Driving Simulator Installed At Swallowfield Examination Depot

A driving simulator, valued at $5.4 million, has been installed at the Swallowfield Examination Depot in St. Andrew.

The equipment, acquired by the Transport Authority (TA), and was officially handed over to the Island Traffic Authority (ITA) on Tuesday (Dec.7), will aid in developing the competence of learner drivers, thereby enhancing safety on the roadways.

Driving simulators can contribute to the improvement of higher order skills like hazard perception in novice drivers. Research has shown that a driving simulator improves driver training, resulting in safer drivers and a reduction in the accident rate of up to 66 per cent for novice drivers.

Speaking at the handover ceremony, Minister of Transport and Mining, Hon. Robert Montague, said that the provision of the simulator is another step in a series of measures aimed at improving road safety.

“Since becoming Minister in 2018, I have been determined to clean up and strengthen the industry and one of the issues that is outstanding is safety on the roads,” he noted.

He lamented that over the years, maximum road fatality targets have been set with a view to not exceeding them “and we always just breeze past it and set the same one the following year.”

Mr. Montague said that the Ministry is determined to address this issue and he has tasked the ITA to re-examine its processes beginning with the procedure for issuing a learner’s licence.

As such, applicants are now required to sit the road code test prior to getting a learner’s licence.

Minister Montague informed that of the 72,000 persons who took the road code test in 2020, 85 per cent (61,000 persons) passed “so we are comfortable that the new people coming into the system know the road code”.

“You have an opportunity to retake the test if you fail it and if you fail the second time you pay; the third time is not free,” he pointed out.

“We are hoping that over time, the behaviour on our roads will improve, and introducing the driver simulator will ensure that persons know how to control a vehicle,” the Minister said.

For his part, Managing Director at the Transport Authority (TA), Willard Hylton, said that the united efforts of the agencies within the Transport Ministry will have a positive impact.

“We collaborate with vision and work together as a team by combining our efforts, knowledge, skill sets and expertise to accomplish a common goal of regulating the transportation sector,” he noted.

“The TA, as a regulatory body, strives to facilitate the process of development of a transportation sector that is people-centred, safe, orderly and reliable for all. It is with the collaborative effort of all our stakeholders that we will accomplish this goal,” he added.

Mr. Hylton noted that the matter of road safety has been a concern for many years and the provision of the driver simulator to the ITA, which was done in collaboration with Play Jamaica Limited, will aid in developing the competence of learner drivers.

“The TA is proud to participate in this collaboration of great entities. This will continue to effect significant changes in the transportation sector. In the handing over of a driving simulator to the ITA, we are making a step in the right direction, and we will achieve the common benefit of an improved, effective, safe and reliable transportation system,” he said.

The Managing Director indicated that the partnership will be deepened in the coming year with the provision of simulators to other locations identified by the ITA.