Hip-Hip-Hooray!
Three loud and lusty cheers for the City of Minneapolis, and three more for the City Council and the mayor, The Honorable R. T. Rybak. There’s a new law in Minneapolis and henceforth folks there can get (and will deserve) a ticket if they allow the engine of their vehicle to idle for more than three minutes … unless they’re stuck in traffic.
“In these times of high gas prices, it’s a way for people to save fuel. If you’re sitting in an idling car, you’re getting zero miles a gallon. That’s not good for your pocketbook or the environment,” Mayor Rybak said.
Ever the diplomat, what the mayor did not say is that this new law is aimed directly at the people who sit in their cars with the engine and the A/C running while waiting for the soccer game to end … or while they go into the convenience store for a box of Twinkies and a case of Dr. Pepper.
People like that will no doubt insist they have the right to be selfish and thoughtless, and indeed they do. But let’s at least make them pay for the privilege.
Very interesting article.
I see that the Toronto police have recently announced a major enforcement “blitz” of Toronto’s anti-idling bylaw. Details as well as a proposal to ban trucks during daytime hours are at:
http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_11276.aspx
Toronto is also considering beefing up its ban on “drive-thru” facilities for fast-food places, banks, etc. Details at:
http://www.ecospace.cc/activism/drive-thru-ban.htm