Random Thoughts of Chris Tilley

Vancouver now has a bylaw on the books that fines people for idling their cars for more than 3 minutes. The fine is $50 to $100 depending on the vehicle and if there is anyone in it.

They have a number of myths they bust on their site. First shutting of your engine and restarting takes more gas than idling. Their research says you use more gas with 10 seconds of idling. So basically there is no situation where it is cheaper to idle. Interestingly the time I see idling cars the most are illegally parked with the driver still in the car. Sort of like 'if my engine is still running they won't ticket me for parking illegally'. Well now they will get two tickets. Yay!!!

The second one is that idling is good for the engine. Again it is false. In fact idling can actually damage the car because it is not running at its ideal temperature. Some of the results of idling are increased deposits and exhaust system corrosion. Increase deposits will also decrease your fuel efficiency.

The economic costs can be substantial as well. From this news report I learned that a idling car uses 3.5 liters per hour. I am going to use a dollar a liter. Current prices are higher than that. So if you are regular idler. Let say 3 minutes 5 days a week dropping of the kids at school, or the DVDs at the rental place. So that’s 15 minutes a week. That works out to 13 hours. Times that by 3.5 liters and we get 45 liters or $45. That doesn't seem like a lot but their are worse offenders out there and you start adding in the fines.

So its a quick and easy way to save some money and make a difference for the environment.