Comments on: Morgenthau: Negligent Crane Riggers, Beware. Negligent Drivers, Carry On.

By: Elso Felhasznalo

Elso Felhasznalo — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 21:03:56 +0000

Hopefully

By: gary fisher

gary fisher — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:16:55 +0000

Hopefully.

By: ddartley

ddartley — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:31:08 +0000

Maybe even if the DAs remain MIA on this case in terms of the negligence/endangerment, maybe this could still become a catalyst to end the stupid "idling work vehicle" practice we're discussing.

By: Lee

Lee — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:39:10 +0000

It used to be true with mechanical ignition that stopping and starting used more gas than leaving it idle - if you were talking about a stop light. However modern cars & trucks have electronic ignition that doesn't use any gas, but rather a battery who's charge is maintained reasonably efficiently, so in these newer cars you save gas even if you start it again as soon as you stopped it. I stop my engine at stop lights all the time! Why waste gas? Besides it seems really stupid to leave the keys in the car unattended - couldn't someone drive off with it?

By: Albert Ahronheim

Albert Ahronheim — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:45:39 +0000

I've always assumed that people who'd rather let their engine idle "for only a short time" rather than turn it off and on again are probably observing the likely urban myth "rule" that stopping and restarting uses more energy than keeping an engine (or light bulb) on for the "short" period it could be off. When "only" thirty seconds drags on to 2 minutes or 20, wasting much more energy than it could possibly take to restart, then an important energy issue becomes a safety issue as well.

By: Cap'n Transit

Cap'n Transit — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:52:15 +0000

Thanks for calling bullshit, C! There are actual volunteer ambulances, and I'd imagine that they have refrigerators that can run on battery power for a certain amount of time. Regardless, this is clearly not one of them. As you say, probably just as legitimate as the "child protective services" that are basically mail-order parking-permit printers.

By: CBrinkman

CBrinkman — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:20:14 +0000

" but other than the precious temperature sensitive narcotics medics might be carrying I can't think of a single other reason why anyone would need to leave the engine running(excluding anything else that is temperature sensitive)." I don't understand this whole "medic/ambulance" thing (I'm in SF, I don't think we have these citizen medics) - My sister was a large animal vet and carried around temp sensitve meds in her work truck all the time, always - she had a little cooler that plugged into the ciggy lighter/charger and kept stuff cool for hours while she was out vaccinating cows in hot Colorado summer weather. How many of these medic cars can there be? Boondogle like most parking permits I guess.

By: Cap'n Transit

Cap'n Transit — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:13:48 +0000

I know a guy who's from France, where automatic transmissions are rare, and drives a lot. He told me that when he moved here he bought a car with automatic, and then switched back to manual because it helped him to pay better attention to the road.

By: gary fisher

gary fisher — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:08:12 +0000

I say down with automatic transmissions. You either have to using the PARKING brake or turn it off.

By: Cap'n Transit

Cap'n Transit — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:03:47 +0000

"A reasonable person driving a vehicle of that nature would -- if they had to double-park it -- turn it off," he said.

Or even set the handbrake. Nobody uses handbrakes?

By: gary fisher

gary fisher — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:02:49 +0000

Why is it that every single day in the city you can find multiple trucks and vans left running and unattended? Why? What do they gain from that stupid practice?

I ask myself the same question. Most of these vehicles are working vehicles and you think employers would require them to turn off their engines to save money. I have that emergency vehicles have to always be left running, but other than the precious temperature sensitive narcotics medics might be carrying I can't think of a single other reason why anyone would need to leave the engine running(excluding anything else that is temperature sensitive). If you are double parked or blocking a hydrant it should be a quick trip anyway so temperature should not be an issue. Anyone have some good reasoning?

By: Kaja Geis

Kaja Geis — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:00:03 +0000

They do it because it is one less thing to think about, during your extremely routine job.

That isn't at all surprising to me; in fact, it's understandable.

Professional driver licensing exists to address this. Lots of people are capable of operating a car their whole lives sans negligent manslaughter. They can have licenses. People who screw up, shouldn't.

By: Cap'n Transit

Cap'n Transit — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:43:09 +0000

Don't know if it was an actual quote, but I heard someone report that the DA's office said their "hands are tied." Tied by what?

By that master of self-constraint, Reverse Houdini, of course!

By: ddartley

ddartley — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:12:59 +0000

Don't know if it was an actual quote, but I heard someone report that the DA's office said their "hands are tied." Tied by what?

Now seriously, why the f is it that so many people whose job involves a large vehicle make a regular practice out of this?

Why is it that every single day in the city you can find multiple trucks and vans left running and unattended? Why? What do they gain from that stupid practice?