Drivers who never reduce their engines when parked up are not just wasting fuel: they’;re breaking the law and risk becoming fined! Sue Hayward investigates.
So there I was, parked up with my engine off, waiting for my daughter to come out of college, although the driver next to me kept his engine running.
Maybe he’;d spotted his personal youngster on the way out and was keen to make a quick getaway?
But no, 15 minutes later, I was the 1st to drive away leaving him nonetheless sitting there with his engine growling away, creating a racket, wasting fuel and polluting the atmosphere.
Why? What’;s the point? Surely he wasn’;t so lazy he could not just turn a crucial in the ignition to cut the engine?
Leaving an engine idling is an offence
“Stationary idling is an offence under section 42 of the Road Targeted traffic Act 1988,” says Jeanette Miller, a motoring lawyer with Geoffrey Miller Solicitors.
The Act enforces rule 123 of the Highway Code which states: “You must not leave a vehicle engine running unnecessarily whilst that car is stationary on a public road.”
And undertaking this can incur a £20 fixed-penalty fine beneath the Road Traffic (Vehicle Emissions) Regulations 2002.
Of course that doesn’;t mean you’;ve got to cut your engine at each red light: you are permitted to leave your engine running if you are stationary in targeted traffic or diagnosing faults.
Taxi torment
Some taxi drivers, however, appear to believe they’;ve got their own set of guidelines.
Confused.com’;s content material editor, Naphtalia Loderick, faced issues with noisy taxis in her final job when she needed early morning lifts even though operating 6am shifts in the depths of winter.
“My taxi would turn up early and sit outdoors my house for 10 to 15 minutes with its lights on and engine running,” she says.
“I had to get up even earlier just to go out and ask them to reduce the engine.
“They seemed oblivious to the noise, let alone the environmental pollution they have been causing.”
Private land exemption
The guidelines over stationary idling apply to public roads so would not cover the case of my idling driver in the college vehicle park.
But if you are caught idling on the street, it could prove expensive.
“The fixed penalty for a stationary idling offence is £20 and can double if unpaid,” says Miller.
Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) are issued by councils rather than the police.
Islington Council in London recently mounted what is thought to be the initial crackdown of its sort on autos churning out “unnecessary pollution”.
Driver education
Enforcement officers are out on the roads in north London tackling hotspots to educate drivers about the positive aspects of turning off their engine.
“An idling engine can release as considerably pollution into the air as a moving 1,” says Islington councillor Claudia Webbe.
“Cutting the engine although stationary reduces both the dangerous pollutants becoming released and saves on fuel.”
Turn off engine for waits more then a single minute
You can then turn it back on with no using the accelerator, which makes use of nearly no fuel in the method, he adds.
“Among 5-8% of fuel use occurs even though idling,” says Professor Glaister.
Based on the typical annual fuel bill of £1,600, this indicates wasting a lot more than £100 a year as properly as affecting air high quality.
Some companies like Volkswagen now offer you ‘stop-start’; technology as an choice on new automobiles.
This indicates the engine automatically cuts as you come to a standstill and restarts when you apply the clutch.
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Stopped? Engine running? Lawbreaker!
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