So, what happens after 3 minutes? Will the car magically shut itself off?

Good luck enforcing that!

Have fun enforcing that one, dumbass.

Long traffic lights and drawbridges? Cash cows?

"The ordinance limits most vehicle idling to three minutes, except in traffic." - which is where most of the idling occurs anyway..

//all hail useless regulations

Been the law here for a year or two. Think they provide leniency when it drops below or above a certain temp.

good luck enforcing that one.

First off, not sure what an "orginance" is.

Secondly, fark that. As a Minnesotan I will warm my car up as long as I damn well want to when it -20 degrees with a windchill of -40.

The starter on my diesel engine farked up on my route yesterday in Texas. I let that farker run from 3am. to 5pm. We can idle here.

not everyone in these frigid areas are native to this kind of climate

i still regret not buying a remote starter, and if i stay up here, i'll be saving up before winter hits again

/of course its 110 back home, so i'm damned if i go damned if i stay

City Council member Sandy Colvin Roy says cars don't need more than one minute to warm up, even in the winter.

Bullshiat. I don't even stop seeing my breath until I'm at least halfway to work. I'm usually just getting comfortable by the time I get to the parking lot.

Idling?

Soooo, gun the engine every 2 minutes and 59 seconds?

Here's part of the law from Hamilton, ON:

General Provisions

No person shall cause or permit a motor vehicle to idle for more than three (3)
consecutive minutes in a sixty-minute period.
Article 3.1 does not apply to the following motor vehicles or situations:

a) Police, fire or emergency medical service vehicles while engaged in operational
activities, including training and patient transfer activities;

b) Vehicles assisting in an emergency activity, including tow trucks while engaged
in hooking up to or moving another vehicle;

c) Vehicles required to remain motionless because of an emergency, traffic
(including congestion and signals), weather conditions, or mechanical
difficulties over which the driver has no control;
Mobile work vehicles while they are in the course of being used for their basic
function; During weather conditions where outside temperatures are over
27' C or below 5OC where idling may be necessary for the operation of air conditioning or
heating equipment as long as the vehicle is occupied;

Yeah up here with the nice -40 to -50ish weather your car won't even move after 2 minutes of idling.

rhiannon:
So you have to sit in your frozen arse car? Lame.

SpiritualRemains: According to that, at the 3:01 mark yeah.

I always find it funny when these idling farces are instigated in winter as well. It is illegal to drive with the windshield frozen...

And shutting off the vehicle in traffic??? That classifies you as a disabled vehicle.

Driving a vehicle within 30 seconds of cold starting???That a future oil burner.

I remote start my car probably 1000 times per year. Suck it hippies.

that's pretty common in Canada.... there are usually exemptions when it's really hot or cold.

Dumbass tag?

In other news, Minneapolis is now reduced to Mpls. Dumbass indeed.

I can see it now, someone dies because they were too afraid of idling past 3 minutes than to shut off their car in the winter and not being able to start it back up again.

if it's below zero, you can idle for 15 minutes, which TFA failed to mention.

I just moved from Minneapolis...this sort of thinking is part of the reason for my move.

1. Idling a car, unless it is several of tens of degrees below zero, is dumb. Your car will warm up faster driving it gently for 5 minutes than idling it for 20.
2. If you need to run your engine to scrape your windshield, you fail at planning. Get a scraper. If the inside is fogging, turn on the a/c if you have it. Yes, really.
3. If you live somewhere cold enough to worry about oil being goo instead of fluid, you need an oil pan heater. Oil still flows at -30, -50 if it's a lightweight synthetic.
4. No modern car (i.e. something without a carburetor, which hasn't been seen in the US in nearly 2 decades) needs to be warmed up cold for longer than it takes to put on your seatbelt. If it does, something is wrong with it.
5. You're not going to wear out your engine taking off when it's 0 degrees, if you've given the engine 30 seconds to get oil flowing.
6. Remote starters are a bad idea for all the aforementioned reasons- you don't need to idle, etc, and odds are the installer will find a way to fark up your electricals, especially over the long term.

There are way too many myths about cold weather and cars, handed down by our fathers who lived in the era of carburetors.

Do we need a law? Probably not, but people need a clue.

But I always have to let the song finish, and what if it's "Suite from Psycho"?

i still know people who think that idling for 10 minutes uses less gas than turning the car off and starting it up again

ctobio:
2. If you need to run your engine to scrape your windshield, you fail at planning. Get a scraper. If the inside is fogging, turn on the a/c if you have it. Yes, really.

I can tell you've never spent a winter anywhere where the temp gets below freezing.

If you get a heavy snowfall one night, or better yet, freezing rain, and you have to scrape your windshield the next morning, you will never get it cleared with a scraper alone. You NEED to run the windshield defroster, or you will never get the windshield clear.

Last winter it took at least 10-15 of idling to get either car to stop sounding like a tractor because it was so freaking cold out.
Rybek can stuff his idling law in his pipe and smoke it, but not in a bar, in Mpls. Dickhead.

ctobio: 1. Idling a car, unless it is several of tens of degrees below zero, is dumb. Your car will warm up faster driving it gently for 5 minutes than idling it for 20.
2. If you need to run your engine to scrape your windshield, you fail at planning. Get a scraper. If the inside is fogging, turn on the a/c if you have it. Yes, really.
3. If you live somewhere cold enough to worry about oil being goo instead of fluid, you need an oil pan heater. Oil still flows at -30, -50 if it's a lightweight synthetic.
4. No modern car (i.e. something without a carburetor, which hasn't been seen in the US in nearly 2 decades) needs to be warmed up cold for longer than it takes to put on your seatbelt. If it does, something is wrong with it.
5. You're not going to wear out your engine taking off when it's 0 degrees, if you've given the engine 30 seconds to get oil flowing.
6. Remote starters are a bad idea for all the aforementioned reasons- you don't need to idle, etc, and odds are the installer will find a way to fark up your electricals, especially over the long term.

There are way too many myths about cold weather and cars, handed down by our fathers who lived in the era of carburetors.

Do we need a law? Probably not, but people need a clue.

This

and, you people who need to remote start the car because you want it to warm up, or cool down are just sissies. Ive been in -40 weather with a Hummer with a broken heater when I was in Bosnia. Know what I did....I dressed warm. and now i live in florida, you can boil water inside my car in the afternoon. I open the window while running the AC, and after 5 minutes, its nice and cool insde, no need for wasting gas.

you idlers are not helping gas prices at all, your creating more demand, which increases price. remember, and idling car gets 0 mpg, but is still burning gas

Hal Jalykakik
ctobio:
2. If you need to run your engine to scrape your windshield, you fail at planning. Get a scraper. If the inside is fogging, turn on the a/c if you have it. Yes, really.

I can tell you've never spent a winter anywhere where the temp gets below freezing.

If you get a heavy snowfall one night, or better yet, freezing rain, and you have to scrape your windshield the next morning, you will never get it cleared with a scraper alone. You NEED to run the windshield defroster, or you will never get the windshield clear.

Yup. When you have almost 3/4s an inch of freezing rain on your car, and need a screwdriver to get the door open, a scraper is not going to do much good on the windshield without some heat. Unless you want to make it a weekend project.

New York has had this law for over a decade. It's no big deal. Yes, there are cops that time you. Or they drive around the block and ticket you on the next pass.

Syflansyd: I just moved from Minneapolis...this sort of thinking is part of the reason for my move.

On behalf of people from Minneapolis I'd like to thank you for getting the fark out.

Bohemian: Last winter it took at least 10-15 of idling to get either car to stop sounding like a tractor because it was so freaking cold out.

Which do you drive, a Daewoo or an antique?

Hal Jalykakik: ctobio:
2. If you need to run your engine to scrape your windshield, you fail at planning. Get a scraper. If the inside is fogging, turn on the a/c if you have it. Yes, really.

I can tell you've never spent a winter anywhere where the temp gets below freezing.

I grew up in New York City, and live in Central CT. While it isn't quite Minnesota, I've done my fair share of scraping my windshield off. My wife grew up outside of Buffalo, and is with me on this.

If you have 3/4" of ice on your windshield, and you've managed to chip your way into your car somehow, your defroster is going to mean dick anyway.

I also make it a point when I park my car to put the wipers up, and sticking out, so they don't freeze to my windshield.

I stand by my statement.

Oh yeah, and I cheat nowadays. I use this stuff on my windshields:



Believe it or not, this stuff has worked real well for me. Ice doesn't stick all that well to my glass when I use it.

I think where this really hits is not so much automobiles, but tractor-trailer trucks. The truckers idle to maintain a living temperature in the cab while they sleep. There is a device that allows the truck to maintain climate without idling, but it costs about 8,000 bucks and a lot of truckers do not have the extra money to get them installed. There should really be a tax credit or a program to help with this if there is such a great concern about idling.

We're discussing idling cars.

What's next? How fast paint dries?

Just ban fast food drive thrus..

Any cop enforcing this will leave his car running for 20 minutes while the paperwork gets done.

As someone who has been idling for four minutes, I am getting a kick out of these replies.

I suspect that this law, like California & New Yorks, isnt so much about idling cars as it is about idling trucks.

Truckers, like most people, need to be comfortable in order to get a proper nights sleep, and so many idle their trucks during their down time in order to get the rest they need.

But not in New York or California. Its illegal in those two states. Luckily it doesnt seem to be enforced much, so we have yet to see the wave of fatigued trucker accidents that will eventually ensue.

Lessee, unless there's a device that can keep the car/truck cool (or warm) and run some electrical gear -without- idling or draining the battery, and that's inexpensive, I'd consider it. In the heat, a fan doesn't cut it, and in the cold, there's no heater. Consider that next time you see someone idling his/her car while watching a show.

The driver of charter bus I was on recently had an interesting perspective on this one. The top half of his charter was mostly glass. In hot weather killing the engine of a loaded bus causes the interior temperature to immediately skyrocket, so instead he now does slow laps around the parking lot to remain in compliance. For him it uses more fuel and is less safe to obey the law.

"If you have 3/4" of ice on your windshield, and you've managed to chip your way into your car somehow, your defroster is going to mean dick anyway."

Running full blast heat on the windshield makes a hell of a lot of difference.

As far as purchasing over-priced chemicals in plastic containers and dumping that stuff on my car, I admit I haven't done the research on comparing that to running my car for 15-20 minutes at idle after an ice storm.

rhiannon: a) Police, fire or emergency medical service vehicles while engaged in operational
activities, including training and patient transfer activities;

Cops exempt, as usual. Can't allow the blue snowflakes to get into a cold car or hold them to the same standards as the people that pay their salaries.

And still another excuse to force you to show your papers.

rhiannon:
As far as purchasing over-priced chemicals in plastic containers and dumping that stuff on my car, I admit I haven't done the research on comparing that to running my car for 15-20 minutes at idle after an ice storm.

Spritzing a few shots of Prestone Ice and Frost Shield uses less gasoline than idling for 15-20 minutes. I get mine for $2.99 at Wal-Mart. I also use the Prestone De-Icer Windshield Washer fluid. It melts frost better than the blue stuff, and I can live with it being $2.50 a gallon.

cydcharisse: And still another excuse to force you to show your papers.

Like they need an excuse.

/Papers or TASER, citizen, your choice

I admire the brevity of this article. It reads like a haiku.