For more than twenty years, teacher and driver's school instructor for driving licences of all categories, with the introduction of the standard governing the initial qualification and periodic training of drivers of certain vehicles used for the carriage of passengers and goods by means of Directive 2003/59/EC of the European Parliament, I have obtained professional competence for admission to the profession of haulage operator and professional driver for third parties at national and international level.
As a result of the qualifications acquired, I became an expert in business organisation with particular regard to road haulage companies, in order to be able to teach courses for the issue, renewal and recovery of driver qualification card points.
In order to complete the specific training in road haulage, I have obtained the qualification of Transport Safety Advisor for Dangerous Goods (Directive 96/35/EC) for all risk classes, which is necessary for all undertakings loading, unloading, packaging and transporting dangerous goods.
By carrying out the task of ADR Consultant for various road haulage companies, the experience acquired in the teaching field has been enriched by the direct contact with the management of the transport of dangerous goods.
The continuous relationship with road haulage companies has led to an increasingly predominant need for clarification and in-depth analysis on the correct use of the tachograph, driving and rest times, daily, weekly and monthly rest periods. The interweaving of European and Italian legislation has made the obligations of drivers particularly articulated, whether they are drivers operating on their own account or on behalf of third parties.
And so I decided to organize specific courses for the use of the tachograph, which includes in-depth studies on the regulation that is complex and articulated, decidedly difficult for drivers, companies and transport managers themselves.
In eco-driving courses we address the issue of energy saving and consequent reduction of polluting emissions.
With regard to the reduction of harmful emissions, Europe has for several years issued a series of directives which have obliged the oil industry to refine its products with parameters that reduce or eliminate the highly toxic agents used as additives in petrol and diesel fuels. The almost elimination of lead from petrol, used to increase the anti-detonant power of petrol, for example, has involved the design of vehicles with combustion engines capable of working with the so-called green - unleaded petrol. Motor vehicle manufacturers have therefore been forced to invest considerable financial resources in research and experimentation. In the space of not many years, we have thus arrived at the ever less polluting Euro 6 engines mounted on increasingly more technologically advanced vehicles.
At this point we have to ask ourselves a question: has the driver in any way changed his driving technique to adapt to all this redundant technology?
The answer to these questions is certainly a dry answer "no".
It may seem strange, but that is the case. Despite a series of European Directives already transposed in Italy which would require the training of professional commercial vehicle drivers, nothing has been done so far.
Ecological driving involves a real driving technique and a good knowledge of the components of your vehicle in order to obtain the best possible use of the technology that is equipped with it and thus obtain up to 15% less fuel consumption, which results in lower air pollution. Just think of a public or private road haulage company with 300 commercial vehicles that currently consume about 1,000 litres. per month for each vehicle. It means a total consumption of 300,000 lt. emissions per month and 3,600.00 litres of fuel per year. If all the drivers of that company were trained and adopted a correct eco-driving technique, it would be possible to reduce that consumption by at least 10% equal to 360.00 litres of diesel oil, which would result in an economic saving of more than 580,000 Euros.