Switch off engine when stationary

[Sphinx2000]

"The Act enforces rule 123 of the Highway Code, which states: "You must not leave a vehicle’s engine running unnecessarily while that vehicle is stationary on a public road.

Doing this can incur a £20 fixed-penalty fine under the Road Traffic (Vehicle Emissions) Regulations 2002. This goes up to £40 if unpaid within a given time frame.

But this is only imposed if the driver fails to turn off their engine when asked to do so by a marshal.
"

[cheshired5]

I wonder how they define unnecessarily?
You may have children or pets or a menopausal woman in the car on a hot day and need the AC on whilst waiting.

You may have a dodgy battery and need to keep the engine running to avoid breaking down and causing an obstruction.

It may be chucking it down so you want to keep demisted for a quick exit.

It may be flippin freezing..... You get the idea.

[green van man]

Originally Posted by cheshired5

I wonder how they define unnecessarily?
You may have children or pets or a menopausal woman in the car on a hot day and need the AC on whilst waiting.

You may have a dodgy battery and need to keep the engine running to avoid breaking down and causing an obstruction.

It may be chucking it down so you want to keep demisted for a quick exit.

It may be flippin freezing..... You get the idea.

Or you may just be charging the works laptop you need for the jobs you are doing today via the inverter you had to buy yourself and pulls 9A to charge an 18V drill battery.

My van had stop start that was switched off, it still ate 3 starter motors in 165,000 miles and they were genuine Merc not factor. In traffic it was a pain, easier by far to hang back and make a gap then first gear and tick over to keep the wheels rolling. Using that method I rarely had to stop compleatly and most HGV drivers practice the same technique.
Certainly do it when towing, why crucify the clutch with multiple pull offs when you can keep it rolling and accelerate when needed.

And of course if your wheels are rolling you are not stationary so no fine.

Paul.

[Whyman]

Originally Posted by Sphinx2000

"The Act enforces rule 123 of the Highway Code, which states: "You must not leave a vehicle’s engine running unnecessarily while that vehicle is stationary on a public road.

Doing this can incur a £20 fixed-penalty fine under the Road Traffic (Vehicle Emissions) Regulations 2002. This goes up to £40 if unpaid within a given time frame.

But this is only imposed if the driver fails to turn off their engine when asked to do so by a marshal.
"

The Marshal will no doubt be riding a methane emitting horse!

[canis]

Originally Posted by green van man

easier by far to hang back and make a gap then first gear and tick over to keep the wheels rolling. Using that method I rarely had to stop compleatly and most HGV drivers practice the same technique.
Certainly do it when towing, why crucify the clutch with multiple pull offs when you can keep it rolling and accelerate when needed.

That sounds like simply good driving to me - reading the road and adjusting your driving to suit what's likely to happen. Yes, I'm one of those notorious people who crawls to avoid shockwaving.

It always makes me laugh how I'm approaching a set of lights, at red, the road opens up into two lanes and I choose one - the driver behind accellerates to overtake me and reach the lights ahead of me. Then we both stop. Why do they do this? I just rolled in with momentum alone, just bringing it in on the brakes. And brakes are much cheaper to replace than clutches.

[biggbn]

Good. Too many rshols round here, particularly taxi drivers, sitting for ages, engine idling away going nowhere, sometimes dozing in the rank. Good news, fine the slobs.