THE TRAINER VINCE TAYLOR
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Vince Taylor has been providing training for Renault Trucks for the past 24 months.
He was the director of his own training company, which then merged with CRH Transport Training and he is now the senior trainer.
He trains more than 100 drivers a year. "It is not so much training,'' he says, "it is more trying to help drivers, who often have more than 25 years experience. They might have a few old habits and I will try to help them learn a few new ones."
As vehicles become more advanced and technical, a lack of training means the skills required to drive older trucks are often at odds with the way new trucks are built and designed to work. Today using cruise control and complementary brake devices to slow a vehicle can make a real difference.
"Some drivers rarely use the cruise control unless they are on the motorway as they think that is the only place it can be used. You can use it on dual carriageways and A-roads, in fact anywhere where it is safe to use it," he says. "And a lot of drivers don't use auxiliary braking systems, like Renault's Optibrake.' This leads to drivers relying solely on service brakes to slow vehicles, meaning a lot of harsh braking and acceleration which reduce fuel economy.
"It is all about anticipation: once they get that right, drivers have more time to use things like Optibrake to slow a vehicle," he says.