Reward for reporting idling cars.

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Mike Sales
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Reward for reporting idling cars.

Post by Mike Sales »

Vehicle fuel taxes should rise to combat the air pollution crisis in the UK, with an extra charge on diesel, according to the conservative thinktank Bright Blue.
A report calls for VAT to be abolished on electric cars and for citizens to be able to report idling vehicles and receive a share of fines levied. It also proposes that the speed limit in all urban areas is cut from 30mph to 20mph and that local authorities should be able to profit from pollution charging schemes to fund clean-air projects.


https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/12/raise-car-fuel-prices-to-fight-air-pollution-says-rightwing-thinktank
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pwa
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Re: Reward for reporting idling cars.

Post by pwa »

I have always said that vehicle taxation should be shifted to the fuel, rather than VED and VAT. It ticks all the boxes for me.

Idling vehicles is an issue but there is one complication that I am aware of. Vans / lorries with refrigeration sometimes idle because a driver may be having a compulsory break but still needing to keep food down at the correct temperature. On a lot of delivery vehicles the refrigeration works off the engine. Apart from that, yes, pointless idling is, well, pointless.
landsurfer
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Re: Reward for reporting idling cars.

Post by landsurfer »

Define "pointless idling" in a legal sense that will lead to a conviction ..... best of luck ... :)
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Mike Sales
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Re: Reward for reporting idling cars.

Post by Mike Sales »

I think that a good start would be a public information campaign.
Drivers should be made aware that leaving their engine running while not in the vehicle or waiting, is illegal, pollutes needlessly and contributes to climate change.
The practice is widespread.
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mjr
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Re: Reward for reporting idling cars.

Post by mjr »

landsurfer wrote:Define "pointless idling" in a legal sense that will lead to a conviction ..... best of luck ... :)

Who needs a conviction? Just make it legal for people to cap the exhausts (which stops the engine, or at least makes it run like a dog and exposes exhaust leaks) and hand out free bungs and it'll deal with the worst offenders. After all, if someone can cap the exhaust unmolested, you were probably idling illegally, weren't you?

Where's the UK equivalent to www.ITurnItOff.com?
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Re: Reward for reporting idling cars.

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Idling an engine unecessarily is an offence under the Road Traffic Act and some local authorities impose an £80 fine. I live on a street with double yellow lines. There are takeaways at the end. People park on the street with impunity and sit in vehicles idling and that is in the summer? They are risking £70 for the double yellows and a further fine for idling, but they do it because there is no enforcement.

Al
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Re: Reward for reporting idling cars.

Post by Bonefishblues »

Mike Sales wrote:I think that a good start would be a public information campaign.
Drivers should be made aware that leaving their engine running while not in the vehicle or waiting, is illegal, pollutes needlessly and contributes to climate change.
The practice is widespread.

There's lots of things that I'd like to run modern-day PIFs on :?
pwa
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Re: Reward for reporting idling cars.

Post by pwa »

al_yrpal wrote:Idling an engine unecessarily is an offence under the Road Traffic Act and some local authorities impose an £80 fine. I live on a street with double yellow lines. There are takeaways at the end. People park on the street with impunity and sit in vehicles idling and that is in the summer? They are risking £70 for the double yellows and a further fine for idling, but they do it because there is no enforcement.

Al

Do you think perhaps they are using aircon and want to stay cooler than just opening windows would achieve?
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al_yrpal
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Re: Reward for reporting idling cars.

Post by al_yrpal »

pwa wrote:
al_yrpal wrote:Idling an engine unecessarily is an offence under the Road Traffic Act and some local authorities impose an £80 fine. I live on a street with double yellow lines. There are takeaways at the end. People park on the street with impunity and sit in vehicles idling and that is in the summer? They are risking £70 for the double yellows and a further fine for idling, but they do it because there is no enforcement.

Al

Do you think perhaps they are using aircon and want to stay cooler than just opening windows would achieve?


Possibly, if its interfering with us I usually politely ask them to turn it off. Most do. If they dont I photograph the car and they get fined £70 for the double yellows.

Al
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Re: Reward for reporting idling cars.

Post by Bmblbzzz »

landsurfer wrote:Define "pointless idling" in a legal sense that will lead to a conviction ..... best of luck ... :)

There already is a definition. I think it was worked out in, of all places, Westminster Council. From memory, it's idling over 1 minute while parked, with exemptions for buses and coaches running a/c or heating while passengers - but not driver alone - are on board.
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Re: Reward for reporting idling cars.

Post by Samuel D »

pwa wrote:Do you think perhaps they are using aircon and want to stay cooler than just opening windows would achieve?

Very possibly. And it’s a grievous misjudgement to think it’s acceptable to submit everyone in the vicinity to the resulting noise and air pollution, plus the whole world to the CO2. Idling with the air conditioning on also about doubles fuel consumption from idling with it off. Worse, the engine is in a regime that typically pollutes badly (out of proportion to the fuel burnt).

A big change of mindset is required, and it’s not going to be driven by witless slobs sitting outside takeway restaurants in their idling cars. It needs action by government and what’s left of our culture’s thought leaders. The trick is acting to change behaviour in a way that avoids the horrifically counter-productive backlash that the British tabloid press loves to spearhead.
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Re: Reward for reporting idling cars.

Post by Bmblbzzz »

The "rewards for reporting idlers" is a relatively minor point of the Bluebrite proposals though. The increases in VED and fuel tax, ULEZ charging and default 20mph are more significant IMO.
whoof
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Re: Reward for reporting idling cars.

Post by whoof »

landsurfer wrote:Define "pointless idling" in a legal sense that will lead to a conviction ..... best of luck ... :)


Seemed to have managed it in France. According to this in 2017 almost 2700 fines.
https://www.thelocal.fr/20190304/switch ... -in-france
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Re: Reward for reporting idling cars.

Post by Audax67 »

Don't like the idea. When I lived in Germany I became very conscious of what they called the "anzeigementalität", i.e. a state of mind that takes delight in denouncing petty wrongdoers. E.g. chum turned his ankle on a loose paving and stumbled a bit while walking to his car, police turned up at his flat half an hour later with a breath test because some good citizen had noted his number plate and called the police because he might just have been drunk.

Bleh.
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Samuel D
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Re: Reward for reporting idling cars.

Post by Samuel D »

Air pollution is not a petty problem, though.
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