Canadians crack down on illegal idling

Anyone who feared that Canada's anti-idling law would go unenforced need not worry -- the city of Toronto and Toronto Police Services will ticket drivers (or idlers, as it were) of vehicles left idling for more than three minutes in a 60-minute time window. The infraction goes for $100 with a $25 provincial surcharge and was created to reduce the amount of smog polluting Canada's air.

Authorities are encouraging drivers to spend even less time idling than that, however -- they suggest that drivers don't warm up their vehicles before departing, and spending more than 10 seconds in the same spot should be accompanied by a driver turning his or her vehicle off except while in traffic.

While most would deem such efforts excessive (doesn't turning your vehicle off and on waste more gas?), for the most part the effort is a good one to reduce pollution and improve mileage.

[Source: Canadian Driver]