Toronto is talking tough again about nailing drivers who let their vehicle engines idle unnecessarily.
Ten bylaw officers will be on the streets all week ticketing motorists who let their vehicles idle for more than three minutes. The fine: $100 plus a $25 provincial surcharge.
The city insists the campaign is more of an education campaign than an enforcement blitz.
And going on past practice, that’s probably a good thing — because the odds of getting ticketed are slim, with tickets dwindling down from 123 in 2003 to just 33 last year.
The chance of getting caught at any other time is close to nil. For one thing, the bylaw is only enforced when the temperature is between 5C and 27C.
Most of the time, bylaw enforcement officers are busy with duties other than watching to see whether a vehicle idles more than three minutes.
The bylaw doesn’t apply to emergency and TTC vehicles.
