Proposed idling limits for Windsor won't include drive-thru lanes

Some city councillors still have concerns about reducing the amount of time drivers can legally idle their vehicles in Windsor, largely because enforcing the regulations could be a challenge.

A proposal to reduce idlingtime limits from five minutes to one minute will not apply to people usingdrive-thru lanes, loading zones or people waiting at rail crossings,according to the report fromKarinaRichters, supervisor of environmental sustainability and climate change.

• Windsor puts proposed idling bylaw changes on hold
• Windsor considers reducing car idling times to 1 minute

Herreport, which goes to the environment committee on Wednesday,answers several questions raised by Coun. Fred Francis when the group considered the changes last month.

Francis told CBC News he thinks a one-minute limit could be too strict, considering the challenges Windsor police and bylaw officers would have enforcing it.

"I'm not really inclined to pass bylaws that are unenforceable," he said. "It doesn't make any sense to me, so I'll be asking that of administration come Wednesday."

Enforcement

City staff do not hold out a lot of hope for enforcement either.Richters'sreport outlines how Windsor police would enforce all infractions on public property, saying"enforcement would be at the discretion of the police officer and would possibly be of a low priority."

Coun. Rino Bortolin has concerns about enforcement as well, considering officers havea difficult time keeping up with enforcement in several other areas, including dogs off leash in city parks.

"If we don't have the resources in bylaw to enforce this, or our other bylaws, does that mean we have to stop making bylaws?" Bortolin said.

Under the proposed changes to idling times, bylaw officers are responsible for infractions on private property and thosewill largely bebased on complaints to 311. They, too, are unlikely to be able to "successfully enforce infractions" because of the "short duration of the infraction,"Richterswrote in her report.

Instead, bylaw officers will be enforcing recurring offences or doing more proactive enforcement in areas, such as schools or hospitals.

Other exemptions

Also exempt from the proposed limits are commercial vehicles stopped in loading zones when dropping off or picking up goods.

Francis also raised concerns about vehicles idling at traffic lights when he listed a host of questions at the environment committee meeting in March. Richters clarifies that neither the existing bylaw nor the proposed changes apply to vehicles obeying traffic control devices.

She does caution that drivers should turn their engines off at some rail crossings.

"Due to the length of some train crossings in the City of Windsor, citizens should be encouraged to turn off their vehicles while waiting for a passing train," she wrote.

Other options

Environment committee members also wanted to know what idling limits are enforced in other municipalities. The only other Ontario communities with one-minute limits are Toronto, Burlington,Sarniaand Cambridge.

Francis said reducing Windsor's limit from five minutes to one minute might be a bit too severe. He may suggest a reduction that is similar to other municipalities.

In addition to Windsor, five other Ontario cities have five-minute bylaws, including Huntsville,Oakville,Pickering, Vaughan and Stratford.

Other communities have settled somewhere in the middle when it comes to idling limits.

Two-minute limits:

• Ajax
• London
• Newmarket
• Owen Sound
• Peterborough
• Sudbury
• Thunder Bay

Three-minute limits:

• Guelph
• Brockton
• Collingwood
• Hamilton
• Orillia
• Oshawa
• Ottawa
• St. Catharines
• Waterloo