Ottawa motorists can idle vehicles longer on days with temperatures between 0 C and 27 C under new bylaw

New rules for vehicle idling will take effect in the City of Ottawa on January 1, but the limits to crack down on unnecessary idling will not be as strict as initially proposed.

Council approved changes to Ottawa's idling control bylaw on Wednesday, including a last minute amendment from councillors Steve Desroches and Laine Johnson to allow idling for longer than the staff recommendation.

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Under the new rules, drivers will be permitted to idle their vehicle for three minutes in a 60-minute period when the temperature is between 0 C and 27 C, and an idling limit of 10 minutes when the temperature is colder than 0 C and warmer than 27 C.

Ottawa first introduced the idling control bylaw in 2007, prohibiting drivers from idling their vehicles for more than three minutes per hour when the temperature is between 5 C and 27 C. There is currently no idling limit when the temperature is below 5 C and above 27 C including the humidex.

While staff initially proposed a one minute idling limit when the temperature is between 0 C and 27 C and a new five-minute limit when the temperature is colder than 0 C and warmer than 27 C, councillors supported an amendment from Desroches and Johnson to extend the idling limits on cold and hot days.

The motion also directs staff to focus public education campaigns on high-incidence idling zones, such as schools, construction sites and other locations where excessive idling is a known issue.

"The power of this bylaw comes from the educational components rather than a strict and aggressive bylaw enforcement," Desroches said. "I think this strikes a balance."

Mayor Mark Sutcliffe says the new idling bylaw will focus on education.

"Making sure that people are aware that idling your car has negative consequences for air quality and the environment," Sutcliffe told reporters.

The mayor notes staff say there are 200 days a year where the original bylaw didn't affect idling vehicles.

"The signal that we've sent is that we don't want people to idle their cars, even on cold and hot days there's a limit to what they should be doing," Sutcliffe said.

"We know that there's not going to be a huge amount of enforcement of this bylaw. The important thing is that we're setting a tone and we're sending a signal to the community and we're reminding people about the importance of shutting off their cars if they aren't in motion."

Ottawa Bylaw has issued an average of seven tickets for idling a year over the past five years, according to the staff report. The fine for violating the idling bylaw is $500.

Staff have said enforcement of the idling bylaw will continue to be on a complaint basis.

Coun. Johnson admitted her partner idles the vehicle excessively.

"I do believe that we are moving in the right direction with this," Johnson said. "I'm married to somebody who idles to warm up their car for as long as they like, and I'll tell you it exceeds five minutes, it exceeds 10 minutes – that's a conflict that I have in my marriage that I don't know if this bylaw is necessarily going to resolve."

"It will hopefully help us to have conversations with those who hadn't considered it before."

The majority of councillors supported the motion to extend the idling limits.

"The people I heard from this during this discussion were people with small children that they were worried they would have to turn their car off, not be able to keep the car warm during the winter if we get some severe weather days," Coun. Allan Hubley said, adding elderly residents have raised concerns a shorter idling limit would affect people clearing snow off their vehicles.

Toronto, Burlington, Kelowna and Vancouver permit idling for a maximum of one minute, while Kingston has introduced a maximum idling limit of one minute this year.

There are several exemptions to the new idling bylaw, including emergency vehicles armoured cars, farm vehicles, mobile workshops, vehicles transporting individuals with a letter from a medical doctor, OC Transpo and Para Transpo buses and vehicles operating as mobile workshops.

School buses, motor coaches and tour buses are exempt from the idling regulations when passengers are being loaded and unloaded.  School buses must follow the idling bylaw when not loading and unloading passengers.

Vehicles in parades and races will have to comply with the idling rules.