Clean breathable air. It's an issue that affects all of us--especially those of us who ride alongside the traffic.

One of the major contributors to air pollution in our city is tailpipe fumes caused by engine idling. When a driver idles—runs the engine when parked—he is contributing to heart and lung disease and global climate change. He is also causing engine wear and wasting fuel. Besides that, engine idling for more than three minutes is illegal in our City.

You may have already seen the red Idle-Free NYC posters on the back of an MTA bus. As part of the Campaign, New York City will mark its first stop-idling day, next Tuesday, May 6th. Want to help? Here are two ways:

• Come to the Idle-Free NYC press conference at City Hall on May 6th at 10 AM. Bring your bike. Show the press that bike riders care about unnecessary, illegal air pollution.
• Help spread the word about idling: it harms health, hurts air quality, wastes fuel and is against NYC law. Visit the website for information and teaching tools.

For the sake of the air we all breathe, if you drive, don't idle. And if you are not the one behind the wheel, consider reminding the driver that fumes from idling are unnecessary and illegal.

Thank you for helping clean up New York City air. We hope to see you on May 6th. Be counted alongside those who want clean air for themselves and their families.

Today is Idle-Free NYC Day

Unnecessary vehicle engine idling can be reduced through a broadbased public awareness campaign and personal contact with drivers.

On World Asthma Day there will be a citywide push to have an idle-free city. Campaign interventions will be conducted and/or information will be available at a range of venues that includes, but is not limited to, municipal workplaces, schools, libraries, community centers, and union headquarters, and private businesses. Through coordinated outreach to schools through the School Health Unit, school teams will speak with drivers in idling vehicles at pick-up and drop-off times, and hand out anti-idling information. We are working with NYCDOT to have alternate-side suspended on 5/06/08 as well as have electronic message boards placed on the local expressways to alert drivers to this idle-free day. For one month, over April and May, idle-free bus-tail posters will be displayed on 250 MTA buses in five boroughs. The website www.idle-free.info will provide information about the Spring ’08 campaign and about idling in general.

The "Idle-Free NYC" campaign, which aims to reduce engine idling at the community level, will have three targets: schools, general public, and unions/businesses. Its approach will be broad public awareness, education and training, media exposure; and personal contact with drivers to promote more environmentally sustainable behavior.

Idle-Free NYC is a citywide campaign that aims to encourage metro-area drivers to stop unnecessary vehicle idling. By reducing idling, the campaign hopes to realize a number of environmental and community benefits including,

• Reduced incidence of asthma and other respiratory disease symptoms and illness;
• Less street congestion and improved traffic flow as aimed for by PlaNYC and GreeNYC; 
• Increased public knowledge of the health and environmental problems associated with vehicle idling;
• Increased public knowledge of the traffic related benefits of making NYC idle-free;
• Increased awareness of actions that can be taken to reduce idling behaviors;
• Increased awareness of idling as a waste of fuel and cause of engine wear;
• Increased awareness of existing NYC and NYS anti-idling laws;
• Support for stronger idling laws, e.g., a 1-minute NYC idling law.