Drivers, stop your engines

The City of Toronto is launching an anti-idling blitz, part of a campaign to educate the public about the impacts of vehicles left idling. “Not idling vehicles is a simple thing that all of us can do in order to reduce pollution in our city,” said Glenn De Baeremaeker, chair of the city’s Public Works and Infrastructure Committee. “In fact‚ if all drivers of light-duty vehicles in Canada avoided idling for just five minutes a day we would prevent more than 1.6 million tonnes of green house gases from entering the atmosphere. That’s the equivalent of taking 490‚000 cars off the road.”

Under the Toronto’s anti-idling bylaw, most vehicles left idling for more than three minutes in a 60-minute period are subject to a fine of $100 plus a $25 provincial surcharge.

“With our bylaw, we can write tickets, but we’d prefer to see people voluntarily turn off their engines and take a crucial step to improving the air that we breathe,” added De Baeremaeker. “But the purpose of this campaign is to educate the public about a small way that they can really make a difference. If you stop idling, you’ll help keep the air clean and you’ll save yourself some money.”

The city, in partnership with the Toronto Police Service, is encouraging drivers to reduce their vehicle idling by reducing warm-up idling (just turn on the engine and go) and turning off the engine when stopped for more than 10 seconds, except in traffic.