Use simulators to teach drivers how to drive abroad

Use simulators to teach drivers how to drive abroad

Mr William Laws, a 60-year-old Singapore permanent resident, thinks it's high time Singaporeans are taught how to drive long distances.
Ng Tze Yong

Fri, Apr 11, 2008
The New Paper

The tears have been shed. It's been just over a week since the victims of last month's highway accident in Muar were cremated.

It's time to ask tough questions.

So says Mr William Laws, a 60-year-old Singapore permanent resident, who thinks it's high time Singaporeans are taught how to drive long distances.

For days after the accident, the picture of baby Jolene, the sole survivor of the horrific accident, sleeping in the arms of a Malaysian nurse, lingered in his mind.

A recurring image haunted him - he is driving, with his family in the car, then the car flies off the road.

'As you get older, you become more aware of your mortality. You think, if not for the grace of God, it could have been me,' says Mr Laws, head of corporate communications at Tata Technologies.

'The Muar accident was not the first time Singaporeans got into an accident while driving overseas.

'What are we going to do about it?'

The driving schools here are not doing a good job, he says.

Why?

'They need to realise that more Singaporeans are going on driving holidays, and change their teaching methods.'

But Singapore's driving tests are considered some of the toughest around. What else can be done?

It's the approach, explains Mr Laws.

'Here, they teach you to park using poles. You get within one inch, you're in trouble. What kind of teaching method is that?'

Mr Laws says that when his wife was learning how to drive, she had wanted to drive through puddles and go up Mount Faber to experience what it's like.

'But the instructor said: No, no, no, that's not part of the syllabus.'

He says the problem with driving schools here is that 'they want you to learn everything from a book, just like everything else in Singapore.

'But driving in real life is different.'

His Let Fly suggestion - take it or leave it - is this:

'Let's get professional film-makers to go to Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, or wherever Singaporeans like to go on driving holidays, and get them to film the roads.

'Film the potholes, the snow, the scenery, the puddles, broken tarmac, oil and unusual signboards such as deer crossings.

'Then let's build simulators for our driving students to teach them what it's like to drive overseas.

'We can simulate aquaplaning (which happens when a car skids over a thin film of water at high speed). We can simulate driving at night in the countryside where there are no street lights. We could even recreate a kangaroo jumping across the road.'

And who will pay for such machines?

'It's a fabulous opportunity for car companies. You get, say, Toyota to build a simulator similar to one of their cars. The drivers train in it. And when they go overseas, they might just request for the same car at the rental companies.'

Mr Laws knows what it's like to drive long distances. He is a native of London and used to live in the US for several years.

'Driving long distances is hypnotic. You have no idea how fast you are going.

'And besides, modern vehicles are so quiet. You forget that you are sitting in a lethal weapon travelling at a tremendous speed.'

In 1977, the father of three moved to Singapore, 'where you can't drive for more than one hour without dropping off the island'.

But he says the crux of the problem is not so much the long-distance driving, but the complacency of Singaporeans driving overseas for the first time.

They mistakenly think they can take the fatigue. They want to maximise their holiday time. How do you teach them to take breaks?

'It's tough because you're fighting human nature,' says Mr Laws.

'But one way is to look at anti-smoking campaigns. The most successful ones are those that have a girl saying she doesn't want to kiss her boyfriend because it's like kissing an ashtray.

'If we can somehow make it cool to be a safe driver, maybe that can work.'

Will this Let Fly idea fly?

Mr Laws is sceptical himself.

'I know Singaporeans will complain. But we need to ask ourselves if it is a matter that is serious enough.

'Ultimately, we are talking about saving lives.'