Turn Off Your Engine

We are all concerned about global warming partly caused by our automobile use.  However, it is not easy to stop driving when our infrastructure does not allow us to get around without a car. There is one thing we do have control over.  It is idling.  Most drivers unconsciously idle their cars when picking someone up or waiting on a jammed road or freeway.  New York City offers an example and a solution to this problem.

New York now has an anti-idling law. The law has fines ranging from $100 to $2000.  These fines take effect for people who idle their vehicles for more than 1 minute adjacent to schools and 3 minutes for the rest of NYC .  Not only is fuel being wasted (calculated to be $28 million per year) but also children’s health is especially compromised including those of fetuses.  The health outcomes range from asthma and other lung problems as well developmental delays for exposed children.

San Francisco has no laws associated with idling and it should.  One SFT Board member has come up with a temporary solution.  She developed a card that encourages drivers to turn off their engines.  She is passing out this card to van drivers, especially those of health services (!), because they spend considerable minutes idling their vans waiting for passengers to board and exit their vehicles.  Air conditioning is another polluting and fuel consumption problem that is not needed in cool San Francisco.  (It could be all about keeping the air conditioning on; but it’s a rare day in San Francisco that passengers need air conditioning.)

– Denise D’Anne