Windsor anti-idling bylaw could be revisited

A Windsor city councillor thinks it may be time to update the city's anti-idling bylaw.

Windsor has a bylaw in place whereby owners can only be ticketed if their vehicles are spotted idling for more than five minutes.

Sarnia recently passed a bylaw which allows tickets to be issued if vehicles are spotted idling for more than a minute.

"The big issue is enforcement and our enforcement people are already taxed," Windsor Coun. Alan Halberstadt said.
Meanwhile, in Toronto, a petition is making its rounds calling for anti-idling legislation to include emergency services vehicles and transit buses.

Windsor's bylaw, which was passed 12 years ago, excludes emergency vehicles.

In Ottawa a study by the Ottawa Police Service found that in a typical 10-hour shift, the average patrol car idles for 6.7 hours. And for every hour of idling, the police vehicle consumes 1.7-3.7 litres of fuel, depending on the load. That's the equivalent of driving up to 53 kms and generating 4-9 kgs of carbon dioxide emissions.

In 2009, the OPS became one of the first police services in Ontario to initiate an anti-idling program for its fleet. Part of that solution includes an auxiliary battery in the trunk of patrol cars.