Who Knew?
By Mitch Berg
Minneapolis has a car idling law:
We caught about a dozen Minneapolis residents idling their cars past the legal limit this morning, and none of them knew they were breaking the law…15 minutes is all the time you have if you’re within Minneapolis city limits. In below-zero temperatures, drivers in Minneapolis can leave their car idling and unattended for up to 15 minutes. When the temperatures warm above zero, the idling limit is just three minutes.
“Maybe half an hour,” said Kissel, on how long she lets her car warm up. “But I wouldn’t know the difference. It’s the morning. You forget time!”
And yet they have no idle politician law.
It’s not a “green” thing; it’s about preventing auto theft – by making it illegal to leave a car in a condition where it can easily be stolen.
Honestly? I’d almost prefer the “green” law; at least it’d be stupid, rather than stupid and insulting.
December 31st, 2013 at 7:53 am
I wonder how many of those people ticketed have remote starters which make the car impossible to steal no matter how long its been idling?
December 31st, 2013 at 11:14 am
If it’s anti-theft, then why not make it illegal to put an expensive IPhone down where poor kids might be tempted to steal it and try to kill the owner when he attempts to retrieve it, Mark Andrew? Because crimes are always the victim’s fault.
January 1st, 2014 at 11:55 am
Our local ordinance does not have a time limit. The running vehicle must be unattended and unlocked. Fairly easy to enforce, particularly if the enforcer sits in a marked squad car in plain view for a minute or two before taking any enforcement action. Always seemed fair. Particularly when the offense (and subsequent car thefts) very predictably took place around “last call”/ bar closing time.