Switching off your car’s engine when parked is one simple way to reduce emissions – The Irish Times

School is not a place for idleness. Dropping off and picking up children right next to a building with the engine running is bad for a variety of reasons.

Idling reduces air quality. This happens where cars and buses hang around to pick up children. Every ten seconds of idling a car produces more emissions than restarting the engine.

Unfortunately, young people are most at risk from air pollution outside of schools as their lungs are still developing, according to An TaiseNo Idling Toolkit for Schools. Children are also shorter than adults, so they are physically closer to the exhaust pipes of cars.

Eat climate change think too. When an engine is running, it emits carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas responsible for climate change. By turning off the engine when stopping, you also stop these emissions.

Then there’s the safety aspect: When cars and buses are idled outside the school, it’s harder for students to hear the cars that are actually moving and which may not be visible behind the running cars.

Although electric cars do not idle, and many modern cars have a feature that turns off the engine when the car is stationary, there are still many vehicles that are guilty of unnecessary idling outside of our schools.

Idling also wastes fuel and is a waste of your money.

Last year, St Joseph’s Primary School in Ballinrobe, Co Mayo, took steps to reduce downtime. They tried to close two parking areas in front of the building.

The school has a daily enrollment of 450 students and approximately 50 staff. It is also located close to a 700-pupil high school attended by more than 80 staff.

Congestion in front of St. Joseph’s Church during start and finish hours, especially on Fridays when high school ends early, was a problem for those walking, biking or scootering to school.

The stops meant that cars and buses came into conflict with those coming and going on foot and on wheels. Driving around U-turns in and out of parking areas contributed to congestion.

The school worked under the “Safe Roads to School” program of the Ministry of Transport and Mayo County Council try to close both landing zones. No vehicles could use it except for school buses entering the parking lot.

Parents and students were provided with extensive information about the closure in advance.

Closing the rest area is all very well, but those who need to drop young children off at school before perhaps sending a younger sibling to daycare and then rush off to work need an alternative. So before the trial site closed, the school installed two walking buses, one from Supermacs 650 meters from the school and the other from Dunleavy’s 300 meters away.

According to the Safe Routes to School analysis, the trial closure of the parking area was successful and created a calmer, quieter and more enjoyable space for everyone. The number of children going to school has also increased.

The analysis found that when students arrived at school by car, disembarkation was generally safe, but a small number of dangerous maneuvers were observed.

The school plans to continue with the trial closure and the plan to implement ‘Safe Routes to School’ includes a link to Ballinrobe town greenway providing a route connecting the school to a ‘park and walk’ space at Tesco, approximately 750 meters away, but which will be closer through the green road.

( Air pollution on every street in Dublin found in 16-month studyOpens in a new window )

Turning off your car when parked is one simple and effective way to reduce emissions and help keep the air outside your children’s school cleaner. Walking, cycling and carpooling when possible will also help. Perhaps we can all try this after the midterm holidays.