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Driving a safer future

Why driving simulators are leading the way in heavy vehicle safety

In our health & safety conscious world, there are still no requirements for heavy vehicle drivers to recertify their driving qualifications. While airline pilots need constant checks, time in flight simulators and certification for different aircraft, truck drivers are licenced until they’re 75 with as little as an eyesight test at renewal, and can legally get behind the wheel of a vehicle they’ve never driven before.  

That’s why NZI have partnered with AutoSense, the leaders in heavy truck simulation, and driver safety and training, to help identify risks and improve driver safety and performance in fleets across the country.  Their mobile heavy-vehicle simulator travels the country and puts drivers through a series of realistic scenarios that can identify not just safety issues, but how efficiently they drive and how gentle they are on the vehicle.

" Go to any transport yard and you’ll see staff being trained in first aid and all sorts of health and safety matters, but rarely are they being trained to drive more efficiently or more safely. This simulator is designed to change all that.

Craig Ewens - Fleet Risk Manager, NZI

Advanced simulation

The simulator has such realistic g-forces that many drivers admit to feeling a bit queasy after experiencing it. In fact, there is a blue bucket on the floor – just in case!  The technology is the same as that used to train military helicopter pilots, with large wrap-around screens that can deliver different scenarios and weather conditions to challenge the driver. A cyclist or pedestrian could suddenly appear, or a car could pull out without indicating, just as they might in real life.

While drivers recognise this is a simulator, it’s not a game. There are real lessons learnt on the driver’s powers of observation, anticipation and spatial awareness – the vital skills for the road.  The simulator provides hands-on experiential training without putting people or expensive trucks at risk.

Charles Dawson, CEO of AutoSense, explains: “We’re not interested in how a driver performs on a nice sunny day on wide-open road. We want to see how they perform when conditions are challenging and an obstacle appears out of nowhere. How do they react then and how well do they make those early decisions to be defensive?”

The importance of driver awareness can’t be underestimated. Driving requires your complete attention and distraction or not being able to make an early evasive decision can be a serious road safety issue.

“The message we want drivers to go away with is that they need to be focused and concentrating when behind the wheel. It is the number one thing they should be doing, and they need to be very aware of their responsibility” says Dawson. 

" We’re not interested in how a driver performs on a nice sunny day on wide-open road. We want to see how they perform when conditions are challenging and an obstacle appears out of nowhere. How do they react then and how well do they make those early decisions to be defensive?

Charles Dawson - Chief Executive Officer, AutoSense

Changing thinking

The narrative is changing as more and more fleets join this journey of continual driver improvement.  With sponsorship from NZI, it’s easier to get access to this advanced simulator driver training, as Craig Ewens, NZI Fleet Risk Manager, explains:

“We see a huge benefit in supporting this training for our clients and over the last six years we’ve seen a lot of take-up. It’s part of our wider Fleet Fit programme which aims to improve driver safety and efficiency.”

Like Dawson, Ewens believes ongoing training needs to become just another part of the job:  “Go to any transport yard and you’ll see staff being trained in first aid and all sorts of health and safety matters, but rarely are they being trained to drive more efficiently or more safely. This simulator is designed to change all that.”

Contact your NZI Fleet Risk Manager or broker to see how NZI’s Fleet Fit programme can benefit your business and help keep your drivers safe on the road.

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