Effectiveness of the driving simulator

Normally, in the Dutch situation, 35 to 45 lessons in a car on the road, supervised by a qualified driving instructor are needed before the first driving examination. But after a selection of 6 to 8 hours of our simulatorlessons, the number of supervised on-road lessons can be reduced substantially. This demonstrates that the simulatortraining is highly effective. Because of this effectiveness, costs are substantially lower compared to traditional driver training. Also the training period can be reduced substantially. This enables driving schools to use another driver training model, in which theory lessons are followed by simulorlessons and at the end of the training period lessons in a real car on the road. Because one instructor can handle up to four simulators simulaneously, more students can be trained in the same time.

Most simulators can only be used during the first lessons of driver training when basic procedural skills are teached, like learning to change gear, starting the engine etc. But in our simulators the focus is on traffic participation, traffic rules, learning to recognise and handle traffic signs in realistic high-density traffic situations. And these are precisely the skills that require most time to learn during practice lessons on the road. Training in our simulators is then much more effective compared to tradition in-car training. There are a number of reasons for that:

• The lessons have been developed in a way that effectively teach the required behaviour. During the lessons, the simple traffic situations are treated first, but as the lessons progress traffic situations become more complex. This results in faster recognition of situations and hazards and in a faster response to these. On the roads, typically a multitude of different things require attention resulting in attentional overload of beginning students. They have to attend to, and do, a number of things simultaneously while they don't have the skills for that yet. Because of that, traditional training on the road is not as effective compared to training in a simulator. In the simulator skills are trained in a way that avoids overloading the student.

• During a typical traditional on-road lesson, learning moments occur more or less randomly. The presentation of learning situations depends on coincidental occurrences of traffic and the route. In the simulator lessons, however, a lot of situations with high learning value are encountered in a guaranteed way. Because of this, a simulator lesson has a guaranteed effectiveness for each student.

• The simulator applies an advanced 'virtual instructor' and student assessment system. The virtual instructor evaluates the behaviour of the student continuously. It immediately gives feedback when the student commits an error. This fast and systematic feedback increases the speed at which the student learns to drive properly. After each lesson the student assessment system generates a detailed report about the strong and weak points.

• In a simulator the student trains in a safe environment with no stress. The consequences of committing an error in a simulator are much less serious than in a real car. This results in more relaxed learning: people learn better when they are more relaxed and feel safe.

• Most students like driving in our simulators. This is motivating and enhances learning to drive.