drivers to solve common road problems. They also will be able to remotely track freight ─ a key point for companies that trust a million-dollar freight load to the hauler.
But there remain many uncertainties. For instance, it remains uncertain whether the smaller roadways in cities will accommodate driverless trucks. The public also will need to trust the technology not to cause accidents.
Impacting safety and loss reduction
Simulators cost one-third of what they once did, which was a major factor in schools and freight haulers not utilizing them. Today it is cheaper than the alternative, and it is proven to train those things that can’t otherwise be safely learned.
Can the insurance industry be the leader in the push to require simulation training? Given that insurance losses are climbing from the inadequate training of drivers, simulation training is a solution that must be considered.
John Kearney (jeks@atstrainingsystems.com) is CEO of Advanced Training Systems, a high-tech simulator technology and engineering firm that provides cutting-edge adaptive training systems to improve training and create safer drivers. These opinions are his own.
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