An Idle Thought
Like, duh, turn off your engine, man!
What I want to know today is why, still, in these days of high fuel costs, drivers continue to leave vehicles idling while they gallivant off to have their nails done or whatever it is they do that is so important that they forget to turn the engines off?
Many people cite some long-lapsed myth about heavy trucks or recall some rumor they heard as children, when in fact, both the Independent Truckers Journal and Overdrive Magazine, as well as United Parcel Service, have taken stances on this wrong-headed notion. Overdrive took an editorial stance decrying the practice, while UPS issued a directive to its drivers, ordering them to not leave their vehicles idling for any reason.
This piece of obvious wisdom has yet to reach the Capital of North Carolina, where one can routinely observe cars and trucks chugging away unattended. The latest, the one that induced this missive, was a Public Utilities vehicle, a Ford F-350, that stood idling for two hours while the crew dawdled about, doing whatever it is they do.
I don’t know who decides policy for the city, but it seems that in these times of tight money and high fuel costs, it may be time to write a policy statement on the matter, instead of leaving the decision to workers. Let’s get with the new millennium, y’all.
Read More
Ptrblt , Other posts by Peter Eichenberger.
Tagged
Related
Get Raleigh Updates
-
TSnow27604
11/10 11:44 AM
I certainly agree. The biggest culprits that I can think of are parents waiting to pick up their kids from school. Imagine a line of 20-30 cars and SUVs idling for a half an hour 5 days a week and then multiply that times the 99 elementary schools in Wake County. No joke - 99. That doesn’t even count the private schools and day cares.
-
Johnny
11/10 12:32 PM
the irony of someone running their car for A/C in the summer heat always gets me… heat in the winter is the same way.
people that worry about the monetary costs are funny too. there is a greater expense to letting a car idle…
-
Mike
11/10 01:11 PM
When is someone going to point the finger at Nascar. Talk about wasting fuel and destroying th eenvironment. Where are the tree huggers?
That is one competition (it’s not a sport) our environment does not need.
-
Jeff S
11/10 01:42 PM
A handful of cars running around a track… that’s your big environmental demon?
Compare that to the amount of pollution Raleigh workers create picking up food during a single lunch hour and Nascar is inconsequential.
Nascar (No, I’m not a fan) is an easy target for people, but you never hear those same people talking about banning sporting events, concerts, state fairs, or any other event that causes people to drive and congregate.
————-
Is your house a truly energy efficient design? or just a conventional box? How many miles did you drive to work today? How many items have you thrown in a trashcan today?
Widespread change is only going to happen when corporations decide that it is economically profitable to do so. Changing your personal habits are much easier.
-
Lisa Jeffries
11/10 02:41 PM
“have their nails done”
Clearly you’ve never had your nails done.
Just kidding, but aside - I totally agree that some standards should be put in place when this is taking place in a professional environment.
Those daring could also use the same lesson I taught a friend in high school… he left his car running while he went in paid for gas (or something) and I pulled it around to the other side of the station while he was inside. I bet he thinks about that every time he idles his car without him in it now…
That may be a little too much though…
-
Eva
11/10 02:59 PM
This is one of my pet peeves - my office is on the ground floor of a downtown building, and several times a week large delivery trucks will park outside my window and idle for 30 minutes or more. In addition to the environmental damage, it is SO LOUD I can barely carry on a phone call. Argh!
-
c vargo
11/10 04:52 PM
I like your previous idea of reaching into cars while the driver’s are not in them and cutting off their engines.
-
TSnow27604
11/10 08:19 PM
As a NASCAR fan I would like to point out that racing is to auto technology what the military is to the aerospace industry. Yeah they pollute but racing has led to many fuel efficiency and aerodynamic improvements in an arena where tiny changes can mean the difference between winning and losing. And these technologic breakthroughs continue to make their way to our everyday cars improving the performance, MPGs, durability, etc.
-
Micah
11/11 03:30 AM
Ummm, I disagree strongly that anything NASCAR does improves the performance, MPG ratings, or durability of consumer automobiles. Racing cars usually get about 2-5 mpg during a race, and they have no emissions devices like catalytic converters, and frequently don’t have mufflers. There is nothing about the design of a racing car that has any practical application to the standard automobile. The designed purpose of the car, chassis, engine, and all other components are specifically for high speed racing. Someone just last week was telling a friend of mine that the rear spoiler was a racing discovery that has greatly improved consumer automobiles. Not true. Spoilers are completely decorative on any vehicle that travels under 125 mph or so. I must commend most racing institutions for trying to eliminate LEADED FUEL from their races over the past few years, though I believe this still happens (and the federal exemptions for racing firms to use leaded fuel still exist).
-
David
11/11 12:23 PM
I agree with Jeff S. There was a study out recently that showed the biggest whiners about other people’s consumption were also the biggest consumers of natural resources themselves. Do you all bike to work? Grow your food in your backyard? Drive out to get lunch during lunchbreak? Ever had to delivery drive for a living as a teen? Ever taken a plane trip? Ever built a chimney or campfire? Do you put everything you use in a compost pile? Do you use anything plastic and then throw it away?
Yes, your opening example does not make economic or environmental sense, yet each of you make probably 100 or more decisions every day that impact the environment negatively and unecessarily.
I have a great fuel sensor on my vehicle that tells me the mpgs every second I drive and I am playing a game to see how far I can get on a tank of gas, but I’m not scolding anyone else bc of countless other things I do by virtue of my very existence and for other reasons like efficiency.
As for NASCAR, it might impact the environment more than shopping or going to see a concert or to a movie, but I don’t see anyone crying about those forms of entertainment that have the same effect on a lesser scale. I mean, can you imagine the energy needed to produce a concert at TWC pavilion? The trash? The cars driving to the event, the idling to get out of the event? The pyrotechnics, the smoke?
Any of you ever been to a concert?
Share Your Thoughts
Commenting is not available in this channel entry.