HEAVY VEHICLE SIMULATOR TO TRAIN SA FARMERS

South Australian farmers will soon be able to practise some of the toughest situations they face behind the wheel of a truck, using a new heavy vehicle simulator.

Primary Producers SA and the South Australian Road Transport Association have partnered to deliver defensive driving training specifically for primary producers moving grain, livestock and other agricultural freight.

The SARTA simulator can be configured as a heavy rigid truck, semi-trailer or B-double, and can recreate changing weather, traffic, pedestrians, reversing and loading situations.

It can also replicate the South Eastern Freeway descent into Adelaide, along with rural roads featuring blind corners, narrow lanes and vehicles stopped on road shoulders.

The training will allow drivers to work through these scenarios in a controlled setting, including reviewing what went wrong and repeating the exercise.

The program will travel to regional communities across South Australia over the next 12 months, focusing on producers and workers operating under restricted primary producer heavy vehicle licences.