In the year since Paducah Area Transit System (PATS), in Paducah, Ky., began training its drivers on its Mobile Driver Training Simulator, total accidents went down 44 percent, with preventable accidents down almost two thirds, at 64 percent. While other transits and law enforcement agencies experienced a 20-30 percent drop in accidents after incorporating simulator training into their defensive driving curriculum, the decrease in accidents so far for PATS has been even more dramatic.

In the year prior to implementing the training, PATS total accident rate was 2.6 per 100,000 miles, which wasn’t bad when compared to transits its size. After Simulator training began, PATS total accident rate dipped even further, to 1.45 per 100,000 miles. PATS’ rate of preventable accidents dropped to a miniscule .61 per 100,000 miles.

“We had a feeling our accident rate would drop, because other transits which utilized simulator training saw their number of accidents decrease, but we were very excited to see just how dramatic the drop was,” according to Lew Jetton, Marketing and Community Relations Director for Paducah Area Transit System. “The training we’ve provided our drivers and others have, in all likelihood, also prevented injury, and possibly even saved lives.”

Many locally may have seen the bright yellow tractor-trailer rig parked across from Paducah’s Executive Inn and wondered, just what was inside. Inside are 3 state-of-the-art computerized driving simulators, to mimic any kind if vehicle from a sedan to a full sized bus. PATS instructors use the simulator to train drivers in defensive driving techniques by actually letting them drive through potentially troublesome scenarios.

Each PATS driver is required to train on the simulator at least once a year. Drivers involved in an accident are required to take a “refresher” course on the simulator, with an emphasis on the accident in which they were involved, if possible. When not training PATS drivers, the simulator often hits the road to train drivers across the state and region. So far, this fiscal year, PATS has trained almost 700 drivers, including 378 transit drivers and more than 200 law enforcement officers and firefighters in Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee. “We don’t have data on their accident rates, but every one of them have commented on how much they got out of the training, and how much they’d like to follow up with more advanced lessons,” according to Jetton. “We’ve even had parents request to have their teenage drivers go through the simulator because it’s such an effective tool in teaching safe driving techniques. In the simulator, you can have a wreck and nobody gets hurt.”

So far, there’s only one year’s worth of data to compare to previous years, but it’s hoped the trend will continue. “Now we can see the accidents we’re NOT having because of the training and hopefully we’ll continue to see that number stay down, or go down even further.”

More Related Information:
Archived Article: MSAA Initiative Aims to Create Eight ITS Strongholds
Archived Article: Manager’s Forum — Training Operators
Archived Article: Driving Risk Out of Your Transit Fleet