Switching off your car’s engine while stationary is a simple way to reduce emissions – The Irish Times

School is not a place to laze around. Dropping off and picking up your kids right outside the building while the engine is still running is bad for all kinds of reasons.

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

Unfortunately, young people are most at risk from air pollution outside their schools because their lungs are still developing, he said A Taisce‘s No Idling toolkit for schools. Children are also smaller than adults, so they are physically closer to car exhaust pipes.

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

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

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

Idling also wastes fuel, which is a waste of money.

Last year, St Joseph’s Primary School in Ballinrobe, Co Mayo, took steps to reduce idling. An attempt was made to close two car parking spaces at the front of the building.

The school has 450 students and approximately 50 staff members every day. It is also close to a secondary school with 700 pupils, which employs more than 80 staff.

The crowds at the front of St. Joseph’s at start and finish times, especially on Fridays when high school ends early, have been a challenge for those who walk, bike or scooter to school.

The cordoned off areas brought cars and buses into conflict with those coming and going on foot and on wheels. The alternating movements into and out of the vacant areas contributed to the congestion.

The school partnered with the Department of Transport’s Safe Roads to School programme Mayo County Council to test the closure of both cordon areas. No vehicles were allowed to use it, except school buses entering a parking lot.

Parents and students received sufficient information about the closure in advance.

It’s all very well to close the assembly point, but those who need to get primary school-age children into school before perhaps sending a younger sibling off to kindergarten and then rushing off to work need an alternative. So before the trial site closed, the school had set up two walking buses, one leaving from Supermacs, 650 meters from the school, and another from Dunleavy’s shop, 300 meters away.

According to an analysis by Safe Routes to School, the trial closure of the assembly area was successful and created a calmer, quieter and more pleasant space for everyone. The number of children walking to school has also increased.

When students arrived at school by car, drop-offs were generally done safely, but a small number of dangerous maneuvers were observed, the analysis found.

The school plans to implement trial closures and the Safe Routes to School delivery plan includes connecting to an urban Greenway from Ballinrobe, providing a route linking the school to a ‘park and stride’ site at Tesco, such 750 meters away, but which will be closer via the greenway.

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

Turning off your car engine while stationary is a simple and effective way to reduce our emissions while making the air outside your children’s school cleaner. Walking, cycling and carpooling if you can also help. Maybe we can all give it a try after the break.