Reader comments
City, county press for 'idle-free' car zones

This seems like a pretty trivial issue, but it's a natural extension of the hysteria over outdoor second-hand tobacco smoke. If we were as serious about clean air as we pretend to be when enacting smoking bans, we would enact vehicle bans as well. Think about it--why should we allow people to ignite large internal combustion engines in areas where we don't allow them to light the tiny end of a cigarette?

That being said, I'm all for turning off your engine unless you actually need it on to stay warm or cool. Remember last summer's outbreak of children/dogs in hot cars?

Here's an idea: If it's warm, roll down your windows when you're stopped.

If only people understood how much money they waste when they're idling. Your engine is running yet you're not moving - it's like sitting there lighting dollar bills on fire.

Assuming your car is fuel injection, it takes very little gas to start your car - equivalent to about 30 seconds of idling. So if you're going to be stopped for longer than 30 seconds, you will save money by turning off your car. I turn off my car in drive-thrus, park & waits, even at long stoplights, and I'm amazed at how much gas I save.

Do yourself, the environment, and your wallet a favor - idle less!

It's only wasted money in your mind. In my mind it is a nicely chilled car.

More P.R. hype on the part of our elected officials.If they REALLY wanted to help us save fuel they would do a better job of reducing all the construction slow-downs (or total stops) I have NEVER heard an elected official give any lip service to trying to help people stuck in construction zones! Then there's the accidents on the freeway that take 3 hours to move! I know some of this CAN'T be avoided but if the various agencies got together and were FORCED to solve the problem, a better job could be done. Sometimes it seems to me that EVERY company or agency that owns a backhoe has an unfettered right to dig in the middle of the street!

I would LOVE to have them try that when I pick my kids up. They would get a earful of what the schools need to do to help their physically handicapped students. I have 2 children in wheelchairs. TO Load, I have to run the wheelchair lift up and down twice. In addition to that the tie downs for the chairs are electric. I have learned the hard way, that if the van is not running letting the engine take some of the load off the battery, we will not have enough juice left in the battery to start the van. Para-Quads answer is to install a 2nd electical circit with a 2nd batter but costs over a thousand bucks. When governmnet agrees to pay for a 2nd system, then I will consider not idling the engine while picking the kids up.
Only one who as "been there" would even think of such a problem.

I also turn off my car at long stop lights. Some lights take over 1 minute to change. Think of the gas you are saving:

At 60 MPH, it takes 1 minute to go 1 mile. So if your car gets 30 mpg, it takes 30 minutes to burn a gallon of gas at highway speeds, or 1/30th of a gallon per minute. Most cars idle well below their highway mpgs, so sitting at a stoplight for 1-2 minutes idling can burn from 1-6 times the amount of fuel burned at 60 mph. 1/30th of a gallon on average costs 12 cents. if your car burns 1-6 times the amount of fuel burned at highway speeds while idling, you could save up to 72 cents every time you stop at a light, simply by turning off the engine.

In today's economy, 72 cents is worth every penny!

Hypermiling:
The problem with turning the car off at stop lights is that it will increase delays when the light changes. There is enough problem with people stopping for green lights as it is. A better approach might be to replace red lights with flashing red lights so that people can proceed when there is no traffic. Think of the fuel that will save. Think of all the times you have sat at a light when there was no traffic to wait for.

If it's just warm rolling the window down will help but if it's sweltering hot, it won't. There are times I need the air conditioner.

Your needs are duly noted. I'm sure that the Mayors were specifically targeting you when they made this reasonable suggestion for those who CAN.

We have officially become a nation of pantywaists....the comments above prove it. Heaven forbid we not have air conditioning for 30 seconds!

RE: Sunandsage
My car doesn't even have AC, and I am just fine with the windows down, even on the hot days. Yes it would be nice with AC, but you can live without it!!

I find it interesting that all these officials are there telling people not to idle their cars. Have you ever gone and run or watched a marathon in Salt Lake City? On every street corner and many roads in between the cops are sitting inside their cars (sometimes out of their cars) and their cars are sitting their idling! They sit their for the whole race. That means they are sitting there for more than five hours! I know the cops will say they have to keep the cars running in case of an emergency but if that were the case, fire engines would be running in their garages 24-7! Maybe these city officials should take a look at themselves before they tell us to turn off our cars.

I want to add something to uncannygunman'comment:
to stay warm in winter: be dressed appropriately.
to stay cool: open the windows.