FAAC, Driver Simulator Manufacturer Conference Focuses on Driver Safety

ANN ARBOR, MI--August 22, 2011: A three-day user conference sponsored by FAAC Incorporated, a driver training simulator manufacturer, is designed to share best practices for teaching safe driving principles to professional driving instructors from various disciplines, including public safety, emergency response, and mass transit.

“We even have instructors signed up who use competitors' equipment, but our emphasis for this event is to support our markets to develop a safer, more defensive, and professional driver.”

The conference, scheduled for Oct. 12-14 aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA, is an opportunity for driver training instructors who use simulators to gather and teach and learn from others, network, and return home with new tips, techniques, applications, and methods for simulator instruction.

"Driving collisions continue to be a leading cause of injuries and fatalities in the professional driving disciplines that we work with," said David Bouwkamp, Executive Director of Commercial Business Development. "Simulator training is a powerful anecdote against the kind of collision statistics we see, and this conference is our way of making sure the latest teaching concepts and techniques are shared among this industry.

"For example, if one of our customers uses a technique with his simulator that resulted in a significant decrease in collisions, we want the markets we serve to know about it."

Conference events include success story presentations from industry peers, advanced certification course, group discussions with master instructors, hands-on cross-training, and a scenario design workshop.

"Cross-training will enable the attendees to experience firsthand how different groups use their simulators to achieve training goals," Bouwkamp said. "They are able to take what they feel are the best practices of each discipline and incorporate them into their own training programs -- everyone strengthens each others' programs."

For the first time FAAC is offering an advanced instructor certification course. The course focuses on incorporating simulators into an agency's overall driver training program and using the best instructional tactics and techniques to get the most from this powerful student learning environment.

The Driving Simulator Train the Trainer Certification Course was created to begin to develop a common standard of simulator training integration and delivery.

"Apparently there is a lot of interest out there because the seats sold out very quickly," Bouwkamp said. "We even have instructors signed up who use competitors' equipment, but our emphasis for this event is to support our markets to develop a safer, more defensive, and professional driver."