New JerseyTargets Excessive Truck and Bus Idling

Courtesy NJ.com by Joe Moszczynski of The Star Ledger: State environmental officials are launching an initiative designed to stop excessive idling by drivers of diesel-powered vehicles who often don’t know they’re breaking the law.

The state Department of Environmental Protection announced last month it will issue nearly $110,000 in grants to nine counties to implement the new program, known as the Anti-Idling Overtime Project.

Funding will be distributed to county health departments, which will try to educate people about the regulations — and issue summons to those who flagrantly violate the laws — during off-hours and weekends.

“The typical explanation we’ll get from offending parties is that the driver is not familiar with New Jersey’s regulations on idling, which is one of the reasons we’re as active as we are in creating awareness,” DEP spokesman Bob Considine said.

Union County, which will get a $16,433 grant, will use the money for early-morning surveillance operations and educational purposes, said Andrew Moran, director of the county’s bureau of public safety.

The county issued about 25 summonses last year to violators of the state’s anti-idling restrictions, mostly to the registered owners of commercial trucks whose drivers flaunted the law to run their vehicles’ air conditioners or heaters while parked at warehouses in the county’s large industrial zones, said Moran.

“Generally, at first we speak to the drivers, warn them and educate them about the law. The next time, we issue a summons,” he said.

Warehouse operators are also advised about the regulations and are urged to erect DEP anti-idling signs around their property to help reduce their liability, said Arnold Schmidt, supervisor of the Union County Bureau of Environmental Health.

While Union County officials said the owners of both old- and newer-model rigs were ticketed last year, two over-the-road truckers interviewed at a truck stop in Montague blamed the problem of excessive idling on the drivers of older rigs.

Modern technology, they said, allows them to stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer — without having to keep their big rigs running for long periods of time.

Older trucks not equipped with such devices as auxiliary power units or environmental control modules are another story, they said.

“With the newer trucks, leaving your truck running forever is a thing of the past. The owners of the older trucks are stuck between a rock and a hard place: Either pay to buy the new equipment or risk getting a summons for excessive idling, said Warren Campbell, an independent owner-operator from Bloomsbury, Pa.

“You have to stay warm,” he said while refueling his 2008 rig at the Valero Truck Stop near the New York state border on a recent afternoon.

Trucker Russell Briggs of Sarasota, Fla., echoed similar statements.

““We don’t idle. I have an electric heater under the bunk, the same thing with the air conditioning. It runs off the battery and keeps us with the idling law,” said Briggs, who was fueling up in preparation for a run out to Canton, Ohio.

Sussex County will use its $10,000 grant to educate school bus companies and their drivers about the regulations and the negative impact excessive idling has on the environment, said Herb Yardley, administrator of the county Department of Environmental and Public Health Services.

Yardley said anti-idling signs will be posted at school bus depots and schools during the early-morning hours and after-school hours, when drivers often keep their vehicles running.

“Our philosophy is that we like to educate people, then educate some more, rather than having to issue summonses. You’ll get three strikes before you’re out,” said Yardley, adding that school administrators also will be urged to include a no-idling clause in their contracts will school bus companies.

“There’s no reason to keep a school bus running in the yards,” he said.

Like Sussex, Middlesex County, which received a $12,374 grant, did not issue any summonses last year and targets bus companies in its educational efforts.

“Our goal is to continue to provide education and public outreach to everyone in the county of the harmful health effects of excessive idling. … Our office has not issued any summonses, but violators of the state anti-idling statutes will be fined in accordance with NJDEP regulations,” according to a statement issued by the Middlesex County Office of Health Services.

Under the state regulations, vehicles may idle for up to three minutes, with some exceptions, before being subject to a summons. Summonses are issued to registered owner of the vehicle, not the driver, as well as the property owner where the excessive idling occurs.

Penalties are $250 for the first offense; $500 for the second offense; and $1,000 for the third and each subsequent violation.

Vehicles stopped in traffic; active emergency services’ vehicles; buses that are discharging or picking up passengers; and some other vehicles are exempt from the law.

“Our main focus is on diesel-powered vehicles because of the high level of emissions they put out,” said Considine, adding DEP inspectors issued 80 citations last year for excessive idling from diesel-powered vehicles, including commercial trucks and buses, school buses and emergency transport vehicles.

The summonses, he said, are generally issued as a result of surveillance that is initiated based on reports of excessive idling made to the DEP’s environmental hot line, as well as observations made by DEP inspectors.

Everyday drivers of personal cars are not immune from prosecution, said Considine.

“Basically, the message is you’re unnecessarily polluting the air and by just sitting there letting your car run, you’re now officially the least efficient car on the road,” he said.

Other counties awarded anti-idling grants include Camden ($24,480), Hudson ($10,000), Warren ($9,900), Mercer ($9,862) and Passaic ($7,920). Atlantic City, representing Atlantic County, will get $8,005.

Category: General Update, Green, Management, Transit News