Truckers will get lessons in driving to cut pollution
FOR all those who have ever been cut up on the road by a lorry driver, it will be welcome news.
Thousands of truckers will be trained to drive less aggressively – in order to cut pollution.
The Department for Transport is to subsidise training for 10,000 commercial drivers this year, as part of government plans to improve air quality.
The ‘ eco-driving’ courses will be aimed initially at firms operating big vehicle fleets. But they could be extended to other commercial drivers, and even private motorists, if they prove popular.
Hundreds of driving instructors will also be offered training so they can pass on fuel-saving techniques to learners.
Documents published with the Government’s clean air strategy this week claim aggressive driving may be a significant factor in pushing pollution to illegal levels on some roads.
‘Excessive speed, maintaining high engine revolutions, and accelerating hard are all known to increase fuel consumption and can affect emissions,’ the report said.
Pilot schemes suggest that fuel consumption is ‘ typically reduced by around 15 per cent after a single lesson,’ the report said.
Government forecasts suggest that training 100,000 motorists to drive less aggressively could have as much impact on air pollution as the introduction of a costly scrappage scheme for older vehicles.
The training, part of a £2.8million scheme funded by the Department for Transport, will be provided by the Energy Savings Trust.
Drivers will be urged to ‘ avoid excessive speed’, with lessons highlighting that fuel consumption for a large van is on average 27 per cent higher at 75mph than at 60mph. They will also be encouraged to drive more ‘smoothly’, avoiding sharp acceleration and braking.
The EST course says that in typical urban driving ‘the vast majority of fuel is used for acceleration’.
Drivers will also be told to use higher gears at lower speeds and to use air conditioning ‘sparingly’.
And they will be encouraged to remove roof racks and ladders from their vans when not needed in order to reduce drag.
The revelations come amid mounting Tory concern about the impact of the air pollution strategy, which could see drivers of older diesel cars charged to drive into city centres or even banned from some
‘Avoid excessive speed’
roads. Ministers fear a backlash from motorists who were encouraged to buy diesel vehicles by the last Labour government as part of an ill- fated drive against carbon emissions.
Former minister Robert Halfon said the war on diesel drivers was ‘morally wrong and unconservative’. Mr Halfon said the Government should introduce a generous scrappage scheme to help motorists replace diesel vehicles they had bought in good faith, adding: ‘The motorist who was duped into buying diesel faces additional charges for following the wrong advice issued by a previous government. Scandalous doesn’t begin to describe it.’
German authorities have found what they consider an illegal device in a Porsche diesel car that manipulates emissions levels, leading to the recall of some 22,000 cars across Europe. The model is a Cayenne 3-litre TDI.