Frugal driving – the other way to cut emissions

How much difference would it make if people could be persuaded to drive in a more environmentally-friendly way?

Europe’s carmakers believe that there is scope for reducing CO2 emissions from cars by getting drivers to change their habits.

Environmentalists accuse the carmakers of not wanting to make technological changes to their cars, but the European Commission seems to agree that there is some scope.

The Commission is among those funding projects to raise drivers’ awareness of ecofriendly driving. The basic principles are that drivers should: shift up gears earlier, maintain a steady speed, decelerate smoothly, check tyre pressure regularly.

Pere Sauret is technical director of the RACC Automóvil Club, which has branches all over Spain. It has been providing lessons on ecodriving, believing that providing practical lessons will be more effective than just a publicity campaign. The federal government has paid for the courses, channelling the money through the autonomous regional governments. A lesson lasts about four hours, beginning and ending with a driving trip with classroom instruction in the middle. A change in behaviour is discernible between the first and second driving trip but what is not clear is whether behaviour stays changed in the weeks and months that follow. "My personal feeling is that you change behaviour but not 100%," Sauret said, adding that older drivers tended to have engrained habits that were harder to change.

Chris Davies, the Liberal Democrat MEPwho will be drafting the European Parliament’s response to proposals on CO2 emissions from cars is doubtful about the value of supposed improvements that are not measurable.

The car industry argues that there should also be changes to road infrastructure and traffic management - traffic jams are polluting and wasteful of energy.

But it may be that meaningful changes to driver behaviour will only come with additional technology in cars: advice as to when a driver should change gear; automatic shut-down of the ignition when a car is stopped at lights; more feedback on fuel consumption and driving technique.

The carmakers may attempt to shift the burden of CO2 improvements to the car-drivers, but they will still face calls to contribute to eco-friendly driving.

How much difference would it make if people could be persuaded to drive in a more environmentally-friendly way?