For more information in Czech please, please visit the national website www.uspornajizda.cz
ECOWILL activities
The initial (WP4) train the trainers ‘ttt’ seminar led by DVR took place on 25-27 of Sept 2011 in the town of Mlada Boleslav. A total of 15 participants attended the course and their selection was made in coordination with the Czech Ministry for Transportation. Among attendees both driving instructors and driving examiners were invited in order to establish a core group of those who will introduce further education of ecodriving into both compulsory as well as advanced education of passenger car drivers in the Czech Republic. The result was the certification of a total of 14 professionals for the so-called “level 1” education and 13 for the “level 2” education.
With cooperation of the most advanced certified “ECOWILL” trainers, on Dec 15 (2011) and also Apr 6 and 19 (2012) further seminars were organised aimed at enlarging the number of knowledgeable professionals (i.e. WP5 activities) that can help with the implementation of the project’s goals nation-wide. The seminars were organized with a focuse on along the same day on the theory of ecodriving and how to effectively teach it (as the ECOWILL project recommends), and consequently two separate “practical training days” always for two smaller groups which were fully focused on practical aspects and how to conduct short-duration trainings. A total of about 15 further driving instructors originating from regions not covered in the initial ttt trainings took part and were finally certified as “WP5 multipliers” for the ECOWILL project activities planned, thus securing a nation-wide coverage.
The further step took place in June 2012, when the official roll-out of short-duration trainings (SDTs) started. The conference “Going Green 2012” which took place in Prague June 12, was selected as a suitable event for this. As part of the programme, a presentation and demonstration of the courses was deklivered both to representatives of the media invited as well as conference participants. More on it can be found here: special press news published.
The SDTs in the ECOWILL format are currently available all around the country and those who are interested may register for the course using the common access point: www.uspornajizda.cz , the official website of the ECOWILL project for the Czech Republic. The “ECOWILL” ecodriving course offers, at present, a total of 10 driving schools in the country and those who successfully undergo the training receive a feedback in the form of a special printed report which includes the assessment made by the trainer with the results achieved by trainees. The protocol is unique in the sense that it “quantifies” the standing of the trainee in a total of 10 observed areas and classifies the ultimate results using a proprietary energy labelling scheme developed for this purpose.
Enrolling for the course should be possible at least until the end of this year and is financially supported by the ECOWILL project and also national partners. Among the most important partnrs are the Ministry for Transportation of the Czech Republic, Skoda Auto, and Michelin. The minimum goal is to have 500 SDTs attendees by the end of 2012.
For the second part of 2012, several further activities are planned to increase further public attention: participation at Economy Run 2012, another WP5 seminar and further networking with driving instructors, articles in the media, meetings with stakeholders in order to facilitate the introduction of ecodriving education into compulsory curriculum of applicants for cat. B driving licence (which currently does not exist).
Below you may find the leaflets produced for dissemination activities – they “offer” the possibility to enlist for SDTs, and the translation of the protocol used to assess the participant “standing” in a course into English – all can be uploaded for the common project website.