Date published: 2007/03/11
The BBC says:
A campaign to get drivers to take easy steps to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions has been launched by the government.
The "Drive Smarter" campaign aims to get motorists to follow simple tips to reduce their impact on the environment.
If all drivers followed the advice, CO2 emissions each year could be reduced by 8% - or by more than 5.5m tonnes, the government says.
Advice includes cutting down on engine revving and monitoring tyre pressure.
The tips, to be accessed via a website and promoted in adverts, also include advice to clear clutter from cars to reduce vehicle weights.
The campaign website also has a savings calculator which allows motorists to work out how much money they could save if they acted on the tips.
Dear, oh dear. Will there ever be any government in the world which does not issue patronising advice to its citizens? On a more practical point, Radio 4 claimed this morning that a reduction of 8% equates to motorists "saving" 2 billion pounds a year. Only of course 75% of that 2 billion pounds is fuel duty, which means that the government would be left with a hole in its finances. And guess how they would plug that hole. Of course they would just increase fuel duty to make up the difference. So most of the "saving" is mythical. To do some quick sums, if there are 20 million motorists in the country then 2 billion pounds equates to 100 pounds per driver, so the actual saving, after the increase in fuel duty is taken into account, would be a mere 25 pounds a year for an "average" driver. Not many people are going to change their behaviour for that kind of sum.
_________________________________________________________
All material not included from other sources is copyright cambridge2000.com.
For further information or questions email: info [at] cambridge2000 [dot] com
(replace "[at]" with "@" and "[dot]" with ".").