Idling longer than 2 minutes now illegal in Salt Lake City

[pam]

Idling longer than 2 minutes now illegal in Salt Lake City | ksl.com

This is supposed to be more about education than enforcement.

[Just_A_Guy]

Great. Just great. As if I-15 wasn't congested enough without all the motorists who think this stupid law will require them to shut off their engines every time they come to a standstill.

[Jennarator]

WHat about warming up a car on a cold winter morning? What about sitting in traffic? (As soon as you turn off the engine, you gotta turn it back on.) This law seems a bit silly....

[LittleWyvern]

WHat about warming up a car on a cold winter morning? What about sitting in traffic? (As soon as you turn off the engine, you gotta turn it back on.) This law seems a bit silly....

Already thought of. :)

Drive-through businesses join a long list of exemptions to the ordinance, including temperature. The law allows for motorists to idle vehicles so they can operate heaters and defrosters when the temperature is below 32 degrees or air conditioning when it's warmer than 90 degrees.

Concessions also will be made for emergency vehicles and on-duty police officers, among others.

I think a two minute limit is a bit harsh, but the general idea here is good. These exemptions are key though, I'd add a little more exemptions for businesses. It also seems that this law won't be very rigidly enforced, either, so my point may be moot:

Bianca Shreeve, assistant to the mayor's chief of staff, said enforcement mainly will be complaint based.

"The focus is education," Shreeve said.

P.S. Don't read the comments unless you want to hear loads of people insisting this is a conspiracy.

Edited October 26, 2011 by LittleWyvern

[john doe]

It will be enforced by parking police. So they are going to sit in their vehicle, idling, timing you. And when you hit 2 minutes they will give you a ticket. But they're okay, because they are enforcing the law, right?

[prisonchaplain]

Who was it again that said, "To obey is better than sacrifice?" :-)

[sister_in_faith]

I can't imgaine that there will be very much of an enforcement effort, if any.

[Saldrin]

I won't obey this unjust and plain STUPID and unnecessary law.

oh yeah what a great way to increase ticket money for the city.. not.

[annewandering]

Making laws like that is just asking people to not respect laws. It's a mockery of lawmaking in general. I can just see the idle police running around ticketing people for that. I am sure they know there are more important things for them to be doing.

[LittleWyvern]

I won't obey this unjust and plain STUPID and unnecessary law.

oh yeah what a great way to increase ticket money for the city.. not.

Well, this might be an effective argument against this law: it could happen that a bunch of people are going to be angry and start idling on purpose (essentially breaking the law because they think it's stupid), defeating the purpose of this law. If the comments on deseretnews.com and ksl.com are any indicator, I'd say this is pretty probable. Kinda reminds me of

over trying to phase out incandescent light bulbs.

[Dravin]

I am sure they know there are more important things for them to be doing.

Only nominally so considering it's the parking divisions domain. While giving someone a ticket for being illegally parked can be argued to be more important than 'busting' people for idling (I'd probably be pretty easily swayed by an argument) it's not like the parking division would otherwise be devoting it's energies towards homicide investigation or responding to domestic abuse calls.

[annewandering]

Well I am not fond of parking police either other than that it gives people a job. ^^

[sister_in_faith]

Does anyone know WHY they decided to institute this law? Was there a big problem with this? You Utahins... <shaking my head> you are all crazy.

[Jennarator]

I think it was because the air is worse than CA in UT....but I could be wrong.

[annewandering]

Does anyone know WHY they decided to institute this law? Was there a big problem with this? You Utahins... <shaking my head> you are all crazy.

I always thought Utahans ought to have FYIs showing them what that little lever on the side of the steering wheel is for. (clue for utahans: its for telling people what direction you are going to turn or change lanes to.)

[john doe]

It's a feel-good, pat-me-on-the-back law. Enforcement will be almost impossible, and with the number of exemptions they are adding to it, there will be no reductions in pollution.

[pam]

It's supposed to be for the air quality since there are certain times of the year that Salt Lake City has the dirtiest air in the nation. If you can't believe that, come here some time during an inversion. You can't even see the mountains and Salt Lake City is surrounded by them.

[Traveler]

Sometimes I am stunned and flabbergasted with what people think. Salt Lake City is unique to most urban and congested areas. This is because in essence SLC sits in a bowl - surrounded by mountains. Unlike most urban areas, pollutants can and do linger stagnant for days and weeks. Air quality in SLC is one of the worse in the nation just because of this one little unique geological fact.

Coupled with the love of single occupancy gas driven vehicles - there is a definite health risk. The lack of understanding and the blatant disregard for others is the engine of necessity for such laws. My concern is that the law, though necessary is not enough for a stupid and uncaring population entrenched in the necessity of their own comforts and pleasures over the life necessities of others. We should be walking more, using public transportation more and making sure our vehicles are running as efficiently as possible when we use them - without someone reminding us of our responsibility to our family, friends, neighbors and even our selves.

In essence this “stupid” law would not be necessary if it wasn’t that; as a people and culture we were not so ignorant and self centered.

The Traveler

[john doe]

So everyone who drives is stupid, uncaring, ignorant, and self-centered? Got it.

[HoosierGuy]

How is the public transportation service in Salt Lake? I mean: trains, buses, subways, etc..? I think in a case like this you are only to get the pollution down by cutting down on the amount of vehicles that drive in the city.

[LittleWyvern]

How is the public transportation service in Salt Lake? I mean: trains, buses, subways, etc..? I think in a case like this you are only to get the pollution down by cutting down on the amount of vehicles that drive in the city.

It's pretty good. Trains go from Ogden to SLC, light rail goes from SLC to Sandy, and buses cover from Brigham City south to Payson. There is a dedicated bus route (soon to be a light rail) from SLC to the airport, and the train will soon go all the way south to Provo. I have a UTA student pass, so from my experience it's a really nice system. It's not too popular, though.

[pam]

The only bad thing about our transportation system is if you work a graveyard shift you are pretty much out of luck. No bus or light rail run after certain hours. If you happen to work on a Sunday you are pretty much out of luck as well. Plus there are so many areas in the Salt Lake Valley that aren't serviced by the bus system or light rail.

[john doe]

Yeah, it's great of you live on or near a bus line that goes where you want to go, can afford the fare, and don't plan on traveling after dark. Plus you get the satisfaction of giving money to a system where the top employees make far more than they should and board members use inside information to buy land for future sale to the system at a tidy profit.