Don't Leave Your Motor Running
2/21/08
Police Cracking Down on Idling Cars
I was rushing out the door as usual a couple weeks ago when I caught a few seconds of a news blurb I wish I could have watched all the way through. Police in a neighboring Denver suburb were spending part of a day ticketing owners of idling cars, so suburbanites would come back to their vehicles and find a $75-$105 ticket on the windshield.
I didn’t catch the entire segment, so I assumed this was another environmental crackdown. After following up on the station’s website, however, I learned that my assumption wasn’t correct. As it turns out, emissions don’t have anything to do with it; the reason these people are getting tickets is because more idling cars are being stolen and used for nefarious purposes.
That’s right — as if stealing my iPod and joyriding with a backseat full of booster seats weren’t insulting enough, these thieves are also using stolen cars as agents of heavy-duty crimes, including armed robbery.
According to police, ticketing “puffers,” as they’re calling people who leave unoccupied cars idling, is seen as a way to prevent these incidents. Anyone can get a puffer ticket, whether they’re warming up their car in the driveway, running quickly into a coffee joint or dropping the kids off at school.
A couple in my area recently got caught stealing moms’ purses out of their cars while they ran their kids in to school, so people were encouraged to lock their doors when heading inside any kid-oriented facility. I wonder if ticketing idling cars could have prevented these thefts? It will be interesting to see if ticketing puffers causes an observable difference in these types of crimes. Will we have to change the saying to “idle cars are the devil’s tools”?
Comments
I agree with Patrick. What law is being broken? And what about remote starters? Is there some sort of time limit for an idling cars? Sheesh, like they have nothing better to do, anyway... How about catching the criminals instead of ticketing potential victims?
Posted by: Lori Hindman | Feb 22, 2008 2:35:17 PM
Yes, I'm not sure ticketing is the best way to raise awareness about this issue. There have been all kinds of arguments thrown around (as I'm sure you can imagine). I don't know the actual legal reason, and I'm not sure there's going to be an actual law made. It was a one-day event for the police department, and I'm interested know how well it worked. It didn't do much for their PR though.
Posted by: Sara Lacey | Feb 22, 2008 2:41:57 PM
We've found out here in the Bay Area that car thieves tend to troll around neighborhoods when the weather turns cold specifically to find idling cars to boost. Every winter it happens like clock work where there's a big uptick in car thefts because of this. The cops don't care if your door is locked and your windows are up or if you need to warm your car interior up. Thieves will happily break a window or slim jim that door lock in a heartbeat.
If you need to warm your car up, it's likely you probably need to scrape ice or morning fog off your window anyway, so why don't you stay with your car and take car of that while your interior warms up?
Posted by: HDC | Feb 22, 2008 2:47:26 PM
What I understand of the law, they can only ticket you if your car is parked on a public road. I have read many reports of issued tickets but then being overturned at court do to that technicality. So if your car is parked in a private or public lot you can not be ticketed, however if your car is on a public or federal road, you can be ticketed, and even towed.
Posted by: Chris | Feb 22, 2008 6:58:59 PM
Sounds like the biggest criminals,,, are the local authorities.
How many cars are stolen on one street in one day in this town? I dunno, but the city can make $105 a pop in front of a school.
Revenue enforcement.
Posted by: Infosaur | Feb 22, 2008 9:46:08 PM
They are, may I put it this way, trying to reduce our dependency on foreign oil.
It really ticks me off when I see some classmates sit in their car while it is running and they are just talking on the phone. The school has heat and it is already paid for.
Posted by: J | Feb 22, 2008 10:55:35 PM
I am very aware of the waste from idling trucks, vans and school buses. Daily I see school bus drivers idling their engines for up to a half and hour while they hang out and smoke. We are encouraged to conserve energy on every level but it seems that since the government or an employer is paying for the gas these drivers don't mind wasting it and pouring fumes into our homes at the same time. Up and down my street I see cars left idling and polluting every morning in the winter. Truthfully, I wouldn't care if these gas wasting, air polluting drivers had their cars stolen.
Posted by: Judith Allison | Feb 23, 2008 9:18:47 AM
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Good story. What if you're using a remote starter? What if you lock your car doors? What's the legal reason for giving you a ticket? Protecting you from yourself is often an area where police wind up in trouble...
Posted by: Patrick O. | Feb 22, 2008 1:14:07 PM