Turning it off: Voluntary or legal

February 24th, 2009 at 06:14am Jennie Pollock

Reminder that the No Idle Zone kickoff is at 7:30 a.m. Thursday at the Rockford Mass Transit facility on Mulberry in downtown Rockford (remember, the State Street bridge is closed!).

The effort in Rockford is a grass-roots, voluntary one. One of its organizers, Monica Krysztopa of Morrissey Family Businesses, pointed out to me that New York City enacted a law against idling in school zones. This could be the toughest such measure in the country, and fines can be steep

A new report by the Environmental Defense Fund estimates that idling cars and trucks produce 130,000 tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide each year in New York City, contributing to global warming. The group believes the one-minute idling limit next to schools is the toughest such law in the United States.

… In New York City, the child asthma rate is particularly bad. According to the health department, asthma is the most common cause of hospitalization for children 14 years and younger, and is a leading cause of missed school days in the nation’s largest school district of 1.1 million pupils.

Entry Filed under: No idle, In the news