North American Van Lines discusses how it uses its truck driving simulator, and the results it has experienced from simulator training

To: Alan Jordan, President & CEO FAAC Inc.

Dear Al,

This letter is in response to your query about how North American has been using the TT-150 simulator. Since taking delivery in September 1992, the simulator has proven to be an invaluable part of our mobile classroom. We use it to (re)train and reinforce safe and fuel efficient driving practices to drivers at our distribution centers throughout the country. I recently presented a paper to the American Trucking Association that included a section on the benefits of simulator-based training. The balance of this letter is a summary of some of those benefits and experiences.

Aside from the obvious safety issues, our original financial justification for the purchase of the TT-150 was the driver retention. It costs upwards of $7,000 to recruit and train a new driver, depending on the fleet and level of experience. Actual costs of our new driver training can soar even further given higher driver turnover rates during the last few years of service. For these reasons, we have focused on retaining a driver that has developed bad habits rather than let the driver go and start over with a new one. This allows us to focus on a much smaller driver force, one that can be adequately serviced by one mobile TT-150.

Last year, I presented the preventable accident experience of drivers both before and after receiving our normal remedial training course to determine what, if any, effect the TT-150 had on training effectiveness. The drivers who had time on the simulator experienced 22% fewer accidents per day in service than their counterparts who did not receive any TT-150 training. It appears that time in the simulator is as effective as using an actual vehicle to reinforce safe driving practices. Results like this will enhance efforts to acquire additional units to help meet future driver training demands.

Moreover, the simulator allows the separation of tasks during the learning process – something you can’t do in a real truck. For example, in the real world, a student has to simultaneously watch the traffic in front, at the sides and behind a vehicle, shift and maintain the proper speed and lane position of the vehicle. All this activity can disrupt the learning of any one of these things. The TT-150 can allow the student to perform each of these activities separately and then combine them together as skills increase.

A totally unforeseen use of the simulator came as a result of the PR work done with the TT-150. After all, when you have something no one else has, you want to show it around a bit and demonstrate the benefits to others. One of the things I notice while giving demonstrations to the general public is that they exhibited the same tendencies that novice truck drivers do. But what really surprised me was observing experienced drivers doing exactly the same things while they were getting acclimated to driving the simulator. They were re-living the same experiences that had when they first learned to drive a tractor-trailer. It then occurred to me that time in the simulator might give an instructor better insight into a student driver’s mind while learning various tasks. As a result, use of the TT-150 is now an integral part of our Train-the-Trainer activities.

The TT-150 can also elicit true driver behavior. I feel that since it requires more concentration to drive the simulator than it does to drive the real thing, it tends to strip away any conscious effort the driver puts forth to mask true habits and behaviors. In fact, it’s ability to measure fuel economy showed most of our OJT instructors and employee drivers to be so well indoctrinated in fuel efficient driving practices, that they maintained RPM and shift point control far better than any other fleet segment I’ve looked at… and that includes owner-operators who have to buy their own fuel!

As I tell my students, there are a lot of things the simulator can do, but it still is not a truck. I don’t believe it is intended to be a 100% substitute for training in the real thing. However, it’s ability to accurately simulate the skills and tasks involved in driving a truck make it a valuable tool in the trainer’s bag of tricks. The TT-150’s ability to compress experience can greatly reduce the required training time in an actual vehicle.

Working with the TT-150 has been an absolutely fascinating and rewarding experience. I would like to thank your staff and you for their continued and enthusiastic support of both the TT-150 and my training efforts. It is my hope that we will be able to maintain that relationship well into the future.

Sincerely,

John McFann