Comments for 0 at http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com , comment 1 to 15 out of 15 comments http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:23:09 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/20080513130967/local/news/anti-idling-initiatives-target-driver-habits.html#comment-6682 I don't know why traffic lights here can't be coordinated. I've been in many a city where if you hit a green light, maintain the speed limit, you can cross town without hitting another red light. Do you know how much idling that would eliminate? There are so many practical things that could be done and would not take an expensive study to accomplish it. How about signs along construction traffic delays telling you expected time of delay? If I knew it would be 15 minutes, half an hour, an hour I'd shut off my engine. It could be programmed into those visible signs with arrows. Would save on emissions and fuel and have seen it done in other places. The sign could even tell motorists to start up just before traffic starts moving again. That wouldn't need a study on idling. I agree maverick, I'd like to sign up for the pothole study. As a matter of fact, I'd volunteer for that one. I'd love for people to get together and present the city with a volunteer study of just how many potholes we contend with on a daily basis in PG. In one aspect winter is good here as they are naturally filled in. Not only are the streets a disgrace, the sidewalks are deplorable too. Full of holes, broken, large segments missing - they are scary. I have been here for 26 years and watched this city fall into disrepair. I recently talked with some U.S. friends of mine who had driven through here on their way to Alaska. Their impression of PG was a "dirty" town. Maybe a study should be conducted with tourists as to the impression they get. - travhops Thu, 15 May 2008 00:57:23 +0100 http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/20080513130967/local/news/anti-idling-initiatives-target-driver-habits.html#comment-6666 With all the studies going on and all the people hired to help conduct thees studies makes me wonder how I can get a position to conduct a study. If it involves *ahem* government money, it must pay really well and should be quite stress free. Where do I sign up? - maverick Wed, 14 May 2008 14:17:33 +0100 http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/20080513130967/local/news/anti-idling-initiatives-target-driver-habits.html#comment-6664 I think what everyone is complaining about is the waste of money such a study will cost. Why do we need to pay someone to watch cars idling?? We already know it's not good for the environment. Shut down drive throughs at certain times? Fine, go ahead, I'm all game for walking in for my coffee, or better yet, making it at home and taking it along in my reusable coffe mug. But we do live in northern BC, and it's funny BUZZ, in my recollections, there have been very few "nice sunny days" in this neck of the woods in the past 7 months....LOL. But it IS a good idea to shut down the drive thru's on those kinds of days. And for the wood stove matter, they're going to try and ban all those too, and when gas is so expensive only a percentage of people can afford it, they won't have any other options to turn to. Nice way to force everyone into paying for natural gas! - jenB Wed, 14 May 2008 13:38:02 +0100 http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/20080513130967/local/news/anti-idling-initiatives-target-driver-habits.html#comment-6662 .... brew your own coffee. No idling, no parking issues. Saves money too. Instead of McDonald's, get up 10 minutes earlier and make a sandwich... again saves money and a heck of a lot healthier. I know this concept might be completely out to lunch. - Pylot Project Wed, 14 May 2008 12:50:50 +0100 http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/20080513130967/local/news/anti-idling-initiatives-target-driver-habits.html#comment-6661 Well okay then, let's ignore this problem and just go after the pulpmill then. You complain that we'll lose Timmy's jobs, but then go on to say that the pulpmills should be targetted. Mixed message there. My thoughts are that we ALL have to make some changes, and despite the crying and whining because people don't generally like changes (like the heartache of having a crowded Tim Horton's parking lot), we have to take a hard look at a whole variety of issues, including the fact that our vehicles contribute to air pollution. - Buzz Wed, 14 May 2008 12:31:17 +0100 http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/20080513130967/local/news/anti-idling-initiatives-target-driver-habits.html#comment-6660 And where are all these people who are going to be forced to find a parking spot so they can shut off thier cars to go into Timmys to order going to park? It will take away a lot of business from the drivethrus that built their business on that concept. They didnt build or design it to have 100 cars parking at the same time to go in and order. - MustBMe Wed, 14 May 2008 12:21:35 +0100 http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/20080513130967/local/news/anti-idling-initiatives-target-driver-habits.html#comment-6658 I don't think the point about the drive through's is to have motorists start and stop their cars. I think the point is that businesses (and consumers) need to be led to change their delivery systems...in other words, Timmy's could shut down the drive through at certain times and open up 2 or 3 more cash registers...or have a walk up express window, or whatever...but just as us Canadians are famous for being huge water wasters, we're also lazy asses sitting in our cars for 15 minutes of idling time waiting for our coffee, instead of turning off our cars and walking 25 feet. (I'm as guilty as the next person, and I don't mind accepting the fact that some of us need to be pushed into making changes...just like seat belt laws, motorcyle helmets, water meters, etc.) - Buzz Wed, 14 May 2008 10:49:46 +0100 http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/20080513130967/local/news/anti-idling-initiatives-target-driver-habits.html#comment-6651 That would depend on the amount of time spent idling. What tics me off is all the stop and go traffic on Central Street. The amount of extra fuel used is substantial. It’s time to coordinate the damn traffic flow on Central. Save gas/diesel, time, money and the environment. - Sojourn Wed, 14 May 2008 09:49:41 +0100 http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/20080513130967/local/news/anti-idling-initiatives-target-driver-habits.html#comment-6644 If you had 10 cars in a Timmy's drive thru having to start and stop their engines every time they advance in the line to order their coffee, doesn't that use more gas? Someone mechanical can correct me for this, but I thought I heard once that starting a vehicle takes a gulp of fuel that makes it more polluting than just simply leaving it idle. - Grog Wed, 14 May 2008 08:56:59 +0100 http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/20080513130967/local/news/anti-idling-initiatives-target-driver-habits.html#comment-6643 Instead of this stupid initiative, how about spending the cash to lobby the government to ban slash burning. Huge monstrous piles of wood waste with monstrous fires filling valleys with smoke and it all gets carried to populated centers. I am hyper sensitive to smoke and routinely get awakened by coughing fits ( I'm asthmatic ) so I have to slam all my windows shut at night. I thought it was locals burning wood but lately they haven't been using their fireplaces but lo and behold there's constant wood smoke in the air ... drive in any direction from town and guess what ya find ... smoldering heaps of burning wood with plumes that rise 800 feet in the air. - Grog Wed, 14 May 2008 08:54:45 +0100 http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/20080513130967/local/news/anti-idling-initiatives-target-driver-habits.html#comment-6635 I completely DISagree with previous comments. Our tiny paper thin little atmosphere needs some TLC, and it requires changes on many different fronts, including car emissions. It's totally ridiculous to have 25 cars sitting in a drivethrough on a beautiful sunny day, spewing emissions into our air. Of course big industry also needs to clean up it's act, but we're all responsible to make changes and pointing the finger isn't going to help....and we're all too stupid to make these decisions on our own, so having a public educator/study is one of the things that will help us to change our habits. - Buzz Wed, 14 May 2008 07:53:06 +0100 http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/20080513130967/local/news/anti-idling-initiatives-target-driver-habits.html#comment-6633 Its not the bloody cars that pollute this town..Ask anybody who comes here to visit its the smell from these outdated pulp mills,Why don't they target these places is beyond me. - Jonnypg Wed, 14 May 2008 07:33:07 +0100 http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/20080513130967/local/news/anti-idling-initiatives-target-driver-habits.html#comment-6630 This is laughable. I agree, another waste of tax dollars on a study. I'm surprised smoking in an idling vehicle wasn't cited as a MAJOR cost of air pollution. Now they're aiming at disrupting drive through restaurants and idling at stop lights. Can you imagine the road rage incidents when a light changes and someone's non-idling vehicle is slow to start? There are practical places to be no idling zones, like people picking kids up from schools (except in winter), but most of these ideas are silly. At least in this article they mentioned pulp mill emissions. I was downtown yesterday, in my fuel efficient, battery operated wheelchair, and let me tell you, if you think the potholes are bad in a vehicle, you should try that! These streets are a disgrace. Wonder how many potholes could be fixed with the money wasted for a study of the effects of idling. With inflated fuel prices, I'm sure most drivers are focused on ways to reduce fuel use. Maybe they should do a study on what trying to navigate through and around potholes does to fuel consumption. Or a study on how many accidents caused by trying to miss potholes or the damage done to vehicles in a tooth jarring trip around town. Or possibly they could just fix them! Not temporary fixes that don't last, just fix them! Perhaps taxpayers need to do a study - divide the city into grids and count just how many potholes there are in PG. That's a study I'd be interested in. - travhops Wed, 14 May 2008 06:24:50 +0100 http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/20080513130967/local/news/anti-idling-initiatives-target-driver-habits.html#comment-6629 Another useless beaurocratic position created because a friend of some politician needs a high paying job. "Fine particulates, essentially fine particles of dust and ash" - what has this got to do with idling cars? No mention of curtailing diesel smoke spewing semis unloading. "women with children" - men with children create more pollution than women with children in the car? "We're not saying a complete ban on drive-thrus, but perhaps just some better management around that. Maybe they could shut down for certain periods of the day, " - another fine example of hire a beaurocrat to help get rid of real jobs. "but also utilizing data on the fuel costs of idling" - its been proven that its takes more gas and is harder on a vehicle to have to continually stop and start it then to idle for 5 mins. Funny how this latest report has miraculously came up with totally different reasons for the bad air in PG, but still continues to ignore the real causes. I know someone whos job it is to monitor air quality in PG, and they say PG Pulp needs to clean up its act, but you wont see that in the newspaper or reports. They also say there is very little contribution from woodstoves, but why does that always come up as one of the big 3 contributors? The only things these beaurocrats will focus on are those things they can legislate and control through fines and scare tactics. - MustBMe Wed, 14 May 2008 05:17:15 +0100 http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/20080513130967/local/news/anti-idling-initiatives-target-driver-habits.html#comment-6628 Locomotives have to idle. Geeze, diesels and trains idle, leave them alone. I guess now that you have the smokers running scared there's another group to attack. Sounds like a waste of money to me. Hiring someone to take notes on idling, holy cow! Send that money to Mackenzie and Ft. St. James and help them out instead if the city has money to throw away. - Buddy Wed, 14 May 2008 05:13:34 +0100