Editor:
With winter around the corner, it’s timely to remind people that per our anti-idling bylaw, idling for more than three minutes is prohibited on city streets.
Education is needed about the dangers of excessive idling and the programs to minimize idling; many leave vehicles idling to cool them off with air conditioning or warm them up, all the while polluting the air we share and particularly poisoning those who are lowest to the ground and unable to avoid the exhaust toxins.
If we are serious about protecting the air we breathe and the environment, we need to consider the changes we need to make. Other jurisdictions put us to shame by penalizing excessive idling or minimizing it through traffic design.
Though engine idling is already an offence in the UK and drivers can face fines of up to £80 if caught, drivers are penalized only if they choose to ignore a police officer’s order to turn off their engine.
A further increase in gas prices may encourage car sharing and further reduce idling as would increased use of roundabouts and yield signs reducing the need to stop, idle and accelerate, and increased use of webinars instead of requiring travelling to meetings.
Paul Esslinger, New Westminster
