EUROPEANCOMMISSION

Road Safety and Eco-driving

Annie CANEL

DGTREN – Road Safety8 mai 2008

2DOES ECO-DRIVING CONSTITUTE SAFE DRIVING ?

Road Safety and Eco-driving

Eco-driving, a combination of :

- road safety issues

- environment issues

3DOES ECO-DRIVING CONSTITUTE SAFE DRIVING ?

Road safety and Eco-driving

.What is eco-driving ?

» Attitude and respect for society and the environment

» Minimising the effects of transport on the environment

» Reducing the numbers of road deaths and accidents

» Specific techniques for driving a car

4DOES ECO-DRIVING CONSTITUTE SAFE DRIVING ?

Road safety and Eco-driving

Impact on environment

5DOES ECO-DRIVING CONSTITUTE SAFE DRIVING ?

Sectoral trends

.GHG emissions from transport keep growing while other sectors’ contributions are going down

Sector evolution 1990 – 2004 by sector:

Sector projections 1990 – 2010 with existing measures:

Source: EEA 2006

6DOES ECO-DRIVING CONSTITUTE SAFE DRIVING ?

Transport GHG emissions, by mode

. Road dominates although international shipping and aviation are growing fast

7DOES ECO-DRIVING CONSTITUTE SAFE DRIVING ?

Source: TREMOVE baseline 2.41

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

year 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

Year

CO

2 (

Mt)

bus and coachheavy duty vehiclelight duty vehiclemotorcyclemopedmedium/big carsmall carCars

Road transport CO2 - shares

8DOES ECO-DRIVING CONSTITUTE SAFE DRIVING ?

Fuel economy in gears

200

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

40 60 80 100 120

382*

287*

km/h

1st gear

2nd gear 3rd gear

4th gear5th gear

l/10

0 km

Source: VROM, Netherlands

9DOES ECO-DRIVING CONSTITUTE SAFE DRIVING ?

How Gear Shifting Affects Fuel Consumption

Seat Ibiza 1,4 l. 55 kW at 50 km/hr:

in 2nd gear = 3600 RPM = 8 km/l = 12.5 l/100kmin 3rd gear = 2600 RPM = 12 km/l = 8.3 l/100kmin 4th gear = 1900 RPM = 17 km/l = 5.9 l/100kmin 5th gear = 1400 RPM = 20 km/l = 5 l/100km

10DOES ECO-DRIVING CONSTITUTE SAFE DRIVING ?

Fuel economy and CO2 reduction potential

ECO-DRIVING training

10% to 25% savings on average

10% in practice

HOW?

Gear change at 2000 – 2500 RPM, less vehicle dynamics (acceleration/deceleration/speeding/overtaking/aggression), less idling and cold start short trips

In-car devices (on-board computer, cruise control, RPM, MDD, GSI)

EU 15 reduction estimates:

10% fuel costs = 25 billion litres / Euro = >50 Mton CO2

Source: VROM, Netherlands

11DOES ECO-DRIVING CONSTITUTE SAFE DRIVING ?

Road safety and Eco-driving

Impact on road safety

12DOES ECO-DRIVING CONSTITUTE SAFE DRIVING ?

Road safety and Eco-driving

.Eco-driving / safe driving

» Evidence shows that drivers using eco-driving techniques have less accidents

» The benefits of eco-driving in respect to road safety: driving is safer, due to greater anticipation and less erratic and unpredictable behaviour

13DOES ECO-DRIVING CONSTITUTE SAFE DRIVING ?

Eco-driving / safe driving

Learner/novice drivers

Professional drivers

Influencing behaviour / training and testing

Designing in-car devices

National authorities / EU

Associationsand stakeholders

- environment- road safety

Car industry

ResearchCampaignsLegislation

Target groups

Specific Objectives

Measures

Competent bodies

Car industry

.Different aspects

14DOES ECO-DRIVING CONSTITUTE SAFE DRIVING ?

» on driving licences (91/439/EEC and 2006/126/EC)

» on initial qualification and periodic training of professional drivers (2003/59/EC)

contain provisions for the environment-friendly use of vehicles

Eco-driving / safe driving

.EU legislation

15DOES ECO-DRIVING CONSTITUTE SAFE DRIVING ?

Some countries have already introduced eco-driving in training and testing (NL, DE, CH, SE, FI)

Example in The Netherlands:

Energy-conscious driving is part of the official category B training and testing curriculum:

• Energy-conscious driving is one of 13 criteria which can be used in reaching a pass-fail decision in the practical driving test.

• But: candidates will not fail on the basis of poor eco-driving as long as his/her safe driving behaviour is otherwise excellent.

• However, poor eco-driving can contribute to failure if other (safe driving) aspects of the candidate’s performance are found to be lacking.

Eco-driving / safe driving

.Experiments and pilot projects

16DOES ECO-DRIVING CONSTITUTE SAFE DRIVING ?

.Eco-driving instructions to a new driving style

» Shift up as soon as possible » Maintain a steady speed » Anticipate traffic flow» Decelerate smoothly» Check the tyre pressure frequently

» Smooth and consistent driving, in a well-tuned vehicle

Eco-driving / safe driving

17DOES ECO-DRIVING CONSTITUTE SAFE DRIVING ?

. possible conflicts ?

» Drifting around junctions and pedestrian crossings in an attempt not to stop

» Coming too close to the vehicle in front in an effort to maximise your evenness of speed

» Coasting too early and disrupting the pattern of traffic to the rear, thereby increasing the risk of a rear-end collision

» Rapid acceleration to cruising speed could cause shorter safety margins to vehicles in front

» Trying to stay in a high (fuel-efficient) gear, but therefore manoeuvring at too high a speed (e.g. cornering)

» Switching off the engine at short stops can lead to the steering wheel locking

Eco-driving / safe driving

18DOES ECO-DRIVING CONSTITUTE SAFE DRIVING ?

Road Safety and Eco-driving

A need for :

- more research on the impact of eco-driving on road safety

- clear messages for policies

19DOES ECO-DRIVING CONSTITUTE SAFE DRIVING ?

More information

.CIECA internal project on ‘Eco-driving’ in category B driver training & the driving test (2007) - Final Report 05-11-07

.Ecodriven» http://

ec.europa.eu/energy/intelligent/projects/steer_en.htm

.Networks» www.eurotra.org» www.ecodrive.org» www.hetnieuwerijden.nl» www.senternovem.nl