When there are so many big and medium problems that one can't do anything about, it's time to complain about one of the little things that it seems one should be able to do affect.
Why do people idle their vehicles for no reason?
Back in early June, on a day when it was neither hot nor cold, I watched as two people sat in the white Jeep (at left) for minutes on end, running the engine and the air conditioning (which was quite loud), when all they had to do was open the windows to maintain a cool temperature. If you remember, early June 2022 was when gas prices were hitting their peak — but these folks seemed to have no concern about that.
A few days ago, I saw a letter to an advice columnist by a person wondering the same thing, and asking about how to take action:
What can I say to people who unnecessarily idle their cars while sitting in a parking lot? We do not need more pollution!
These idlers are generally not happy when I knock on their window and bring up the subject. What firm but polite words can I use?
The advice columnist responded:
Unless there is a human or animal in the car waiting while the car's owner dashes into the the pharmacy for some lifesaving medication, there is no justification for an empty car to sit idling.
According to the Department of Energy, researchers estimate that "idling from heavy duty and light-duty vehicles combined wastes about 6 billion gallons of fuel annually. About half of that is attributable to personal vehicles, which generate about 30 million tons of CO2 every year just by idling. While the impact of idling may be small on a per-car basis, the impact of the 250 million personal vehicles adds up."
Those are some useful facts on how much fuel is wasted and the CO2 impact, but the first paragraph left out the times when a human in a car doesn't require the car to be running because the windows can be open. There are very few circumstances that require a car to be left running: it's almost always for the convenience of the driver and the passengers. If any of these people cared about fuel use or spewing carbon, they would be making different decisions.
3 comments:
Home-repair people here will often leave their trucks running as they step out to consult with a householder. And then there’s the line of ten or so cars idling as they wait to approach the Starbucks drive-up window. Crazy.
There's a Starbucks (better known as Carbucks) in Saint Paul whose drive-through caused such havoc at the nearby intersection (and adjacent bike lane) that it was finally closed.
Good!
The one here makes it difficult to navigate the parking lot for the adjacent Walgreen’s. Also difficult to back out of some spaces.
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