8 May 2009, London, UK: The Highways Term Maintenance Association (HTMA), the organisation of leading highway maintenance companies within the UK, has published a Green Driving Guide aimed at encouraging the industry to drive in a more environmentally friendly manner.

The influential road industry group has produced the guide, available to download from its website, with the support of the Highways Agency, Department for Transport (DfT) and Driving Standards Agency (DSA). The HTMA’s members are contracted to maintain almost 400,000Km of highway in the UK, and its Sustainability Working Group has produced the guide as part of its ongoing commitment to improving the way the UK’s roads are utilised in the 21^st Century.

The Green Driving Guide looks at all aspects of motoring; from vehicle preparation to journey planning and driving technique, giving simple tips and advice which will help road users, including term maintenance crews and road workers, improve the efficiency of their vehicles and lead to ‘greener’ journeys. 

Launching the Green Driving Guide, Mike Notman, chair of the HTMA, said: “The HTMA is uniquely positioned within the highways industry, enabling it to produce impartial, comprehensive advice for the maintenance industry in the UK. The driving tips can also be adopted by all road users. Sustainability is such an important issue for us all and by producing this Guide we hope to provide useful hints and tips to reduce the environmental impact of road use. 

“We believe that the Guide sets out a number of measures everyone can take to improve the sustainability of their vehicle use, which are genuinely achievable for all and yet could have a significant impact on encouraging greener driving.” 

The Highways Agency, responsible for England’s motorways and major A roads, supports HTMA’s Green Driving Guide. 

Graham Dalton, Chief Executive of the Highways Agency, said: “We are committed to reducing our impact on the environment, cutting our carbon emissions, and creating a sustainable business.  

“The advice in the Green Driving Guide can work towards influencing the way our network is used by road workers, term maintenance crews, managing agents, and Agency staff as well as the travelling public. The guide can also be used to demonstrate best practice to the rest of the industry, helping others to take steps to reduce carbon emissions and improve their business sustainability.”

 “We also encourage road users to use our journey planning tools, such as our Traffic England website (www.highways.gov.uk/trafficinfo), to help plan ahead and make journeys more reliable.”

The guide supports the advice given by the cross-government campaign “Act on CO2”: http://campaigns.direct.gov.uk/actonco2/home.html

HTMA Chairman, Mike Notman, is pictured (centre) with Highways Agency Chief Executive, Graham Dalton, and HTMA Chair of the Sustainability Working Group, Alan Capell (right).

The HTMA members are: Amey, Atkins, Balfour Beatty Infrastructure Services, BAM Nuttall, BEAR, Carillion, Colas, Enterprise, Fitzpatrick, Halcrow, Hyder, Jacobs, May Gurney, Morrison, Mott MacDonald, Mouchel, Ringway, Scott Wilson, Skanska McNicholas, URS and WSP.

Issued on behalf of the HTMA Press Office by Steven Proud. For enquiries from the media, journalists and researchers only, the HTMA Press Office can be contacted on +44 (0) 1782 443080, +44 (0) 7917 638336 or e-mail: htmapressoffice@theprfirm.co.uk