Snowplow Simulators Save Time, Money

Rather than spending $240 a hour to take a snow plow truck out for training, the Minnesota Department of Transportation is doing the same training, only more conveniently, for only $30 an hour.

Statewide coordinator Andy Kubista was in Detroit Lakes earlier this week, training MnDOT snowplow drivers on a simulator to prepare them for any situation they could encounter on the highways.

Kubista said MnDOT started looking at the simulators eight years ago for “training for drivers to reduce accidents. Not because of drivers, but the situation,” he said.

The problem was, in bad weather, plow drivers couldn’t be out training; they had to be out working. It also seemed wasteful to take a plow out to the parking lot and potentially give it a flat tire.

“It’s a good tool,” District 4 Instructor Lonnie Hoffman said. “Instead of taking out actual trucks, we’re allowed to do what we can’t actually do out on the road.”

Since looking into the simulator in 2001, costs have dropped so much, the DOT was able to purchase two mobile units instead of one permanent one that drivers would have to travel to train on. The mobile units spend three weeks in each district, training drivers for whatever the need may be — for now, it’s snowplows. They are on eight-month rotations, so the unit will be back in Detroit Lakes in August or September for another type of training, Kubista said.

Once the state has run through drivers needed for the various training programs, Kubista said he will also train county and city employees if there is interest.

In district 4, which includes Detroit Lakes, 16 snowplow drivers are going through the training course. The course isn’t just practice in a simulator either.

The three-part training consists of a classroom setting with an instructor and Power Point presentation. The second is computer based, with question and answer problems to solve. The third part is to drive the simulator. Total training adds up to four hours.

One hour in the simulator translates into four hours of practice time in a truck.

In the simulator, instructors can make the weather change instantly, they can give the plow a flat tire, they can have vehicles rear end the plows, they can have plows skid out on ice. Then once the drivers are done, the computer generates a green/red look at what the driver needs to work on in the future.

“This is not pass or fail, because I could make anyone fail,” Kubista said. “But it’s (about making) the best possible decisions.”

So just how real is the simulated driving course?

“Crazy as it seems, this is always something that happens,” Kubista said about the various scenarios on the screen. “There’s nothing in there that hasn’t happened to someone.”

And although the situations have happened at some point, there is the reality that “the simulators are not your truck,” Hoffman said. “The truck itself is a little different.” But, it is a good practice tool.

The simulator, which costs $568,000, is completely self-contained, with all the equipment Kubista will need to instruct. It can run on electric power or there is a generator for when electric isn’t available.

Kubista said he’s run about 1,200 people through the unit, including 500 snowplow drivers. There are 15 different types of vehicles the simulator can give a driver to practice on, with many different scenarios to deal with.

“I get them in here and take them out of their comfort zones,” he said. For instance, he can run drivers through the mountains instead of just rural areas.

“The more they drive, the more they like it,” he said has been his experience thus far.

Some drivers get into the feel of the simulator so much, they’ll lean forward to look both ways at the stop sign.

“I hope to get more (scenarios and vehicles for MnDOT), but it’s a good start for us,” Kubista said.