European Union plans to make eco-driving part of learners test

BRUSSELS // New plans from the the EU's Transport Commissioner, Siim Kallas, include "eco-driving" - cutting carbon emissions at the wheel - as part of the practical driving test. It would be achieved by widening the current EU Driving Licence Directive, which is binding on all member states. So, braking suddenly, revving the engine or wasting fuel by being too heavy on the accelerator pedal could result in a fail. "This is absolutely ridiculous," Claire Armstrong, of the motoring group Safe Speed, told The Daily Telegraph. "How is driving in an environmentally unfriendly manner posing a danger to other road users?" But Stephen Joseph, executive director of the Campaign for Better Transport, told the newspaper he was happy with the initiative. "This is a practical and common sense measure. Training people drive in this way would save them money and the planet as well."