Safe Speed Forums

So, they admit that they are using railway crossings to cause congestion then.
Apparently the one in Wool stops traffic for 8 minutes! And that includes the time for the train to stop, drop off passengers, wait, pick up passengers before it even crosses the road!

Compare that to 35 seconds amber-to-off for an automatic half-barrier further down the line. That works well. People respect that one.

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Andrew.

I'd be scared to turn off the engine every time I stop in case the battery goes flat!

Caught me out once at 3am after I'd done a fair bit of stop start driving 3 days before...

What next, cameras that zoom in on exhaust pipes to check for fumes after a few minutes?



If for some reason I broke down on a level Crossing, or otherwise fainted while walking over it, I think I'd prefer the one that requires the signaller to check the crossing is clear before setting the signals to green for the train to pass over it.

That's a good point. If the alternator isn't working you won't be turning the engine off!
And yes, I've had two cars with no functional alternator for a while. There's an advantage of a diesel engine.

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Andrew.

Wait, why didn't I think of this sooner?
If you have the engine on... And doing so uses fuel... Then you are already paying to do so!

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Andrew.

I can see this going pear-shaped.

How many cars are we going to get breaking down as a result, unable to start, which will in turn cause obstruction and more fuel usage and frustration by others trapped behind? I expect they will then start to implement an obstruction £aw on motorists.

Also, on the topic of Cats, I think I read somewhere that no cat works properly in this country anyway because they simply do not get hot enough. Above and below certain latitudes across the globe they simply do not work?

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

I can also see it being turned into a major selling point by all manufacturers with hybrids or auto-off engines in their line-up...




I'd be interested if this were true, but I'd also be surprised if a few degrees drop in ambient temperature would be sufficient to kill off the catalysing reaction given the temperature of the exhaust gases at that point in the exhaust system. The story I've always heard is that cats need x minutes to get warmed up from startup, but many car journeys in this country are shorter than x minutes...

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Chris

So in the middle of winter, it's a choice between a fine for having the engine running or a fine (and maybe an accident) for having a misted up windscreen?

It's really about time we started having people with car-driving experience to decide car-affecting laws, design junctions, etc.

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Fear is a weapon of mass distraction

In New York State, the fine does not apply if you are stuck in traffic, although an officer could certainly tell you to kill the engine.

Here, such a fine only applies if you are idling your engine for no apparent reason, for more than three minutes - I.E. your car should be otherwise parked.

The fine, however, can be much greater if the vehicle is being used for non-personal purposes.

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The Rules for ALL ROAD USERS:
1) No one gets hurt
2) Nothing gets hit, except to protect others; see Rule#1
3) The Laws of Physics are invincible and immutable - so-called 'laws' of men are not
4) You are always immediately and ultimately responsible for your safety first, then proximately responsible for everyone's
Do not let other road users' mistakes become yours, nor yours become others
5) The rest, including laws of the land, is thoughtful observation, prescience, etiquette, decorum, and cooperation

If you switch your engine off does that not mean you can make a hand held call, text or eat breakfast legally?

It will also possibly lead to drivers just sitting still until the gap in front is big enough to be worth starting the engine for.

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Driving fast is for a particular time and place, I can do it I just only do it occasionally because I am a gentleman.
- James May

Do they let truck driver idle their engines at truck stops in NY? I think just about every truck stop I have stopped at the legth and bredth of the US had at least half of the trucks idling. Diesel was only $1/gallon back then though...

It's not true. I think petrol engine cats typically start working at about something like 300C. Obviously "light-up" time varies from one car to the next but it tends to be seconds rather than minutes. The whole EC emissions test is only "minutes" long and starts with the engine being started at 18 degrees C. If it takes more than (say) 30 seconds for the cat to get working there's a good chance the car will fail the test. That said, it clearly WILL take longer in very cold climates. Also, turning the engine off, the cat brick could drop below it's light-up temperature pretty quickly, so there would be a short period each time you fired back up when it wouldn't work too well. As cats do nothing for CO2 emissions (make them a bit worse in fact)! I don't suppose that would be a problem though!

Tougher emissions standards for commercial diesel trucks have changed that. Diesel @ $5 / gallon is certainly part of it.

Since I am not a 'trucker', I am not aware of the details, but auxiliary devices which used to require operation of the main engine are now powered otherwise. (Should it really be necessary to idle an engine capable of producing 1000 to 2500 lbft of torque just to operate a TV and a cabin heater?)
(My educated guess: smaller, more efficient auxiliary engines.)

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The Rules for ALL ROAD USERS:
1) No one gets hurt
2) Nothing gets hit, except to protect others; see Rule#1
3) The Laws of Physics are invincible and immutable - so-called 'laws' of men are not
4) You are always immediately and ultimately responsible for your safety first, then proximately responsible for everyone's
Do not let other road users' mistakes become yours, nor yours become others
5) The rest, including laws of the land, is thoughtful observation, prescience, etiquette, decorum, and cooperation

This is presumably about local pollution, not CO2. It's smog and asthma they're worried about.

Then again, I look back to some of the sheds I've driven in the past that would fall foul of this law.

1) A 13 yr old Mk4 Escort that would cut out below 2K RPM. Fortunately it had a manual choke or "dont stall lever" as I prefered to call it
2) That same car, now with the cutting out problem fixed, after it developed a sticky solenoid in the starter motor, meaning I'd have to use a hammer and a bit of pipe to free it up before starting.
3) an 11yr old Mk4 Escort that ran fine until some valeter that I paid to steam clean the engine decided to use a jetwash instead
4) A VW Passat diesel with 1/4 of a million miles on it that would lose it's connection to the battery if you turned left too sharply (mechanical fuel pump FTW)

And a number of situations where you'd fall foul of this law.

1) Cleaning your airconditioning system with one of those spray cans where you jam the nozzle down, put it behind the driver's seat and shut the car for 20 minutes with the aircon running
2) The first few sets of traffic lights after a jump start (more if you killed your battery when flattening it)
3) Waiting for the windscreen to demist in the morning
4) Hot days. I have a skin problem that gets exponentially worse in heat. The aircon is staying on otherwise the pain and itching will distract me from driving.
5) Someone's track car with one of those stupid little red-top racing batteries that are about the size of a small packet of teabags.

I thought it was illegal to leave a car with the engine running? So doing that on road would make you a criminal. Now you'll be a double criminal! Wahey.

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Andrew.

Re-edit. Just realised - bad taste. Black SOH. Sorry

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

It has been 10 years sisnce I was in your part of the world, but think that the habit of leaving you truck idling stemmed from when your old CAT motor was a bit naughty to start, so they would just leave them idling. There was some talk that it gave less wear if you let them idle that stopped them, but those heavy duty motors don't like to idle. I'm no truck driver either, but there has been little diesel fire furnaces for heating the cab over here for years. I'll bet you don't get much sleep when your 3406 is rumbling away all poxy night!

They forgot to tell us how to enforce this logic.

OK .. if you know you will be stuck for the duration because we closed the road and desperately try to run the t#rolling road blocks properly - then switch off engine as it hates overheating and overheating causes us even more management of traffic problems

If you are in a stop-start crawl - then switching engine off and on may actually increase the pollution :rolleyes:

I know jobsworthy greeny blobs have as much substance as their snot - but if you are in a crawl of barely movin g - you create more energy each time you restart engine/.

I studied Maths and Physics at Uni. Got a very nice class of result if I say so myself



But had Wildy on phone I just don't know how she comes up with these gems - but with a Swiss accent as well .. ye gods! The woman should be on stage! Each time she comes out with thse really funny takes on life . She;s unaware of the comedy she creates around her .. she really is. ;rotfl: Not saying because she's my cousin . That woman .. and the man she wed - nice lawful tykes .. but too ruddy clever and strong minded[. We do fight off line and HOW ..

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Take with a chuckle or a grain of salt
Drive without COAST and it's all your own fault!

A SMILE is a curve that sets everything straight (P Diller).

A Smiley Per post
FINES USfor our COAST!

Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon - but driving with a smile and a COAST calm mind.

That's because of the risk of theft. The few times I do the aircon cleaning thing. I lock the car with the spare key, and then padlock the driveway gate closed.


Oooh, I've thought of another situation where it would be bad to stop the engine. You've just been blatting around the single carriageways in a turbocharged car, and the moment you get into town you run straight into gridlock (This could easily happen if you're traveling from, say, Devizes to Bath). You can't switch the engine off until the oil in the turbo has cooled down or you will damage it.

Bonus points if you have a turbo timer, then you could take the keys out and wave them in the Warden's face while the engine continues to run.

[quote="Lum

Bonus points if you have a turbo timer, then you could take the keys out and wave them in the Warden's face while the engine continues to run.[/quote]

Quote from waily "traffic wardens will have the power etc " ---hang on - not many of them left around - my locality only place I know of ,and we've only got one - so who's going to enforce this then .Unless it becomes a decriminal act .

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on