Imagine that for once you are getting a great start to your day on campus. You’ve dropped off your three carpool buddies and you are now waiting in a campus parking lot with the motor running, ready to pounce on the first parking slot that opens up. Your timing is perfect8212;you are the first in the line of waiting cars. It is a cold day and you can see the plumes of exhaust rising in your rear view mirror. Class starts in 20 minutes, and the early escapees of the previous class will arrive soon to release your parking spot.
But wait8212;every 15 minutes you spend with the motor running means you are burning about $1 worth of gas to go nowhere. You are likely dressed to stay warm with the engine off. I suspect that a final hit of concentrated vehicle exhaust won’t help to absorb facts and figures in the classroom. At 14 breaths per minute, you and others in the parking lot should get a pretty good dose of exhaust chemicals that are linked to increased rates of cancer, heart and lung disease and asthma.
On Tuesday, Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker and Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon, in coordination with the Utah Department of Air Quality and other community partners, launched the Idle-Free Utah public education campaign with the message: “Turn your key, be idle free.”
Our local mayors are joining others across the country in inviting drivers to save gas, improve air quality and promote good health by turning off car engines whenever parked and waiting for more than 10 seconds (except in traffic).
Several myths lead people to think it is a bad idea to turn your car engine on and off frequently. But restarting your engine uses less fuel than idling for more than 10 seconds. Furthermore, extended idling can damage your engine because it isn’t working at peak operating temperature and the fuel doesn’t undergo complete combustion. Finally, frequent restarting of a vehicle has little impact on engine components such as the battery and starter motor.
The Idle-Free Utah campaign follows on the heels of a growing number of campaigns designed to eliminate the unhealthy diesel exhaust generated by school buses waiting to pick up children at K-12 schools. To kick off the mayors’ campaign, children from 63 schools in the Salt Lake Valley are asking parents to voluntarily turn their cars off while waiting for kids.
The members of the U campus community should join the campaign while playing the campus parking game, being served at the local drive-through or waiting for carpool buddies to show up. The U’s shuttles, Utah Transit Authority buses and commercial delivery trucks should also follow suit and join in working towards an idle-free campus that will, in turn, help reduce the U’s contribution to those upcoming ugly winter inversion periods of bad air quality.
Now, let’s return to the campus parking lot where you have finally parked your car and can relish the plight of those unfortunate souls who are still waiting for a parking spot with their motors running.
This is your opportunity to give each of those idlers-going-nowhere a friendly smile and a hand gesture that indicates you want them to shut off their engines. No, I’m not thinking of a one-finger salute…how about a simple turn of the wrist that shows your hand turning off the ignition?
Editor’s Note8212;Craig Forster is the director of the U office of Sustainability.
Craig Forster