Your vehicle and the environment

Littering

You must not throw any rubbish out of your vehicle. You’re responsible for anything that’s thrown or dropped and anything that falls from your vehicle or from a trailer you’re towing. If somebody reports you, you can get a heavy fine.

If it’s possible that the item could injure a person, or obstruct or damage a vehicle or the road surface, you must remove it from the road as soon as it’s safe to do so. If you do not, you can get a fine and demerit points.

Cigarette butts

You must not throw cigarette butts out of your vehicle. Lit cigarettes are especially dangerous. You can get demerit points and a heavy fine if you throw a lit cigarette from a vehicle.

Fuel consumption and emissions

Things you can do to reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions (ecodriving) include:

• Do not overfill your petrol tank. Leaving room for the fuel to expand to reduces emissions.
• Only use air conditioning when necessary. It’s most efficient when you’re driving above 60km/h.
• Check the tyre pressures regularly. Under-inflated tyres increase rolling resistance and fuel consumption.
• Turn the engine off when you stop for long periods.
• Avoid carrying unnecessary weight. Remove things like roof racks, bike racks and golf clubs when you’re not using them.
• Service your vehicle regularly and use the correct amount of engine oil and coolant.
• When driving a manual car, change gears at a lower engine speed (revs).
• Avoid over-revving when you take off.
• Maintain a steady speed.