‘Green’ driving test is a cosmetic exercise

THERE is no harm in incorporating green issues into the driving test, as announced recently by Transport Minister Noel Dempsey and Noel Brett of the RSA.

However, the problem is not one of people not knowing how to minimise fuel consumption, or not realising that unnecessary driving increases greenhouse emissions, pollution and fossil fuel dependence – the problem is that without any incentive, people are unlikely voluntarily, out of pure altruism, to stop doing things that are clearly beneficial to them.

Few individuals are prepared to martyr themselves.