by Sarah Lane

Living in an island community I am somewhat accustomed to the completely unnecessary exhaust-spew from idling cars in line to board the ferry. Even though drivers are told to keep their engines off until the ferry directors signal for them to start, some people simply ignore the rules and keep their engines rumbling ridiculously, chewing up expensive fuel and polluting the air. But this human tendency toward idling is never more annoying as it is when done during school pickup and drop off, when children with their young lungs are standing nearby.

Little Lungs

As explained by the Earth Day Network, children, being as they are closer to the ground, suck up more of the idle exhaust than do adults. This is especially worrisome given that, not only are their lungs still developing, but they also tend to take in 50 percent more air per pound of body weight than do the lungs of adults. The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency adds that car exhaust triggers asthma symptoms, with asthma being the number-one chronic illness faced by children and the number-three cause of hospitalization of children under 15. PSCAA explains that one car picking up and dropping off kids for one month adds three pounds of pollution to the air we breathe, and breathing in exhaust can contribute to heart and lung disease, including lung cancer.

Precious Cars

So, how hard is it to turn off your car? All it takes is the flick of a wrist. And what should make it even easier is knowing that

1. You don’t save gas by idling versus stopping and restarting. If you idle for more than 30 seconds, you’re burning more fuel than if you had stopped your car and restarted it. In fact, idling uses 0.5 to 1 gallon of gas per hour.

2. Your car doesn’t need it. The Car Talk guys have confirmed that all you need to do to warm up your engine is drive a little more slowly for the first few blocks and then your car is set to go (”Unless it’s below freezing, cars don’t need to be warmed up at all. Driving them gently is the best warm up there is.”). No idling necessary. In fact, too much idling can hurt your engine since when idling it is not operating at its best temperature.

Click and Clack offer this additional information about car idling:

1. Your engine warms up quickest with some load on it; i.e., driving it.
2. An idling engine runs very inefficiently and pollutes more than a loaded one. In addition, you are not moving while you’re idling, causing even more waste.
3. The fuel/air mixture during idling is not the best for maximum engine life; raw gas washes the oil off the cylinder walls.
4. If you warm up the engine first and then take off fast, you are putting incredible strain on the other components of the car that are still cold. Taking off shortly after starting warms up the whole power train and suspension together.

They add that “you need to idle the car long enough to get the engine oil to circulate to the valve gear on top of the engine. In most of the US, with 5W30 oil this takes no more than 20 seconds or so.” To that end, they recommend starting the car and then taking care of mirror adjustment and seat belts. That’s enough time for the oil to circulate in most temperatures.

Tune In and Turn Off

So how do you get yourself and the other parents at carpool to pull the key? Both PSCAA and The Earth Day Network offer good support, materials, and even curriculum.

PSCAA’s program is called No-Idle Zone. They will send you brochures to hand out to parents and even a No-Idle Zone sign to post at pickup and drop off points to jog frazzled parent brains. Their website also offers parent letter templates, fact sheets, pledge forms, a media kit, and outreach materials for bus drivers and vendors.

The Earth Day Network has launched a No Idling Campaign. The campaign includes lesson plans for Grades 1–8, a data collection spreadsheet, and newsletter or e-mail content to educate parents about the effects of idling. Their site also keeps a running tab of news related to idling.

Tuning in and turning off your car is an easy thing that can help safeguard your kid’s health. These campaigns can get your No-Idle engine running smoothly and easily at your school.

©2010 ProgressiveKid

Image by Elizabeth McClay, April 2010, Creative Commons license.

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