VR simulated vehicle training for the emergency services.

The emergency services operate many vehicles in hazardous enviroments.  Therefore, getting the training right is crucial to safety.  VR simulated vehicle training allows drivers to be trained for hazardous scenarios in a safe and repeatable environment.

We were delighted to welcome Paul Speight, Watch Manager at the Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS), to the workshop.  Paul has been a key figure in VR training for many years and was keen to see what motion simulators could add to the vehicle training experience.

Having been given the national lead to implement VR in the UK fire service, Paul and the LFRS implemented a VR training programme for fire investigators, described as covering in one hour what investigators would previously spend two days learning.

Switching to road safety, Paul and his team then launched the Virtual Fatal 4 (VF4) road safety education package.  As the first fire & rescue service in the UK and Europe to introduce this type of immersive training, they see it as a key aid in helping to reduce deaths and serious injuries in young drivers.

Paul test drove our 3-DoF truck simulator. Designed for upright driving positions, it is used to train drivers of commercial and emergency services vehicles.  These include LGVs, HGVs, vans, buses and coaches, ambulances and fire engines.  The truck simulator would not normally go off road, but that’s what he chose to do…