to think you shouldn't leave your car engines running?

[TheRhubarb]

First thing in the morning all I can hear from around 6am through until 9am is the sound of car engines runnings.
It provides a constant hum in the background and pollutes the air.

Can I ask why people don't cover their car windows with sheets? Or invest in de-icer?
My dh gets up at 5.15am to leave for work at 6am but he wouldn't dream of letting his car engine run, thus disturbing our neighbours. He throws the kettle over the car and sprays it with de-icer. Yes ok it's a trifle cold when he gets in the car, but it soon warms up.

So what is it with these selfish people who come out of their houses, start up their cars and then leave the engines running for half an hour whilst they have a cup of tea? How can they afford the petrol?

If you do this, please stop. It pollutes the air and I can guarantee that your neighbours are thoroughly pissed off with it.

entropygirl, there is something that happens to people when they get behind the wheel of a car. It's why I don't drive much. You can have a perfectly reasonable, kind and courteous person who apologises if you bump into them in the supermarket, but catch them in their cars and it seems that the car acts as a bubble from the outside world under whose protection these people can reveal their inner demons that blast out disco beats late at night, honk their horns because they can't be arsed leaving their warm inner sanctium, swear at cyclists and pedestrians, tailgate drivers who follow the speed limit and double park or block access because their rights outstrip the rights of everyone else.

There must be a psychological term for this common behaviour?

ivykate - hmm could do that I suppose.

Where I'm from in the US, you absolutely can crack a windscreen with warm or hot water (google it if you think it's a myth.) I see you're saying that UK website say warm water is fine to use, so I suspect it must have something to do with it not getting as cold here as it can in parts of the US. I still wouldn't do it myself.

When our windows are closed, which they tend to be in this weather :D , I don't hear cars idling. I do, however, hear the idiot who fires up his moped every damned morning in spring/summer at ridiculous o'clock and revs that for ages before finally taking off. bastard.

oh, emoticon failure there, sorry. Add a somewhere in there.

My neighbours probably curse me most mornings when I hv to do this as mine is a diesel and the fly wheel is on its way out so rattles even louder! It's only for 10mins max while I'm getting kids and stuff in car, but then they regularly wake me up between 12 & 2am wen they come home from work, clubs etc & think it's perfectly normal to shout, laugh, scream, hv snowball fights.

Well, I'm a car thief and would like to know where you live.

I bet they would stop doing it.

US idling cars

Warm water cakewench, not hot. I know I said out of a kettle, but I just fill the kettle up with warm water.

I hate motorbikes and mopeds that are fitted with those huge exhausts to make them as noisy as they possibly can be. I just think that the people who drive them obviously have something to prove or are over-compensating for a failure in another area iyswim

Possibly a thiefs business card through the door of each house in the street

Mr Thief
Any car stolen, special tricks idling cars on cold mornings
Every car stolen to order
Best service in Weatherfield

That may get them thinking!

Actually cakewench, if you want to stop him then get a large potato, stuff it up his exhaust as hard as you can so that it's tightly wedged in. When he comes to start it, it just won't go. Simple!

ivykaty - I'm liking that idea!

I think the point about temperature differential is probably valid....here you put on warm water at say 35 degrees and the temp is around -5 making 40 degrees difference. But in the states the temp might be more like -20 so the difference is 55 degrees which might make warm water more of a problem.

I do think it occurs to people that their car could be stolen- but people decide whether to take the risk or not

Yeah it was the 'kettle' bit that made me ! Just makes me think boiling.

Reckon you're right about the moped engines. It used to wake me up even when I was passed out after a night of being up with a baby, and that's pretty tough to do.

More to the subject you actually mentioned, I grew up in a city and would never dream of leaving my car to idle with the keys in it for any amount of time. Hell, I live in a quiet suburb now with a car no one could possible want (left hand drive Toyota from when we lived in Germany) and I still wouldn't leave it with the keys in!

I think you would have to put on the back of the card

tongue in check neighbourhood watch tactics

I do think it occurs to people that their car could be stolen- but people decide whether to take the risk or not

But would you put 1000 pounds in cash on the drive for 5 minutes each morning?

You get the illegality thing on all the car seat debates on here too. If you see someone with a 1yo with no car seat you could a) tell them they are endangering their child (and they will feel judged and like you think they are a Bad Parent). Or you could say that it is illegal and they would be up for a hefty fine if stopped by the police.....dilemasville

I do think it occurs to people that their car could be stolen- but people decide whether to take the risk or not

Not according to a friend of mine, whose OH warned a van driver not to leave the van running outside during deliveries.
It was stolen a few days later.

And the insurance won't pay.

Ivy now why would I want to do that? If I needed to warm my cash up I'd tuck it in my bra

I'm not saying cars don't get stolen, I'm saying people think it's not going to happen to them. And mostly it won't. But for some it does, yes

I think people don't consider the possibility of their car being stolen or of disturbing neighbours. They just think, I have to go to work, my car is cold, I'm not getting in until it's warmed up. That's about as much as their thought processes go.

I didn't know it was illegal until I googled. I didn't know that it can potentially damage the engine either. I also wonder if they know that if the car is stolen, the insurance would refuse to pay up.
Sometimes it's worth reminding people of these points and then, yes they can make an informed choice of whether to carry on being a tit knowing they are disturbing their neighbours, polluting the environment, wasting fuel and damaging their car engine or they can decide to be a little more courteous and a little less lazy.

if you really really worried about polluting the air you would not drive a car in the first place or have one of those electric ones

not all but many of us do not need a car jsut it makes life much much easier

you do not really have a valid point to argue from op as you have a car and it is used

ooohhh you should do the thing like the little drinks flags....my sister ran the college bar and spent a week popping little plastic flags into peoples drinks when they werent looking....prob said something about 'hey I might have been a drug, watch your drink'.

So why not put little cards in the cars saying 'I'm not a car thief, but if I was, you wouldn't be sitting in your car right now'.

Harder to arrange then putting it through peoples doors but much more scary and a much better way to hone your ninja skills.....

I do this - I used to use hot water but after a very scary episode when the water re-froze whilst driving (and with no-where to pull in for a few minutes) I now warm up the car by leaving it running. Its the only way to really defrost that I have found.

I do live at the very end of a cul de sac though ... so not likely to be nicked. Am pretty sure my neighbours aren't going to get their knickers in a twist about a car running for 10 minutes at 8am.

YANBU it is so irritating, I never do it.