“You vill get in it, you vill stay in it, and you vill
enjoy it. Are vee clear on this?”
By Law, You Must Freeze Your Butt Off
Louise Wood is one of 14 people ticketed since January by Forest Park police for violating Georgia code section 40-6-201. The ticket runs $168.
The 33-year-old law was meant to prevent cars from rolling away. In Forest Park, a city of 22,000 people in Clayton County, authorities have begun enforcing it in an effort to prevent auto theft.
Wood, a senior operations clerk at AT&T, said she warms up her car every chilly morning so her 6-year-old son won’t have to get into a cold car.
“I was furious,” Wood said after getting a ticket at her apartment complex. “I guess the police would rather me sit in my car while it warms up and let some carjacker point a gun to my head than let me lock and alarm it while it runs.”
It’s nice to know that, even when you are at home getting ready to leave for work, the government is monitoring your behavior for compliance.
The advisability of leaving your car to warm up aside, the issue is whether police should be coming to your home at 6:00 in the morning to ticket you for doing so.
There are lots of solid points made here on both sides of this case. So many important and reasonable points in fact, that what actually happened is taken from the level of a conflict between a mother trying to warm up her car and a policeman trying to do his job, to a debate at a level where a solution, gets lost in a tornado of points of view. And that’s why we have so many judges, juries, lawyers and of course, sadly, Nancy Grace.
#14 – “It’s just a bad idea to leave your car running with the keys in it and it’s inviting a crime to take place.”
So, in your world, something being a “bad idea” is enough to justify making it a crime in and of itself?
Can I look through your house and ticket you for everything I think is a bad idea, then?
“Kid’s toy on floor: $160. Bleach bottle next to ammonia bottle in unlocked cabinet: $600. Box full of ex-girlfriends’ letters and pictures in attic: $1450 and minimum three months in jail.”
Or how about this: Mind your own damn business and keep your nose out of my life. If I want to leave my car running on my property, it’s _my_ car on _my_ property.
#8, Jim I agree, the insurance companies have to assess risk. That is something totally different though from making it a crime. I can also understand that this is Georgia and they do things a little different down there.
About time these scofflaws paid the price for their crimes! Jaywalkers and loiterers, you’re next!
/me shakes fist
These laws are pretty common. Given the age of many of them, they were probably designed not to prevent theft, but to prevent cars from slipping out of gear and driving down the street into other cars/houses/people/etc. Which, incidentally, is more common then you would think, especially if people are only keeping the car on while they run into the store while the dog or kids are outside.
Its about time people got fined for this! Warm ups are for “comfort only” the car warms up faster under load. You should get in start and drive off. People are far to pampered if they must get into a warm car. Next time buy the heated seats.
20 – After all the outrageous cop behavior reported recently from Georgia, I’d say “do things a little different” is an understatement. Remember the British visitor who got knocked down and arrested for assaulting an officer after he asked an out-of-uniform, aggressive young cop on what authority he was handing out orders? A friend from Australia canceled a trip through the U.S. South after that one. Didn’t want to fly into Atlanta.
Tickets for idling a car unattended? Okay, but not for tempting car thieves. Remote entry and remote starting pretty much cancel that rationale for collecting revenue.
Man, some of posters crack me up. “Ticketing people for leaving their car running is WRONG. Oh, wait . . . it’s a great idea if we do it to save the environment.”
Cut back on the use of fossil fuels — burn a tree hugger!
A side point – I ‘ve never lived in Joja, but in any of the 13 states I have lived in, violations of the motor vehicle code are not crimes, and police have no jurisdiction to cite for them on private property. The traffic laws specify that a ticketable violation occurs if and only if the act at issue takes place on a public road.
But this was done in an apartment complex’s parking lot… Anybody know if this is kosher under Joja law?
Agree Andy (26), Heated seats are great – and if your car doesn’t come with them, you can pick up heated seat covers for $30 or so at Canadian Tire (or whatever the equivalent auto supply/hardware/ect. store is down
south). They warm up nearly instantly, and heat your whole body, not just the half dozen square inches of your legs that are in front of the heating vent – much more efficient, and more comfortable.