Time to supercharge Driver CPC
By James Tillyer (Transformotion)
Driver CPC has been with us for quite some time. When it was introduced back in 2008 the idea was to raise road safety standards and enhance the efficiency of thousands of truck and bus drivers across Europe, while also creating a more harmonised approach across the continent.
EU members have universally adopted the framework of Driver CPC, but often in slightly different ways (to reflect the fact that the legislation is a Directive).
Yet possibly THE major problem with periodic Driver CPC is that the majority of training continues to involve 7 hours of a PowerPoint presentation and very little else.
Admittedly it’s difficult to enforce a policy where training providers are required to deliver a blended learning experience using different tools and / or techniques and of course, there are many fine examples of driver training where PowerPoint is the main tool.
But all too often drivers have to sit through slide after slide, which limits interaction, engagement and understanding and devalues the experience, leaving many drivers frustrated and critical.
These days companies are keen to invest in soft skills training for office-based staff, where cost is rarely considered when hiring a training provider, yet many managers still focus on the cheapest Driver CPC course when it comes to mandatory driver training.
Our truck and bus drivers spend more time behind the wheel than most of us. They have better skills, honed through hours of training and long periods in charge of complex, heavy machines. They have higher levels of concentration, better hazard perception and the ability to keep to an-often busy schedule (traffic permitting). So why give them a poor training experience? Isn’t it time for fleet operators to recalibrate their thinking when it comes to Driver CPC and for training providers to up their game?
Gamification in driver training offers a great opportunity to review the framework of Driver CPC and to ‘futureproof’ the approach to mandatory driver education. By introducing gamified elements in a blended way, drivers can engage with something at various intervals, rather than just listen to information over a 7 hour period.
Gamification can be incorporated with online learning, wrapped up in classroom-based tutor-led learning and delivered as part of self-paced eLearning. It offers numerous possibilities to reinforce the learning objectives in an interesting way, opens up the market and challenges developers to create something not just better than the norm, but better than the rest.
It’s essential that the authorities understand the need to develop Driver CPC. Very little has changed over the last 15 years, and the road transport industry has moved the game on in leaps and bounds. It’s important that the process of evaluating the training centre, the training course, the instructor and the venue keeps pace with modern times, and that the authorities understand the possibility to address a driver shortage by allowing on the major risks of driving on rural lanes and country roads.