The Legalities of Idling Your Car in the Driveway

Laws And Pragmatism

There are places in America where it’s illegal to leave a running vehicle unattended. Nobody’s going to crack down on you if you stop, dash into the gas station, and run out after five minutes. However, technically, in some places, that may be an issue. The biggest consideration has to do with vehicular waste. 

If you leave your vehicle running on idle, it will slowly warm up. But it will always warm up quicker if you actually put a load on the engine by driving. This causes the engine to heat up, and your environmental controls will push the heat into the cab quicker. If you just leave the car on idle, it’s getting “zero” miles to the gallon, and you’re simply wasting fuel. 

Now there are some who will make the environmental argument to indicate leaving a vehicle on idle is a bad idea. While certain legal realities surround this sort of thinking, it’s flawed. You know what plants breathe? C02. Do you know what comes out of your exhaust pipe? Why, that carbon dioxide gas deep green plants love to breathe. 

A Little History To Settle A Propaganda Claim

The whole “Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) erode our Ozone layer!” schtick is just that. A schtick. It’s not accurate. There’s a surprisingly easy way to refute these environmental fops running around trying to guilt trip everyday people. The “Little Ice Age” and the “Medieval Warm Period”.

The Medieval Warm Period predates The Little Ice Age. Both of them were well over by the time industrialization and modernization developed. In both eras, exceptional temperature extremes that have not been seen in the modern world transpired. In the warm time of Europe, it got to the point where outdoor vineyards were all over England.

Today, that’s not quite so common. But both cold and heat were extreme during these times, and much greater than anything that has been seen in the civilized world since the late 1700s. So tell me: where were the massive factories belching C02 into the environment prior the warm period, and prior the little ice age?

Were there factories during these eras, or right after? No, there weren’t. And yet, somehow, global climate change transpired anyway—without any input from mankind whatever. The truth is, massive climatological trends have little or nothing to do with mankind’s best or worst efforts. They have a lot more to do with what our sun is up to. 

Making Choices For The Right Reasons, Not Fictional Guilt

So don’t be compelled by eco-terrorists trying to guilt-trip you against idling for the sake of the environment. However, do take into account local legal realities, how your vehicle actually warms up, and how it burns fuel. Also, consider security. An idling car is a thieve’s invitation—unless you keep a spare key on you while it idles and lock the door. 

Even then, a thief could break a window and steal the vehicle. While that’s less likely in Wyoming, South Dakota, and Montana, it’s not unheard of. The takeaway here is, there’s more against idling than for it; but when you’re weighing alternatives, ignore the climate argument; it’s just a political feint for purposes of those pushing it, not the environment. 

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