LEE COUNTY, FLORIDA, INSTALLED THE STATE’S FIRST driving simulator designed specifically for ambulance training back in October.  Now the county have given the go-ahead to order a second and place it in service.

The simulators are manufactured by the Doron Precision Systems of Binghamton, New York, and cost about $160,000.

The DPS police car simulator

The Naples News reports:

Installed at Edison College’s Fort Myers campus, the simulator serves college classes as well as emergency services new hires and veterans for driving certification.

Edison College is authorized by the state to train emergency providers, including emergency medical technicians and paramedics for Southwest Florida. About 150 paramedics and 250 EMTs train at Edison annually.

The simulator ambulance comes equipped like a typical 14-foot-long, 8-foot-wide, 15,000-pound ambulance, complete with flashing lights, siren, air-brake sound effects and a two-seat cockpit.

The seats look out on two, 65-inch, high-resolution monitors as front windows. The side windows, complete with adjustable mirrors, have two, 42-inch plasma monitors, which show a rear-view on split-screen.

The simulator also has about 150 road scenarios that it can run through. A driver and his instructor can start with a simple program of weaving through cones and progress to heavy traffic with street signals, pedestrians crossing the road, and treacherous weather with torrential rain.

If you “skid” on the wet road and hit the curb, it will be felt in the cab of the simulator.  The rest of the class can sit behind the trainee and observe his driving.

Read the full Naples Daily News story HERE.

The Doron Precision Systems makes driving simulators for trucks, buses and, yes, fire engines.

The Doron Precision Systems website is HERE.

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