Over the past 12 months General Motors South Africa has provided support for the advanced driver training of a group of 2200 members of the SAPS. The course, designed and administered by the Driving Dynamics organisation, has been tailored around the need to enhance the driving skills of operational members of the SAPS, to better prepare them for their important role in our society by enhancing their advanced and defensive driving skills.
This intense training programme comes ahead of the 2010 Soccer World Cup and has specifically targeted members of the Flying Squad, Police Dog Unit, Crime Combating Unit, and the elite Special Task Force, who will be at the forefront of ensuring the highest level of security and crime prevention during this massive international event, when the spotlight will be on South Africa.
During the staging of the World Cup these units will be on call to ensure that both overseas and local fans are able to enjoy the event to the fullest extent in a secure and safe environment.
GMSA provides seven vehicles for the programme with the passenger vehicles being drawn from the Chevrolet range including the Aveo and the all new Cruze. An Isuzu Double Cab is also used to provide training in the handling of a light commercial vehicle, typical of the type used by the SAPS. All have now completed more than 10 000 kilometres each, under the most arduous of driving conditions.
The intensity of the course and the large number of participants required to be exposed to this training, required that all seven vehicles were driven eight hours a day, six days a week over the past 12 months on the skid pan and other training courses at Gerotek. Add to this, the fact that each vehicle will have been driven by more than 300 individuals with the harsh braking, cornering and acceleration that are typical of the advanced driving routines coached on the course.
Also the conditions experienced by the vehicles have been extreme to say the least. So extreme in fact that this type of usage exposes a vehicle to a loading of 5:1 compared to normal everyday motoring. In effect the course put five years of normal operating life on the vehicles in just 12 months.
Despite this extreme usage, not one mechanical problem was experienced on any of the vehicles. A solid endorsement indeed for the Chevrolet and Isuzu vehicles used on the course, all of them placed in the programme in absolute showroom condition, without any additional preparation or any intensified maintenance regime.
