‘No-Idling’ this week

This summer, the Board of Selectmen adopted a townwide no-idling resolution, underscoring a Connecticut state law that prohibits unnecessary car and truck engine idling for more than three minutes at any given time.
A non-ticketable offense, the statute exists as a means of furthering awareness of the negative health and environmental effects associated with vehicular idling.
And so, in the spirit of awareness, Wilton Go Green kicked off No-Idling Week Nov. 16, a townwide initiative designed to educate residents and encourage them to commit to the selectmen’s resolution.
“Look for green-and-white no-idling signs prominently posted around town,” said Lynn Stack, of the group’s board of directors.
The signs will instruct “drivers to turn off their engines, except while sitting in traffic or in extreme temperatures,” Stack said.
Students at each school in Wilton will participate in anti-idling activities throughout the week, taking part in educational programs covering idling and climate change, making awareness posters and patrolling school pickup lines, reminding parents to turn off their car engines while waiting for their children and teens to be dismissed.
Poster-making sessions were planned at Miller-Driscoll and Middlebrook schools, a mini lesson on the effects of idling was to be incorporated into a science class at Cider Mill School, and a no-idling video was created by students and aired on Middlebrook’s video channel. It may be seen at http://bit.ly/1lorUot.
Wilton police officers, during their distracted driving campaign Nov. 9-22, will be distributing idling informational cards to drivers they pull over.
Additionally, Wilton Go Green and Wilton Library co-hosted a screening of the documentary Idle Threat: Man on Emissions Nov. 17 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the library.
“Those not familiar with the tremendous toll idling takes on our air quality may wonder what all the fuss is about,” Stack said.
“The emissions created by idling vehicles can have a direct effect on the health of adults and children who inhale the often-invisible exhaust. Increases in asthma, allergies, heart and lung disease, and cancer have all been linked to idling, and breathing exhaust fumes can damage brain cells and may contribute to autism.
“Idling harms the planet as well, spewing toxins, chemicals and carbon dioxide that contribute to haze, acid rain and global warming.”
According to Stack, idling engines emit 20 times more pollution into the air than those traveling at 30 mph.
“Idling also hits our wallets,” she said, “and hard. Americans spend a whopping $13 million every day on 12 million gallons of fuel wasted idling.”
Apparently, not only is No-Idling Week unique in the state, it is one of the most significant anti-idling initiatives in the entire country.
“According to Sustainable America,” Stack said, “Wilton’s no-idling program is one of the broadest they have encountered, and the only one of its kind in the state of Connecticut.”
Sustainable America is a nonprofit organization with the mission to make the nation’s food and fuel systems more efficient and resilient.

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