Share this Story : Ottawa city committees pass strict one-minute idling limit Copy Link Email X Reddit Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Breadcrumb Trail Links Local News Ottawa city committees pass strict one-minute idling limit A joint city council committee passed a new much stricter anti-idling bylaw. But some dissented because it might be too hard to enforce. Author of the article: Blair Crawford Published Sep 19, 2024 • Last updated 45 minutes ago • 2 minute read Join the conversation You can save this article by registering for free here .
Or sign-in if you have an account. Cars sit idling in a lineup in. A joint council committee passed a new, stricter anti-idling bylaw.
Photo by JULIE OLIVER / Postmedia Article content Councillors on two city committees have given their approval for a new, tougher Ottawa idling bylaw making it illegal to idle a vehicle for more than one minute except in very cold or very hot weather. The bylaw passed easily Thursday at a joint meeting of the environment and climate change committee and the emergency preparedness and protective services committee despite some objections that it was too difficult to enforce and would do little to reduce air pollution. Advertisement 2 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
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Get email updates from your favourite authors. Sign In or Create an Account Email Address Continue or View more offers If you are a Home delivery print subscriber, unlimited online access is included in your subscription. Activate your Online Access Now Article content The bylaw must still be approved by the full city council at its Oct.
2 meeting. The new bylaw toughens the three-minute idling limit that’s been in place since 2007 and has been overtaken by stricter measures now in favour in other major cities. The new rules make it illegal to idle a vehicle for more than one minute in any 60-minute period, with an allowance of up to five minutes in winter to defrost windows and warm the vehicle and in summer when the temperature is over 27 C to allow the air conditioner to do its work.
Those with medical notes for themselves or passengers saying they must be in climate-controlled vehicles are exempt, as are a number of other vehicles such as emergency vehicles responding to an emergency, ambulances that must power medical equipment, police cars that must keep their computers powered up, armoured cars, farm vehicles doing normal farming work and mobile workshops. The bylaw will apply if a vehicle is idling “strictly for the operator’s convenience” rather than one of the situations above. The fine is $500, but can soar to up to $100,000 for repeated and egregious violations, a nod to the harm caused by hundreds of idling trucks that filled downtown during the illegal occupation in January-February 2022.
Advertisement 3 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content But the bylaw has its critics, including Rideau-Jock Coun. David Brown, who says it’s too difficult to enforce.
A bylaw officer could face a 75-kilometre drive to the far reaches of his ward to handle a simple idling complaint, Brown said. A motion by Brown to study how well the existing bylaw had worked and for an accounting of the cost of preparing the new one was easily defeated. The current bylaw is rarely enforced, according to the City of Ottawa.
Since it came into effect, the city has fielded about 270 complaints annually. Of those, bylaw officers have given an average of 10 warnings and issued seven tickets a year. In about 20 per cent of the complaints, by the time a bylaw officer arrived, there was nothing to see.
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