In 2009, the city passed tough new regulations requiring drivers to stop their engines after three minutes (or within one minute if parked in a school zone), or face steep fines. The changes were intended to help lower NYC's high childhood asthma rates—the malady is the most common cause of hospitalization for New York children 14 years and younger. It was nice, feel-good legislation, but unfortunately it hasn't been much more than a feeling. Out of the 10 million parking tickets issued each year, traffic enforcement agents have only issued a few thousand idling tickets, and environmentalists are steamed.
"The traffic enforcement agents are ideally suited to give the idling tickets because they are already walking up and down the street looking for parking violations," the Environmental Defense Fund's Isabelle Silverman tells CNN. "In addition, the TEAs' health is negatively impacted by illegal idling. The TEAs have had authority to give idling tickets since September 2009, and yet they have only given, on average, one ticket per agent per year. Consistent and rigorous idling enforcement is the only way to let drivers know that illegal idling is no longer tolerated for health reasons in NYC."
At a press conference in December, Bloomberg was asked about the relative lack of enforcement, and told reporters, "Keep in mind, enforcement costs money; the people that enforce have plenty of other things to do. (The) police department's first job is going to be worrying about more serious things." Right, like setting up speed traps for cyclists and pepper spraying protesters. But we suppose we shouldn't expect anything different from Bloomberg—after all, his SUVs have been known to idle incorrigibly.
