Sudbury council gives green light to anti-idling bylaw

Sudbury city council wants you to turn that engine off. It voted Tuesday night to create a bylaw that would ticket drivers who leave their cars running.

After an hour and half of debate, it was clear most councillors agreed something needed to be done about idling they just couldn't agree on what.

Councillor Dave Kilgour said the most important thing was to make a statement, as the city did with the smoking bylaw in years past.

"I don't care if it's a one-year or two-year or three-year education period," Kilgour said. "I don't care if it's a one-minute or two-minute or three-minute idling time. I think the important thing is we get at it."

In the end, city council gave Sudburians two minutes of legal idling, and one year to learn about the bylaw before officers start giving out tickets. The fines would be similar to those given outonparking tickets.

'Better' things to do

Some councillors were concerned it won't be enforced, as Sudbury only has six bylaw officers who are already extremely busy.

But councillor Jacques Barbeau said that's not the point of this bylaw.

"To think that every complaint will be answered ... maybe in time [they will be]," Barbeau said. "But some of them, by the time by-law gets there, their vehicles should be out of fuel, quite frankly."

The bylaw will have about a dozen exceptions, such as defrosting your windshield or when you're stuck in traffic.

City councillor Fabio Belli, who voted against the bylaw, said idling is not a problem.

"Gas prices are very expensive," he said. "You honestly think people are going to leave their engines running? Why are we wasting time? We have bigger and better things to do."

Councillors will be spending more time on the anti-idling bylaw. Once staff write it, council will need to vote on it again to make it law.