To plead with you to turn your car engine off when you wait for your dc to come out of school?

[hugoagogo]

And I will tell you why:

The smell
The waste
The enviroment
Air pollution

Even in this weather you will stay warm for a few minutes.

If the journey to school wasn't sufficient to warm the car up inside maybe it's walkable anyway.

Not to mention the extra strain on the battery and starter-motor.

Myth #2: Idling is good for your engine. Reality: Excessive idling can actually damage your engine components, including cylinders, spark plugs, and exhaust systems. Fuel is only partially combusted when idling because an engine does not operate at its peak temperature. This leads to the build up of fuel residues on cylinder walls that can damage engine components and increase fuel consumption. (from www.consumerenergycenter.org/myths/idling.html)

Also from same source "Idling is linked to increases in asthma, allergies, heart and lung disease and cancer"

That's nice outraged do you really feel no responsibility to minimise your environmental impact?

It's pretty obnoxious, particularly in a crowded place. I feel bad enough running the engine to defrost the car in the morning.

No running cars here. Parents have to go into the school gates to collect the kids, can't say it's something I'd get worked up about though.

Yanbu to beg, but I won't be doing it, theres a chance it wouldn't bloody start again

Not to mention it uses more fuel, strain on battery/starter motor etc

ata, if you read the info I posted apparently it doesn't use more fuel or put more strain on the car, in fact the opposite is true if you are stopped for more than 10 seconds.

Outraged try also to see it from the point of view of those living in the street you are parked on.

If the journey to school wasn't sufficient to warm the car up inside maybe it's walkable anyway.

Is that aimed at me? If so, I don't get it.

I feel a responsibility to not do anything unreasonable to actively damage the environment, but not enough to freeze for any longer than I have to for the sake of turning my car off for less than two minutes a few times a week. There are worse things.

Is it really that bad that its worthy of complaint? Really?

In all the years I've been alive I can't say I have ever been bothered by car engines being left running, and I walk the school run when I'm not working.

Andabigbird Ime and from what Ive read some older cars don't cope very well with stop/starts and mines a dinosaur. Hoping to get a newer model soon

Personally I think parking should be banned within 200m of a school's front gates.

that would suck if you lived next to a school.

Not necessarily. Some councils make schools part of a CPZ - residents have permits, but non-residents aren't allowed to park there. Have a few traffic wardens on hand to enforce it in the mornings & at home time, and you'd get far fewer offenders (and rake in a nice bit of cash for the council).

I know Glasgow city council fine drivers £60 for leaving their engine running outside schools... I am actually surprised its not nationwide...

Personally I think parking should be banned within 200m of a school's front gates. I agree.

There is (for most people) no need to park right outside the school. Park a bit further out and walk in if you live to far to walk from home.

There again, the school DS is starting next year has an arrangement with a pub and church for parents to park in their car park (both about a 2 minute walk from the school) but very few do preferring to double park, park on pavements and generally make the area more dangerous.

eltsihT, do you know anyone who Glasgow City Council has fined? I've never heard of it being enforced.

If the journey to school wasn't sufficient to warm the car up inside maybe it's walkable anyway.

Not aimed at you or anyone else Outraged, just pointing out a possibility. I used to drive 6 miles to DS's school and didn't need the engine running to keep warm in the car when I got there.

MaxPepsi

You don't use more fuel stopping and restarting at all. An engine will run richer when started from cold, but stopping it for 10 minutes is not enough time for the engine oil temp to drop significantly.

If your car is still cold at the time you're stopped and the engine is idling, then the engine will still be running rich (meaning worse emissions as there will be more unburnt fuel in the exhaust), the heater won't be putting out warm air, your engine probably won't warm up enough anyway and you'll be causing damage to it as it isn't getting up to temperature.

A warning for those advocating thick warm coats for cars, esp for children.
A thick padded coat prevents the seat belt from fitting properly and therefore makes a seat belt less efficient.
Far safer to remove thick coats before putting a seat belt on - if still cold put coat over top of the child.

Fingerless gloves are handy for when driving.

It's ages since I have done the school run anyway-how long are we talking keeping the engine running?

Stop start only works on cars once the engine is warmed up. If car is not warmed up enough - then it is less efficient to keep turning the engine on and off.

Re. if car not warm enough then journey is walkable - well, many people are then driving on and doing the work commute too.

Sorry, I thought we were talking about picking up after school Hula.

I've already flattened my battery once this winter with start-stop-start trips and have no intention of allowing it to happen again. Strangely enough OP outside school was one of the few places I did used to turn off in winter, only because I'd done over the magic ten minutes needed to replace the electricity in the battery from starting at the beginning of the journey.

OldLadyKnowsNothing

"Not to mention the extra strain on the battery and starter-motor."

Negligible - components are tested to destruction and manufactured for the lowest common denominator, i.e. numpties who have zero mechanical sympathy.

A healthy battery should be able to repeatedly start an engine many times over; I've just replaced a dying battery, and even though it struggled, it started the engine repeatedly and could hold a charge all day. Overnight - well, that was a different matter.