OPE daily

There has been a lot of press about vehicle idling laws lately. Everyone from Tainan City, Taiwan to New Jersey, down to Florida, and across to California has begun the fight against polluting vehicles. The majority of laws (at least in the U.S.) are currently aimed at commercial trucks idling during mandated breaks. However, the measures can easily be widened to fleet vehicles and eventually residential vehicles.

The laws vary from country to country and even from community to community. Idling limits typically range from zero to fifteen minutes per hour and violators can be fined anywhere from $25 to $1,000. As with many laws, the intentions are good, but the execution is a little lacking. Encouraging better emissions and reducing fuel consumption are good reasons to reduce vehicle idling. Enforcing such a law can be hugely wasteful on an already taxed police force. Not to mention the conundrum of federally mandated breaks for truckers that may find themselves forced to shut down their heaters in the Rocky Mountain winters or turn off their air conditioners in the Nevada desert while they wait to be allowed back on the road.

“The idling laws, I call them feel-good laws,” says Steve Griffith, 49, of Seattle, a trucker for 18 years who drives about 120,000 miles a year. “How do you enforce an idling law? A seasoned police officer isn’t going to go around knocking on doors, saying, ‘Now you gotta turn your truck off while it’s 30 degrees outside.’ ”
USA Today Jan 2, 2008

You can’t keep your chihuahua locked in your car with the windows rolled up, but apparently you can keep your trucker in there as long as the AC isn’t running.