An Aircraft-style simulator is being used to train Australian Truck drivers.

The hi-tech teaching aids have just been installed at DECA Training with the object of giving drivers more experience; and learning about everything from changing gears to speed management and hazardous situations.

It is expected to make it easier for drivers to enter the transport industry with improved safety standards.

The simulator, called DriveSim, is built in the US but has been tweaked for Australian drivers, roads and trucks.

It is designed to copy the experience of driving a real Truck on a real road. The simulator can reproduce the sensations of acceleration, braking and cornering in a variety of weather, gradient and load conditions in a variety of vehicles.

DECA has bought three DriveSim units and installed one in each of its company facilities and put another in a trailer for mobile training at job sites.

These units will provide a revolution in how Truck drivers are trained in Australia, says DECA Training managing director Ian Bushby. “There is a critical shortage of drivers in all classes of vehicle and it is imperative the industry markets itself to potential drivers of all ages and creates a clear and worthwhile career path,” Bushby says. “We must meet the challenges of attracting and retaining highly skilled drivers.”

He says there are many advantages to the DriveSim system.

“Many inexperienced drivers find it hard to change gears, manage speed and also have problems with hazard perception, following distances, observation and planning and vehicle manoeuvrability,” he says. “DriveSim will help develop their skills in a safe environment and significantly more quickly.”

“The drivers feel as if they are in a real Truck with quality audio and visual outputs that support the vehicle, traffic and road situations.”

“Experience in the US suggests one hour of training in the simulator could be worth up to four hours of in-vehicle training on the road.”

The simulators are suitable for drivers with a range of experience from total novices to veterans.

“DriveSim can simulate any vehicle on Australian roads and can be used to train for any driveline with any combination of engine, gearbox or axle ratio.”

“It can simulate anything from automatic to synchromesh or constant-mesh gearboxes in rigid trucks, semi-trailers, B-double, B-triple and road trains. It is a safe, efficient and realistic way to train drivers.”

Bushby emphasises the advantage of challenging drives in potential emergency situations without putting them, their rigs or other road users at risk in the real world.

The simulator can create scenarios that can’t be produced under normal driving conditions. It can be programmed to simulate road conditions in city or country, on freeways or mountain roads, day or night, rain, fog or snow.