To ask why people leave their engine running?

[Idontlikecheesecake]

I hate seeing people sitting in the cars, on their phone and the engine is running. Why do it? Do they not realise the climate is in crisis? And it’s wasting their fuel thus wasting their money. I walked through the car park at work today and I must have seen at least 4 cars with their engines running and the drivers were just sat on their phones. I was tempted to knock on some of their windows and tell them to turn the engine off, but I imagine that would be unreasonable (would it???). I genuinely want to know why people do it?

@Elsewyre you’re absolutely right about running temps but people on here don’t want to hear it. They hate fast cars, they hate noisy cars, they hate big cars and seem to think the owner-drivers of these cars should be strung up. I’ve been mightily told off for having a noisy fast car on here in the past, simply because MN had deemed it unnecessary and me an abhorrent person simply because I had it. 😆

you’d have honestly not bought a BMW, a thirsty car that runs with a high-powered combustion engine, because very, very occasionally you have to leave it running to check the oil? Give over. All cars need to have been run to check the oil, anyway. 👍🏻 Enjoy your car!

BMW sell a lot more of the low powered, economical variants than they do high powered ones. Are you one of these people that think every BMW is a fast car? Some of them are gutless heaps of crap. As for checking oil, with a traditional dipstick there’s no need to have run the engine apart from in some odd cars which specify that.

I think skin people to too doe make a difference. Another parent at one of my DCs activities asked me to turn mine off and I was truly ashamed and don’t do it now if possible.
Social norms need changing

You can leave your engine idling for trivial reasons and most people won't say anything. But as I stand there breathing in the toxic air you're producing unnecessary I'm judging you.

But it's both illegal to leave your engine running AND to use your mobile whilst the engine is running. Why on earth wouldn't you just check the phone before turning the engine on?

Which goes to show that many mn don’t care about the Highway Code or possible the 9 points on their driving licence as a result of both misdemeanours

do modern cars not charge without having to have the engine running? my cars very old but i can part turn the key so that the radio is on and/or my phone charges for an hour or two without a problem?

It depends how old the car and battery is. If a battery is more than five years old it is not a good idea to repeatedly turn engine on and off for short periods, e.g. when queuing in traffic.

The key word in the highway code is not to leave the engine idling unnecessarily*. This is very subjective, someone could argue that keeping a reasonable temperature in the car was necessary, but no doubt some eco-nutter would argue that cars are unnecessary altogether!

but no doubt some eco-nutter would argue that cars are unnecessary altogether!

If you have to insult a person who is concerned about the environment then it looks like you’ve failed in your argument

Which goes to show that many mn don’t care about the Highway Code or possible the 9 points on their driving licence as a result of both misdemeanours

6 points for the phone, none for idling. Suggest you check your facts before posting nonsense.

Indeed no points for idling, it never has got through parliament and was rejected, my mistake

"20:17JesusInTheCabbageVan

"Tess83....sorry to say it, but noone really cares."

"Well, to be accurate, some people don't care. Many do."

Actually I think its many many dont, and a very small amount do, but dont do anything about it. An even smaller amount do something about it.

Just be aware that many people can film you, so whilst your using your phone with the engine running you’ll not be aware of that happening. Until it’s reported to operation snap and you get a Notice in the post. It happened to someone famous recently, they were sat in traffic on their phone.

Ivykaty...that's a whole different ballgame to sitting in their car in a carpark on their phone.

This thread shows that many car drivers are entitled and love to make excuses for their selfishness.

Our household does not have a car. Our lives would be a lot easier if we did. But we have chosen not to have one for environmental reasons. If I can stand at a bus stop every day, you can manage in a slightly cold car.

They hate fast cars, they hate noisy cars, they hate big cars and seem to think the owner-drivers of these cars should be strung up

Yes, because they are anti-social and polluting, both in terms of noise and air pollution. It's obvious isn't it? If you do something irresponsible, people don't like it. Sigh.

All cars need to have been run to check the oil, anyway no they don't, you just go out and use the dipstick. In fact it's the opposite, you don't want to check the oil in a hot engine.

Our household does not have a car. Our lives would be a lot easier if we did. But we have chosen not to have one for environmental reasons. If I can stand at a bus stop every day, you can manage in a slightly cold car.

If you want to punish yourself that’s fine, doesn’t mean anyone has to. Meanwhile, an average track day trip for me can burn 150 litres of fuel and that’s literally just going round in circles

"Our household does not have a car. Our lives would be a lot easier if we did. But we have chosen not to have one for environmental reasons."

That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Do you realise what utter tosh that is?!

The only time I let my car idle on the drive is in the winter when I need the steamed up windows to clear. Or I need them to de-ice. Obviously it wouldn't be very safe to drive along with a frozen up/steamed up windscreen. I used to throw warm water over it (not hot, so the window doesn't crack) but it just freezes up again. To be fair I usually have to do this about once a year. Not every day like the yummy mummies who sit in their Chelsea tractors with the engines running waiting for their kids to come out of school for 45 minutes (and yes it's mums, not dads).

@Elai1978 😆 same.

Because they're lazy (it takes time to switch the engine off and on again)
Because they don't care.

Makes me so cross.

@DoubleDolphin

"Our household does not have a car. Our lives would be a lot easier if we did. But we have chosen not to have one for environmental reasons."

That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Do you realise what utter tosh that is?!

Would you like to define how this is "utter tosh" @DoubleDolphin? I'm assuming you are a climate change denier and don't believe pollution is real?

If more people took the bold decision to do without a car, it would make our immediate environment and our planet a better place. I would love to have the convenience of a car, especially right now when public transport is so tricky. But we have made that decision as a family to be part of making our planet nicer. I realise not everyone has access to good public transport.

I'm not saying we live perfect lives, but we are trying to do our but. If existing car drivers even cut down the amount of journeys they did, the would help.

To keep warm.

I don’t fly on planes but I don’t go and harass people at the airport.

You just do you.

I see this a lot at my DC's school too and it always seems to be the same people who do it every day, so clearly not weather related or due to emergency phone charging.

Strangely, there seems to be a high degree of intersection between the engine-idling parents and those who park inconsiderately too...

Ivykaty...that's a whole different ballgame to sitting in their car in a carpark on their phone.

dolphin, would you like to explain why it is different?