New York State bills aim to cut vehicle idling through tickets, fines
The proposals are aimed at the potentially serious health and environmental threats of idling, in addition to the cost of wasting gas. Credit: Newsday/Jim Peppler
ALBANY — Sitting in your car with the engine running in a restaurant drive-through line or at drop-off or pickup points at schools could get you a ticket and a fine under bills being proposed by state lawmakers.
The proposals are aimed at the little-noticed, but potentially serious health and environmental threats of unnecessary idling, in addition to the cost of wasting gasoline, which has been estimated at 6 billion gallons annually nationwide.
The fix could be as simple as persuading drivers to break a habit that many might not even think about. But no-idling bills have languished in Albany for years, overshadowed by larger environmental issues such as climate change and a concern that, however well-meaning the bills are, they would be extremely difficult to enforce.
“From Buffalo to Long Island, this is a real problem with harmful consequences for our children,” said one of four bills that deal with vehicle idling.
So far, public education campaigns alone haven’t done much to curb the habits of drivers. Some of the bills to restrict idling have died in committees as far back as 2011, even though they had no substantial lobbying opponents, state records show.
Sen. Pete Harckham, as chairman of the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee, has the clout to move his and other related bills toward floor votes in 2024 when climate change and environmental protection will be priorities for the State Legislature.
“While we talk about climate change — and it’s important for climate change — it’s really a public health issue,” said Harckham (D-South Salem). He said reducing exhaust from gas- and diesel-powered vehicles will have a direct impact on reducing childhood asthma and heart disease.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says car exhaust “contains air toxics, which are known to cause cancer, respiratory effects, reproductive effects, birth defects or other serious health effects.”
One of Harckham’s bills would prohibit idling by passenger cars for more than 3 minutes. That would prompt a warning the first time a driver is confronted, followed by $150 fines for subsequent violations. Another Harckham bill would expand a state regulation that prohibits most heavy-duty trucks from idling for longer than 5 minutes. His bill would elevate the regulation to a law, which could be enforced by all police.
As with most of these measures nationwide, exceptions would be made for very cold days and for emergency and farm vehicles.
Harckham said a no-idling law passed when he was a county legislator in Westchester a decade ago, but support for a similar measure has been elusive in Albany.
“I think it’s an education issue,” Harckham said. “I think we in government need to do a better job of educating folks.” He said part of the reluctance stems from America’s car culture, where people are comfortable spending so much time in their cars. “We need to do better,” he said.
Under state regulations enforced by environmental conservation officers, only buses and heavy-duty trucks weighing more than 8,500 pounds are prohibited from idling longer than 5 minutes. Fines range from $500 to $18,000 for a fleet. School buses are also prohibited from idling on school grounds under a state Education Department regulation.
But enforcement in New York and nationwide is spotty.
The nonprofit Conservation Law Foundation based in Boston has filed civil actions in Massachusetts and Connecticut alleging that idling laws weren’t adequately enforced by government environmental protection agencies.
“Each state has laws on the books to prevent excessive idling and the harm it causes — however, they’re rarely enforced,” the foundation says on its website. “We can’t continue to ignore this preventable threat to the health of our communities.”
“The laws, themselves, are good,” said Erica Kyzmir-McKeon, staff attorney at the nonprofit , which focuses mostly on idling by buses to make the most impact. “If they were enforced and if the bus companies were complying, it would have a huge impact on our air quality.”
But state environmental agencies “don’t have the capacity to bring these enforcement actions,” Kyzmir-McKeon said.
“It's not a high on the priority list,” agreed Assemb. Linda Rosenthal (D-Manhattan), who has sponsored a bill since 2008 to stiffen the penalty for vehicle idling in New York City’s local law. Her bill would remove a cap on fines, so violators could be fined $150 for each violation.
Part of the difficulty is that most cities and states place idling laws under transportation, environmental conservation or education laws, not traffic violations that are enforceable by police, according to environmental groups.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation has about 278 officers in its enforcement division, while the New York City Department of Environmental Protection has about 200. By comparison, state police have about 4,900 troopers, and the New York City Police Department has about 36,000 officers.
Over the last 12 months, the state Department of Environmental Conservation issued 80 tickets and seven warnings for idling longer than 5 minutes. The officers spend more time on a wide variety of air quality issues, including open burning, emissions from dry cleaners and nonfunctioning or illegal exhaust systems in vehicles.
New York City issued 39,770 idling violations for buses and trucks in 2022 and 65,209 this year through October. Summons can be issued by city police often with Department of Environmental Protection officers and by sanitation officials.
Short-term public service campaigns also eventually fade, such as the 2021 ad campaign in New York City that had 1980s rocker Billy Idol shouting, “Billy never idles!”
That has led to efforts such as Idle Warriors in New York City and Idling Action London in Britain. Their volunteers scour the city for violators, capture the violation on video and file reports to the cities, often getting a piece of the revenue. Some of these volunteers in New York say they’ve made thousands of dollars.
Some idling can be attributed to long-held habits and perceptions. But modern cars aren’t harmed by more frequent starting, and idling can wear down a battery and overheat an engine, according to J.D. Power, an authority in automobile research.
“The idea that starting and stopping your engine multiple times is harmful is a myth,” the research group states.
The U.S. Department of Energy states that idling for more than 10 seconds uses more fuel than restarting a car. An independent study estimated 6 billion gallons of fuel annually are lost to idling, with about half of that attributed to personal vehicles, and that about 30 million tons of carbon dioxide generated each year can be blamed on idling.
Idling is also counterproductive for drivers even on cold winter days, the U.S. Energy Department stated. Driving off slowly after the engine runs for 30 seconds is enough and the interior will warm faster, the department stated.
Rosenthal said the health and environmental benefits of ending idling should be enough to prompt more drivers to act on their own.
“Maybe they just don’t know,” she said.
ALBANY — Sitting in your car with the engine running in a restaurant drive-through line or at drop-off or pickup points at schools could get you a ticket and a fine under bills being proposed by state lawmakers.
The proposals are aimed at the little-noticed, but potentially serious health and environmental threats of unnecessary idling, in addition to the cost of wasting gasoline, which has been estimated at 6 billion gallons annually nationwide.
The fix could be as simple as persuading drivers to break a habit that many might not even think about. But no-idling bills have languished in Albany for years, overshadowed by larger environmental issues such as climate change and a concern that, however well-meaning the bills are, they would be extremely difficult to enforce.
“From Buffalo to Long Island, this is a real problem with harmful consequences for our children,” said one of four bills that deal with vehicle idling.
IDLING AND SCIENCE
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said the science behind the effort to reduce idling is clear:
- “Car exhaust contains air toxics, which are known to cause cancer, respiratory effects, reproductive effects, birth defects or other serious health effects.”
- “Because of their developing lungs and higher breathing rates, children are more susceptible to air pollution.”
- “If many vehicles are idling at once, for example in school pick-up/drop-off areas, a ‘hot spot’ of exhaust pollution can be created.”
- “The chemicals from exhaust are harmful and can make asthma worse.”
So far, public education campaigns alone haven’t done much to curb the habits of drivers. Some of the bills to restrict idling have died in committees as far back as 2011, even though they had no substantial lobbying opponents, state records show.
Sen. Pete Harckham, as chairman of the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee, has the clout to move his and other related bills toward floor votes in 2024 when climate change and environmental protection will be priorities for the State Legislature.
“While we talk about climate change — and it’s important for climate change — it’s really a public health issue,” said Harckham (D-South Salem). He said reducing exhaust from gas- and diesel-powered vehicles will have a direct impact on reducing childhood asthma and heart disease.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says car exhaust “contains air toxics, which are known to cause cancer, respiratory effects, reproductive effects, birth defects or other serious health effects.”
One of Harckham’s bills would prohibit idling by passenger cars for more than 3 minutes. That would prompt a warning the first time a driver is confronted, followed by $150 fines for subsequent violations. Another Harckham bill would expand a state regulation that prohibits most heavy-duty trucks from idling for longer than 5 minutes. His bill would elevate the regulation to a law, which could be enforced by all police.
As with most of these measures nationwide, exceptions would be made for very cold days and for emergency and farm vehicles.
Harckham said a no-idling law passed when he was a county legislator in Westchester a decade ago, but support for a similar measure has been elusive in Albany.
“I think it’s an education issue,” Harckham said. “I think we in government need to do a better job of educating folks.” He said part of the reluctance stems from America’s car culture, where people are comfortable spending so much time in their cars. “We need to do better,” he said.
Under state regulations enforced by environmental conservation officers, only buses and heavy-duty trucks weighing more than 8,500 pounds are prohibited from idling longer than 5 minutes. Fines range from $500 to $18,000 for a fleet. School buses are also prohibited from idling on school grounds under a state Education Department regulation.
But enforcement in New York and nationwide is spotty.
The nonprofit Conservation Law Foundation based in Boston has filed civil actions in Massachusetts and Connecticut alleging that idling laws weren’t adequately enforced by government environmental protection agencies.
“Each state has laws on the books to prevent excessive idling and the harm it causes — however, they’re rarely enforced,” the foundation says on its website. “We can’t continue to ignore this preventable threat to the health of our communities.”
“The laws, themselves, are good,” said Erica Kyzmir-McKeon, staff attorney at the nonprofit , which focuses mostly on idling by buses to make the most impact. “If they were enforced and if the bus companies were complying, it would have a huge impact on our air quality.”
But state environmental agencies “don’t have the capacity to bring these enforcement actions,” Kyzmir-McKeon said.
“It's not a high on the priority list,” agreed Assemb. Linda Rosenthal (D-Manhattan), who has sponsored a bill since 2008 to stiffen the penalty for vehicle idling in New York City’s local law. Her bill would remove a cap on fines, so violators could be fined $150 for each violation.
Part of the difficulty is that most cities and states place idling laws under transportation, environmental conservation or education laws, not traffic violations that are enforceable by police, according to environmental groups.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation has about 278 officers in its enforcement division, while the New York City Department of Environmental Protection has about 200. By comparison, state police have about 4,900 troopers, and the New York City Police Department has about 36,000 officers.
Over the last 12 months, the state Department of Environmental Conservation issued 80 tickets and seven warnings for idling longer than 5 minutes. The officers spend more time on a wide variety of air quality issues, including open burning, emissions from dry cleaners and nonfunctioning or illegal exhaust systems in vehicles.
New York City issued 39,770 idling violations for buses and trucks in 2022 and 65,209 this year through October. Summons can be issued by city police often with Department of Environmental Protection officers and by sanitation officials.
Short-term public service campaigns also eventually fade, such as the 2021 ad campaign in New York City that had 1980s rocker Billy Idol shouting, “Billy never idles!”
That has led to efforts such as Idle Warriors in New York City and Idling Action London in Britain. Their volunteers scour the city for violators, capture the violation on video and file reports to the cities, often getting a piece of the revenue. Some of these volunteers in New York say they’ve made thousands of dollars.
Some idling can be attributed to long-held habits and perceptions. But modern cars aren’t harmed by more frequent starting, and idling can wear down a battery and overheat an engine, according to J.D. Power, an authority in automobile research.
“The idea that starting and stopping your engine multiple times is harmful is a myth,” the research group states.
The U.S. Department of Energy states that idling for more than 10 seconds uses more fuel than restarting a car. An independent study estimated 6 billion gallons of fuel annually are lost to idling, with about half of that attributed to personal vehicles, and that about 30 million tons of carbon dioxide generated each year can be blamed on idling.
Idling is also counterproductive for drivers even on cold winter days, the U.S. Energy Department stated. Driving off slowly after the engine runs for 30 seconds is enough and the interior will warm faster, the department stated.
Rosenthal said the health and environmental benefits of ending idling should be enough to prompt more drivers to act on their own.
“Maybe they just don’t know,” she said.
Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.
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