nuggets from the more th>n living archive

Insider

Archives

UK test from September 2008">eco-​​driving in UK test from September 2008

A couple of weeks ago we wrote about eco-​​driving, and how it had become part of the test in European coun­tries includ­ing Sweden. While writ­ing the art­icle, we read that it was planned for the UK in 2008.

This came as a bit of a sur­prise: des­pite the cur­rent talk of high fuel prices – and the pit­falls of shop­ping around for too long – eco-​​driving hasn’t yet found its way into the debate.

We asked the Driv­ing Stand­ards Agency (DSA), which admin­is­ters the UK’s driv­ing tests, whether it still planned to intro­duce an eco-​​driving ele­ment to the test this year. A spokes­per­son con­firmed that the change was due in Septem­ber 2008:

Eco-​​safe Driv­ing’ will not require a com­plete revi­sion of driv­ing skills but does require enhanced plan­ning, per­cep­tion and awareness.

The assess­ment will not con­trib­ute to the over­all result of the test. We have taken the view that drivers should be encour­aged to demon­strate ‘Eco-​​safe Driv­ing’ tech­niques. Feed­back will be provided by exam­iners on any areas of weakness.

At the con­clu­sion of the test the exam­iners will give can­did­ates a leaf­let which will provide useful inform­a­tion about ‘Eco-​​safe Driving’.

Can­did­ates will be encour­aged to dis­cuss the con­tent of the leaf­let with family, friends and par­ents so that we can reach as wide an audi­ence as possible.

Swings and roundabouts

So, by the end of this Summer young drivers will be schooled in tech­niques to help them save fuel and reduce emis­sions, and they’ll be encour­aged to share what they learn with the rest of us.

It’s a wor­ry­ing enough time when your teen­agers start learn­ing to drive, without the added pro­spect of them lec­tur­ing you on your own driv­ing, but the DSA prom­ises:

If you adopt your driv­ing to include these changes you will become a more environmentally-​​friendly, economically-​​aware driver and may enjoy your jour­neys more as they become less stress­ful and more comfortable.

With fuel prices stuck above £1 per litre and a fur­ther 2p of duty sched­uled for 1 April, per­haps a little humble pie might make the costs of motor­ing easier to stomach.

IMAGES by Flickr users

.Tatiana. and MegElizabeth

Sim­ilar Posts:

Ori­gin­ally posted 2008-​​02-​​25 06:22:00. Repub­lished by Blog Post Promoter

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • del.icio.us
  • Twitter
  • Print
  • email
  • Add to favorites
  • RSS
  • PDF
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Live
  • Yahoo! Bookmarks
  • StumbleUpon
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • MySpace
  • Technorati
  • Wikio
  • Propeller
  • NewsVine
  • Ping.fm
  • Posterous
  • Simpy
  • SphereIt
  • MisterWong
  • Mixx
blog comments powered by Disqus