XPI Simulation Ltd of Surbiton (UK) has been awarded a contract by South Wales Police to develop a simulator designed to improve the driving skills of police officers.

This is the third large-scale simulator development to be awarded to XPI since March and establishes XPI's position as the UK's leading experts in the provision of car driving simulators.

Alan Davenport of XPI said: “It is interesting that although the simulators share the same key technology each of these developments addresses the task in a radically different way.   All of our simulators show highly realistic scenes but the end result is defined by the courseware and the method in which it is applied.”

South Wales Police is not aiming for a simulator that will replace the police driving instructors; instead the simulator will be used in addition to, and will compliment, traditional police driving instructors.  It will be a means of bringing the real world into the classroom and take existing training procedures indoors.

The simulator has been designed to place officers in real life scenarios that they encounter everyday while responding to emergency calls such as being behind a motorist who is failing to pull over because they have not noticed the siren and flashing blue lights – a situation which can frustrate officers and can potentially lead to a collision.

As the other vehicles may respond differently to the actions of the police driver neither the instructor nor the driver will know exactly what to expect but they can be sure to encounter many of the more difficult situations they will face while driving a police vehicle.

Sergeant Gareth Morgan, from the South Wales Police driving school, said:  “Police drivers will benefit from much more intense training in the safety of the simulator. They will encounter situations which we could not safely recreate on the roads and they will be able to review their own performance with the instructor by watching the recordings after the sessions”.

“Helping the drivers improve their skills is the main objective but there will be significant other benefits such as a reduction in vehicle running costs and it also demonstrates South Wales Police’s commitment to its environmental policy.”

The simulator is due for delivery in March 2009.

ENDS