Touring Club goes green and keen

Publication date: 22 October 2007

Belgium's Touring Club wants to continue playing an active role on the environmental motoring agenda.

Well before activists such as Al Gore were even thinking about the so-called "inconvenient truth" of environmental problems Touring Club Belgium was taking a lead in being actively engaged in the promotion of environment-friendly mobility.

Its guiding principle is that shared or public transport is wholly compatible with use of the motor car, that this does not need to impinge on the freedom of the motorist, and that the role of public transport is similarly not affected.

Club members and others are made aware of the benefits of sharing a car with other commuters ('car pooling') through the Touring website and through the organisation's monthly newsletter Touring Explorer, which boasts a circulation of 520,000 and over a million readers. The more colleagues, neighbours or family members that share a ride, the fewer cars there will be on the road – and fewer cars means shorter traffic queues, and therefore less pollution.

This year Touring has embarked on a number of specific initiatives aimed at motorcyclists by running courses and providing tips on safe riding behaviour (also via the Touring motorcycle schools). In the press, too, Touring is emphasising the important role that motorcyclists play in reducing the number of cars on the roads, and other road-users are being urged to pay more attention to motorcycles so as to reduce accident numbers. In central Brussels, Touring is promoting the Cambio scheme, whereby residents can reserve and hire a car for the period that they actually need one. Brussels currently has 11 Cambio parking spaces and 32 cars.

In addition, Touring is focusing on the development and introduction of environment-friendly cars such the Honda Civic Hybrid. Clear and understandable information is being disseminated to motorists via Touring Explorer and www. touring.be and they are also being urged, when buying a new car, to find out about the features that make vehicles more or less environment-friendly.

All of these initiatives are coupled with political lobbying. Touring is calling upon the government to extend tax breaks to people who buy environment-friendly cars and to invest in proper road infrastructure for motorcyclists. Touring is also an active player in discussions and research on the reduction of CO2 emissions from new car models and is aware of the importance of lobbying in Europe. It is engaged in a regular dialogue with the European Office of the FIA, which has its offices in the same district.

At next year's International Autosalon motor show, Touring will be distributing an "eco-driving" CD-ROM that sets out to teach motorists how to drive in an environmentfriendly way. Here the European motoring organisations can take advantage of information and other material kindly provided by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF), which is promoting ecodriving very enthusiastically and gave a fascinating presentation on this subject during the FIA Conference Week in Cape Town.