Simulator training in driver education—potential gains and challenges

Abstract

Norway is currently ranked as one of the top nations in regard to road safety. However, continued efforts are applied as we stretch towards a goal of zero deaths and serious injuries in road traffic accidents. In this paper we explore if Norwegian driver education could benefit from simulator training. Possible advantages are cost effectiveness, environmentally friendly training, repeatability, accessibility to different scenarios (accident scenarios and dangerous situations, darkness and snow outside of winter, difficult weather conditions and extreme road traffic density), the possibility to make errors in a safe environment, and interaction with new technology such as advanced driver assistant systems. However, there are challenges such as how to increase the number of simulators in Norway, and legal obstacles as current legislations require all mandatory parts of the Norwegian driver education to be conducted on the road. Our overall impression is that the driver education in Norway could have advantages in applying a more systematic approach to simulator training. extra practice. The only premise is that the driver learner has completed an introductory course and that the experienced driver must have held their driver’s license for a minimum of five years without receiving any penalties or driver’s license endorsements (FOR 2017). Such additional training is meant to increase the driver learners’ experience behind the wheel prior to their exams and the license issuance. Our question is to whether driving simulators could be a training platform in Norway to increase driver learners’ driving experience, and if they can complement or even substitute some of the more traditional learning methods used in today’s education. In many industries where human errors are likely to have critical outcomes, such as aviation, hospital medicine and commercial nuclear power, simulator training is frequently used as part of training. Simulator training can be cost efficient and can provide training in situations that are rarely seen (e.g. accident scenarios; Bye et al. 2011; McGaghie et al. 2010; Salas, Bowers & Rhodenizer 1998). Currently driving simulators are not the standard way of learning how to drive, however, in some European countries, such as in The Netherlands and the United Kingdom, simulator training has gained some acceptance as part of the driver education (Baten & Bekiaris 2003), and there are reports showing an increased use of simulators in Germany (Stiegler & Vennefrohne 2017) and France (Goepp 2017). There are several