Ottawa's idling bylaw faces bumpy road as new rules approved to address unnecessary idling

Ottawa is on the road to new rules to crack down on unnecessary idling in 2025, despite concerns about a lack of enforcement, insufficient education for drivers and allowing idling in school zones.

Changes to Ottawa's idling control bylaw were approved during a joint meeting of the Environment and Climate Change and Emergency Preparedness and Protective Services committees, with new time limits for idling vehicles in all weather conditions. The committees voted 11-5 in favour of the new bylaw.

The rules will see drivers permitted to idle their vehicle for only one minute in a 60-minute period when the temperature is between 0 C and 27 C, and a new maximum idling limit of five minutes when the temperature is colder than 0 C and warmer than 27 C.

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If approved by council, the new idling control bylaw rules will take effect on Jan. 1.

Councillor Matthew Luloff questioned why the city is strengthening the idling bylaw, when only an average of seven charges a year are issued for violating the current rules.

"Strengthening an already unenforceable bylaw I don't think is the play here, common sense is," Luloff told the committee.

"Bylaw already is strapped as it is, responding to neighbour disputes about every petty subject under the sun, and they can't even respond to the bylaws that are enforceable in a timely fashion."

Bylaw Services has said enforcement of Ottawa's idling bylaw is complaint based and subject to officer availability.

"The reasons for this bylaw are sound. Idling is deleterious to our health, it's a nuisance and it's costly in so many ways and I would love to eliminate unnecessary idling. It drives me nuts. It's bad for our kids and bad for our environment," Luloff said, who voted no to the new idling rules. "But this bylaw is not truly enforceable."

The committee defeated a motion from Coun. David Brown to refer the proposed bylaw back to city staff for more study, and called for the current exemptions to remain in place.

"Staff have failed to demonstrate that the changes proposed in the report will meaningful reduce net emissions," Brown said.

The idling bylaw will include specific exemptions, including for emergency service vehicles, public transit and tour buses and school buses. Several speakers called on the city to limit idling in school zones.

"We call for no exemptions in school zones and other areas with high concentrations of vulnerable people, like daycares, senior homes," William van Geest, interim executive director of Ecology Ottawa, told the committee.

Van Geest notes the bylaw states school buses are exempted from the rules.

"Permit only school buses to idle, but we must not subject kids with their fragile respiratory systems to the harmful toxins and exhaust," van Geest said.

Ecology Ottawa and Community Association for Environmental Sustainability (CAFES) Ottawa want the city to put up signage in school zones to warn drivers about the dangers of idling vehicles. Jennifer Humphries of CAFES notes the city plans to educate drivers on the idling rules through the Ottawa website and social media.

"In our view, this is inadequate. Top of mind for us are children and their schools," Humphries said.

"We have funding for signage that warns drivers to slow down for our kids; so, while we care about their immediate traffic safety, don't we also care about their respiratory health."

In response to an inquiry from Coun. Theresa Kavanagh, staff said there is no budget available to create anti-idling signs for schools to set up around the properties.

The City of 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 0 C and above 27 C including the humidex.

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.