Proposed Anti-Idling Law May Penalise Parents Who Idle Car Engines Near School Zones

Under the proposed anti-idling law, parents who park their car but leave the engine running while picking up or dropping off their kids to school or childcare centre, would be penalised.

This comes after a Turnbull government discussion paper on improving Australia’s air quality by switching to cleaner fuels titled, Better fuel for cleaner air, has been released. It states:

“Schools and childcare centres are often placed on or near busy roads, exposing a particularly vulnerable subset of our population to daily pollution concentrations much higher than those reflected by the [general area].”

Health and energy experts have warned that increased traffic, combined with the modern preference for driving to school or childcare centre, exposes children to dangerously high levels of noxious chemicals, including sulphur and diesel particles.

Now, the joint submission, authored by researchers from the Clean Air and Urban Landscapes Hub and the Melbourne Energy Institute, urges broader introduction of anti-idling legislation, beginning with schools.

“Targeting schools with ‘anti-idling zones’ is a natural starting point in reducing acute exposures to children during their commute to school,” it states.

Clare Walter, one of the submission’s authors, said that a lot of parents do not understand the health risks of idling. “It always makes me laugh when I see parents outside schools strapping their children into the very best of car seats in their European cars because they’re safer, and they’ve got the engine running and the doors open. It’s not their fault, they are just completely unaware,” she said.

Catherine Hall, president of Our Children, Our Schools, a Melbourne-based public education campaign alliance, said that car trips greatly affect traffic and the quality of air. “Car trips to school are a big contributor to morning peak-hour congestion and the air pollution that goes with it. Our Children, Our Schools would support any initiatives aimed at reducing car idling, and therefore exposure to harmful emissions, at pick-up and drop-offs,” she said.

Anti-idling legislation is already widely used in the US to reduce the harmful effects of breathing in vehicle fumes, attracting fines of up to $25,000 in Virginia, for example, and even jail terms in Utah and Denver, Colorado.

Source: Essentialbaby.com.au