The person who shall become a private learner driving instructor shall attend an introductory course before they can be approved as an instructor, as shall the pupil. The course lasts for three hours and one of three elements included is; important factors for road safety and the environment. In this study a qualitative analysis of this part of the introductory course was carried out. The purpose was to observe how the course affected the understanding of the problem as well as changes in attitudes and behaviour. The results showed that the time devoted to the environmental parts of the introductory courses varied a great deal, from 3 to 35 minutes (out of three hours). However, to only count minutes will not present the whole picture, the commitment of the instructor and the pedagogical approach are of more importance. Analysis of the course material revealed that the content of the courses varied a great deal. The instructors and the pupils were contacted some months later and most of them remembered that environmental issues related to driving was discussed on the introduction course. The part that they remembered mostly was the one about eco-driving, but also the environmental effects of starting a cold engine and standing still with the motor running, as well as maintenance of the cars. They remembered less regarding the environmental issues not directly linked to practising driving, which can be seen as a sign that these issues were less frequently discussed during the course. Both instructors and pupils were positive about environmental issues being in the course. The majority wanted to drive in an environmentally friendly way. However, it could not be concluded if their driving behaviour had changed to drive in an eco-friendly way. Furthermore, both supervisors and pupils stated that they even before the course they were already aware of environmental issues, mainly by choosing other means of transport than cars, if possible. (Author/publisher)
Abstract