Should we teach kids eco-driving?

On a plane Monday morning to drive the new BMW 5-Series, so you're getting this as a Sunday treat! Your age will determine what type of driving test you did. Older readers will recollect going once round the block and doing an emergency stop, younger ones will have had to do a theory test as well as a practical. Now there’s a call for another new element to be included, the dark art of eco-driving, which is the ability to use a car in an energy efficient way. The call has come from the CBI, an umbrella group for business, which believes – as do most people – that smooth driving and avoiding sharp braking or acceleration can reduce fuel use by 5-10 per cent. It’s about reading the road further ahead than usual in order to predict what’s going to happen. What’s the point in powering up to a queue of traffic waiting at a red light, then braking hard to stop? Why not come off the throttle earlier and coast to it? “Learner drivers already have to demonstrate they can drive in a fuel-efficient way, but this is not a pass or fail element,” says the CBI in a new report. It believes it should be. A fair point? More ‘nanny state’ nonsense? I’d be interested in your thoughts.