Perth: Idling fines to start next year
YourOttawaRegion.com / Laura Mueller / 18 August 2010
Perth drivers should get ready to be dinged for idling their vehicles, as the town plans to enact an anti-idling bylaw next summer.
While the bylaw will not apply to vehicles stopped in traffic or at railways crossings, it will be enforced for vehicles in parking spaces, parking lots and driveways. Drivers caught idling will be slapped with an $8 fine starting June 30, 2011.
Town councillors approved the bylaw during a committee-of-the-whole meeting on Aug. 10, but it must still receive council’s final stamp of approval on Aug. 31.
In the bylaw, idling is defined as the operation of the engine while the vehicle is not in motion; however, no time limit is given for how long a vehicle should be idling before a ticket is issued. Vehicles that are being used to operate auxiliary equipment are exempt, as are boats, emergency vehicles in use or training, armoured vehicles, vehicles in parades, and a few other reasons.
The move comes at the request of the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) of Perth and District. EcoPerth initiated a push for an anti-idling bylaw about 10 years ago and the CFUW lobbied council for a bylaw in 2006-07, but the idea failed to gain traction. Members of the group approached town council again this June, prompting councillors to ask town staff to draft a bylaw for consideration.
Peggy Land, chair of the CFUW’s environment committee, said the group is “cautiously optimistic” about the bylaw.
“This looks to be a very workable bylaw,” she said.
Mayor John Fenik said he was in support of the bylaw, but said idling is a provincial issue and the town should be lobbying the province to enact anti-idling legislation. He also said that enforcement of the bylaw is important.
