Don't expect to cool that car for the baby

KSTP.com - Mpls. limits vehicle idling to 3 minutes:

"The Minneapolis City Council and Mayor R.T. Rybak approved changes Friday, to the city’s vehicle idling ordinance that aims to reduce air pollution. The ordinance limits most vehicle idling to three minutes, except in traffic."

Okay, so if you have to go get your baby from the daycare, you better make sure that the car is either cold or hot inside before you get there.

So three minutes ... it seems like a long time ... unless you are in a hurry.

So how will they inforce this new ordinance? Will they have Idle police? Will they go by neighbor reports? Will they hold companies responsible if workers idle in their lot?

What about leaving your home?

My father lives on a street that used to be rarely used, but will the collapse of the 35W bridge it has thrown so much traffic on the street he needs to back out onto that sometimes it takes 10 minutes before he gets out of the driveway. And it won't get better when they force thru the light-rail train a few blocks over ... in fact the neighborhood is expecting that on-street parking will become a major issue as people park their cars anywhere just to catch the train.

Oops veering off course ... danger will robinson.

And what about school buses? they idle all the time ... they idle while the kids are loading/unloading at the schools, sometimes for as long as 20 minutes. And city buses -- what about them? The idle quite a bit.

Cop cars? What about them? they have to idle while the officer writes out a ticket ... you can't ask a cop to turn off the vehicle and then start it back up if the person they pull over takes off on them.

Oh wait ... I should know this by now -- they only have to inforce the laws, not abide by them .... silly me.