Great post...this stuff bugs the crap out of me. Here's what I've noticed recently.
I live in a condo. The mailboxes are organized into little pavilions outside, each with maybe 40 boxes and located no further than 100 yards from the condo associated with the box. In other words, it's not a far walk to get your mail.
Each time I walk over to get my mail there is at least one person sitting in their car with the engine running going through their mail (opening and reading letters, sorting out junk mail, etc). Many times there are two cars there at once.
The other day, I saw someone sitting in front of the mailboxes in their car with the engine running eating an ice-cream cone. I figured they must have been waiting for someone, but several minutes later I saw them returning from the mailbox to their nearby unit...done with the cone.
When I used to pick up our daughter at the private grade school last year, I noticed that the "soccer moms" would leave their cars running anywhere from 5-30 minutes while they were waiting for their precious cargo to arrive. I'll date myself by this famous qoute from an old comic strip POGO..."we have met the enemy and he is us!"
I quit using drive-through windows for this very reason.
And Chris, I got a POGO book in a stack of old stuff from an aunt in the 80's; but that particular quote is nearly ubiquitous in this age of google and wiki's. You can go back to pretending you are a young whippersnapper and no one will be the wiser.
I ride past a school bus stop every morning. There is always at least one or two cars sitting there while waiting for the bus. The little ones obviously can't handle a bit of weather that is not 72 degrees.
Based on what I've been reading on this blog, it seems that the price of gas isn't nearly high enough. Our government needs to grow a backbone, raise the gas tax significantly, and then offset that by lowering the income tax/raising the earned income tax credit. This way, we would reward the smart people who reduce their gasoline consumption (a good thing) and reduce the penalty for working and earning a legitimate income (also a good thing).
Ben
I was picking my girls up from school the other day, and a woman in an suv was sitting with the car idling waiting for her child. After I came back (walking) from getting my kids, probably about 5 minutes, she was outside her car, but the car was still running. Obviously feeling a bit guilty for doing this, she said, "I guess I should turn off my car; oh well, it's a hybrid..." I wish I could have come back with some quick smart response, but I think her comment spoke for itself. Hybrid users probably tend to idle more because of the increased gas mileage these cars get...pretty much canceling out any advantage. That's America for you.
I saw a lady the other day eating lunch in her car while parked at the edge of a fast food restaurant lot. I noticed that the engine was running (presumably to run the AC), so I wanted to stop and tell her that they actually had seating inside with tables and everything, but I refrained. I guess she preferred the experience of eating alone in the car to any possible human interaction that might occur inside the restaurant.
My fave so far was the redneck who, while holding his gas pedal to the floor while passing me, leaned out the window of his SUV and yelled get yer bike off my roads, loser!
Stupid idling has been my barometer, and so far it says gas doesn't cost enough. I see plenty of people running into shops leaving the car running outside when there's no possible excuse; it's a newer car, so it's not a heap where it may not restart and it's nice out, so you don't need to run the AC to keep from roasting the babies or pets. I particularly like this when I see someone leave their vehicle running and pop in to buy cigarettes. Stupidity runs deep in some portions of the population.
My coworker and I wanted to have lunch at a restaurant 2 blocks away, but she wouldn't walk 2 blocks and I wouldn't drive or be driven 2 blocks, so she picked a place half a block away.
Here's another. I used to work at a state office building in downtown Austin, and there was a great restaurant about 4 blocks away. A group of walkers went one day and another group (I'll be nice and say they were not underweight). We walked and got there faster. They spent time trying to find a parking spot. Truly despicable. Needless to say, they bought the most fattening food. Makes me sick.
Unfortunately, the gas prices aren't going up for the same reasons the Europeans pay high gas prices - taxes. It is what pays for national healthcare, etc.
Here in the US, for now, it is just lining the pockets of the big oil companies even more...
My gas savings measures? I changed my teaching schedule so that I bring my kid home from day care on my way home from work (I work 40 hrs and teach as an adjunct 2 nights/week) instead of having the wife make the 20 mile drive in to pick him up.
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