Volkswagen South Africa (VWSA) Introduces New Technology to Enhance Night Driving Experience

By Daily Kasi News Reporter

Volkswagen Group SA, in partnership with its Advanced Driving Academy, has developed the first open-source night driving safety course aptly dubbed “Night School”.

In a bid to reduce the high rate of accident fatalities on SA’s roads, with more than 55% occurring at night, the course aims to educate drivers on the challenges and risks associated with night-time driving.

VWSA head of marketing  Bridget Harpur said the course was launched little less than a week ago and would be open to the public from November.

“We are acutely focused on our ambition of creating safer roads, not only for our drivers, but for all road users including passengers, pedestrians, cyclists and animals,” Harpur said.

“With over half of our country’s fatal accidents occurring at night, we asked ourselves, then why do we all only learn to drive during the day?

“Through our Night School curriculum, we are hoping to provide a tangible and effective solution that will help play a part in reducing the country’s night-time road accident statistics and, as a result, help save lives.” 

The Night School is made up of a comprehensive open-source online curriculum that is fully dedicated to night-time driving education and includes learner tests at the end of each chapter. 

The curriculum is free and accessible to all road users. 

In addition to the online curriculum, Volkswagen’s Advanced Driving academy will also be offering a real-world theoretical and practical course hosted by their experienced defensive driving instructors based at the Zwartkops Raceway.

Volkswagen’s Night School curriculum covers a range of night-driving topics from understanding your vehicle, visibility and poor vision, driver fatigue, recklessness, personal safety, weather conditions and a host of factors that compromise a driver’s ability when on the roads after dark. 

The Night School is joining forces with existing initiatives, led by both government agencies and the private sector, with the intended purpose of collaborating to save lives.