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Practicing Is a Must

Traffic and road conditions in permanent change always expose drivers to new challenges. Whenever firemen turn out from the Fire Station on heavy engines, they must reach the scene quickly and safely. In most of the cases, drivers have an enormous responsibility in this respect. That’s why it is so important to ensure that drivers at the wheel are confident and properly experienced in both using fire engine equipment and transporting firemen in safety. This needs, however, lots of practicing. NPP firemen had an opportunity to test a driver simulator and to get plenty of experience meanwhile. NPP Fire Service hosted in Paks, for a few days early in June, a driver simulator that helped firemen practice safe driving of heavy trucks and engines under various quasi-real weather and road conditions.

As instructor Balázs Magyar told us, the simulator was capable of creating situations in minutes, which would otherwise require a long time in real life. Control facilities on the simulator are identical with those in the driver cab of a truck or bus. The way the seat is adjusted, direction indicators and lights are controlled is the same as in real vehicles. Mirrors have an especially important function for 10 to 15 m long vehicles. For example, there are mirrors to show the distance between the right side of the vehicle and the road shoulder, reflecting where the vehicle runs. It is very important for turning manoeuvres. Throttle, brake and clutch pedals are also arranged on the simulator as in a real vehicle.

The dashboard also features direction indicator controls, a revolution counter, air and oil pressure gauges and a speedometer; it provides feedback on oil pressure, the running state of the engine and the operative status of the handbrake and direction indicators. The gearbox has multiple functions; it has hand stick, automatic and preselection modes of operation. When using the automatic gearbox function, the driver should put it into just one gear at start with all subsequent changes being made automatically. The 8 gears available in manual mode can be halved and thereby the traction of 20 to 24 t loads is easier with the resulting 16 gears. In such cases, the engine operates at a lower r.p.m., giving rise to a higher power reserve to move a vehicle of several tons. Using the preselection gearbox mode makes it possible to change up directly to third gear. The time of practicing can be set on the simulator from 1 to 3 minutes in 5 s steps, or even to any period of time. The simulator can be set to an equal period of operation, allowing each trainee to practice driving for an identical period of time, after which it stops. The programme can run as long as 3 days without repetition. The simulator-based survey of someone’s driving abilities is allowed only after 3 to 4 occasions that corresponds to a total of 4 hours’ practice.

The simulator is capable of visualizing downtown, countryside, mountain and highway traffic conditions and assign various weather conditions to each one of them.
Also, various traffic manoeuvres, such as reversing and garage parking with semi-trailers or drawbar combinations can be practiced using the simulator. Driving tankers full of with liquids together with their related trailers, as the largest road vehicle combinations, is very similar to driving fire engines. Practicing on the simulator and facing new situations are very useful for firemen since they can experience how such vehicles react while cornering, speeding up or losing speed, and how to avoid overturning.

The programme provides an outstanding means for the survey of driving skills, e.g. breaking reaction times. It can also provide a picture of driver’s reactions in the event where someone springs forth on the road, a drunken person abruptly crosses in front of the vehicle, or if some obstacle makes the road narrow, i.e. of how the driver decides in various unexpected situations.
TIR-Suli Bt. has been operating the simulator since the end of the last year and, ever since then, it has been participating in the examination of drivers under the supervision of Hungary’s National Transport Authority. It held demonstrations in Budapest, while Gemenc Volán Transport Company seated in Szekszárd also rents the simulator. TIR-Suli contracted with many bus companies to test drivers’ skills. Though drivers do not feel the vehicle physically but they can locate it in space – and it is an important thing to know.

by Mrs. Anna Lovásziné
Katasztrófavédelem – June 2009