Written by Gordon Hoekstra
Citizen staff
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Monday, 02 November 2009 |
The Prince George Air Improvement Roundtable is asking the public to help identify idling hotspots.
Anyone wanting to report an idling vehicle can go to www.pgairquality.com and use a mapping tool, identified as the "idling hotspot map."
Every time someone reports an idling vehicle, the roundtable's idle-free ambassador will receive an automatic e-mail.
As Prince George does not currently have a bylaw in place limiting idling, the roundtable hopes that reporting locations where unnecessary idling is occurring will help identify potential future idle-free zones and will help focus outreach efforts on the areas where it is needed.
“When cars and trucks leave their engines running unnecessarily, they are not only wasting fuel and money, but are also releasing greenhouse gases and other harmful pollutants into the air, which directly impacts global climate change and indirectly impacts local air quality” said idle-free ambassador Katherine Lapadat-Janzen. “We hope that this new interactive tool will help to engage community members in the idle-reduction campaign and foster collaboration between P.G. AIR and the public.”
The roundtable, which has been mandated to improve air quality, includes representatives from the province, city, regional district, Northern Health, UNBC, industry and the public.
The roundtable notes that Natural Resources Canada recommends if you're going to be stopped for more than 60 seconds - except in traffic - turn the engine off.
One of the most common reasons for idling is to warm up the engine; however, contrary to popular belief, excessive idling is not an effective way to warm up your vehicle, even in cold weather, adds the roundtable.
For the average vehicle, just two to three minutes of warm up time is sufficient, even on cold winter days.
Vehicle emissions have been identified in studies as a contributor to fine particulate air pollution in Prince George.
ghoekstra@pgcitizen.ca
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Last Updated ( Monday, 02 November 2009 )
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