You get the call
at midnight. One of your drivers lost control of his vehicle, smashing into two
other vehicles and closing a major highway. Thankfully, all injuries are minor,
but the lost time, physical damages and potential lawsuits could cost in excess
of half a million dollars. You invested in a driver education program that
requires annual recertification, but so far you haven’t seen any improvement in
performance, and your insurance rates continue to climb. Shareholders are
pressuring for a better bottom-line. You need to find a solution that will deliver
long-term results.
Training Our
Brains to Think Differently
What is really
needed is a new way to think about driver training. Research indicates that
most accidents may not be the result of driver error per se, but that our brains do not recognize a problem or make the
right decision at the critical moment.
Fortunately,
touch tablets and simulation software built on Microsoft Windows have the power
to impact the way drivers think, and it’s resulting in significant changes in
the way we drive.
Drive for Life,
known for its on-premise simulators that recreate the driving experience, has
developed an app for tablets which brings that same simulator experience to a
mobile device. By creating cognitive exercises that are ‘gaming’ in style, it
teaches our brains to think differently - to reach a higher level of
situational awareness - and the results are nothing short of astounding. One of Canada’s largest insurance companies
conducted a test case with the Drive for Life curriculum and simulation
exercises: after twelve months, their actuarials indicated a 30% reduction in
collisions, and a 40% reduction in insurance costs. As a result, Drive for Life
became the first adult/experienced driver training program ever to be given a
rate discount for trainees by a Canadian insurance company.
Reducing
Driver Fatalities to Zero
The same
technology is now being used by EMS, police and fire departments, and even
branches of the armed forces. It is a fact that many police services
experience higher collision incidents
with new officers – this can be as high as 25% of newly recruited drivers getting
involved in a collision because they are driving vehicles in high-risk
situations. Traditional training does not address the necessary changes in
perception or build the experience base fast enough. Simply put, good decision
making is at a premium in these situations. After completing the training using
Drive for Life’s decision-based simulation program, collision rates dropped to
5%. In the case of one armed forces division, after 5,000 soldiers were trained,
fatalities due to rollovers of Humvees and heavy equipment were reduced to
zero.
“The
1BCT had 8 Rollover Accidents that occurred (during) the deployment before we
received your training. We had no HMMWV rollovers this deployment and the
Uparmored HMMWV was our primary vehicle for the entire deployment. We did not
have a single serious HMMWV accident and I can't even recall a minor one. I
checked my accident reporting records and could find NO HMMWV accidents during
this 14 month deployment. This
was my second deployment and my biggest safety issue (and worry) was
roll-overs. Your training and the sim training was the key factor in our
accident avoidance record. I have recommended this training because it modified
driving behavior and did so immediately according to our Soldiers who
participated.”
David Rockwell, Former Safety Officer 10th Mountain Division
Moving From
a Simulator to Simulation on a Tablet
The new
application was the brainchild of John Williamson, CEO of Drive for Life, based
in Mississauga, Ontario. While their simulators provided a great curriculum, the
sheer size, cost and maintenance of the hardware presented drawbacks.
- 20% of users experienced some degree of motion sickness during the 4 hour training session;
- Each simulator cost in excess of $125M;
- Transporting the equipment was difficult or impossible, so trainees were urged to attend the Mississauga facility.
Williamson’s
team wanted to put the training into
everyone’s hands. Now, with the use of
tablets and software built on Microsoft Windows, training can be done anywhere
it is needed, and due to mobility and flexibility in appointment times,
equipment and personnel do not have to be pulled away from scheduled training
to attend urgent situations. For the Hamilton Police force, this permitted an
efficient, cost-effective means of block training for the 775 officers who took
the course. “The development of this program has enhanced the hands on training
element of the training program by eliminating the challenges of simulator
based training, which were barriers for us in the past, namely; higher cost,
lack of mobility and motion sickness.” Deborah Clark, Superintendent,
Professional Development Division, Hamilton Police Service.
Expansion
into New Markets
Drive for Life is
now working on expansion, building a more robust technical capacity and
marketing their safety-focused software to fleet administrators of taxi &
limousine companies, public utilities, the oil and gas industry, healthcare,
delivery services and beyond. The product has already been sold to businesses
in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, proving that Drive for Life can take the technology to
places where full simulators could never go.
“Anyone who has to
drive as part of their job can benefit from this software,” says John
Williamson, CEO of Drive for Life. “It’s a new approach to driver training, and
it’s helping people make better decisions as they navigate roads anywhere in
the world.”
The Drive for Life
is recognized by the PSHSA (Public Services Health & Safety Association),
and endorsed by a number of Police Services, along with Royal Sun Alliance and
Aviva insurance companies. For more information, go to www.driveforlife.ca
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