Want To Warm Up Your Car Before Leaving? OK, But Pay the $168 Fine!!

Published on March 7th, 2007

Posted by KB in General

“You vill get in it, you vill stay in it, and you vill
enjoy it. Are vee clear on this?”

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.

30 users responded in " Want To Warm Up Your Car Before Leaving? OK, But Pay the $168 Fine!! "

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# 1 Oil Of Dog said, on March 7th, 2007 at 8:11 am

That takes care of my plans to buy a remote starter for my car. Vito will have to go out and take his chances.

# 2 JT said, on March 7th, 2007 at 8:17 am

And when a car thief jumps in and drives off in this conveniently running vehicle, these car owners will expect the police to expend countless man hours tracking it down and returning it to the owner. The police should write the tickets and have the owners come down to city hall and give them a choice. Pay the fine and stop the practice or sign a waiver that the police won’t have to track down your vehicle if it gets stolen while you left it running with the keys in the ignition. Just call your insurance company and explain to them what happened. I’m sure they’ll be really happy to raise your rates for being such a fool. The police could be real bastards and report the ticket to your insurance company. I’m sure they wouldn’t appreciate the practice.

# 3 Pete said, on March 7th, 2007 at 8:24 am

Complaning about a cold car in Georgia? These days in MTL it’s almost -40 with the windchill. And last year a local bylaw was passed to curb down on cars running for nothing and contrinuting to the pollution. You can get fined if the car is running for more then 3 minutes, with nobody inside. Then again at these temperatures we don’t have to worry about carjacking that much. Who is going to hang around till he finds an empty running car?

# 4 JimR said, on March 7th, 2007 at 8:36 am

Yesterday morning it was -24 C here (-11 F) with a wind chill of -38 C (-36F). I had to get the kids to school and just started the Montana up (turned over once) and drove away. Cars (and oil formulations) today don’t need to warm up.

# 5 Mr. Fusion said, on March 7th, 2007 at 8:40 am

#2, JT

So you are saying that if someone comes onto your property and commits a crime it is your fault? I don’t care how stupid you are, stealing a car is a crime !!! Blaming the victim is wrong wrong wrong.

If the city has a problem with the car running, then they should prosecute on environmental grounds. I seriously doubt the ticket could hold up if someone challenged it. It can not be a crime to operate a vehicle on your own property. Unless, of course, the car was parked in a public spot instead of the driveway.

# 6 DanD said, on March 7th, 2007 at 8:41 am

JimR, I think the point isn’t that people need to warm up the car for it to work, but rather they don’t want to get into a freezing car. I know I use my remote start occasionally in Wisconsin if it’s like -20F so the cabin is warm before I get into it.

# 7 Mike said, on March 7th, 2007 at 8:43 am

#2, walking though an alley increases your chances of being mugged, perhaps the government should make that illegal as well.

# 8 JimR said, on March 7th, 2007 at 9:00 am

Mr. Fusion, I agree with you on principle. Insurance companies base their rates on risk and unfortunately a sad reality bites us in the ass again. The shits who steal cars make us all pay for protection. If I park my car in a locked garage every night, my rates go down. If I have an anti-theft device installed, my rates go down. If I have a model or brand that is often stolen, my rates go up.

Like most things in our civilized society, the good guys get reamed while the bad guys get a tap on the wrist. If the penalty for stealing a car was a job with minimum wage to pick up street litter for 10 years (no exceptions and with imprisonment at night) I think the problem would soon be solved.
(just an example for illustration…but harsh enough to actually deter)

# 9 JimR said, on March 7th, 2007 at 9:12 am

#6, It was cold yesterday, but us Canadians are a tough bunch. I’m sure a cold bum in the morning isn’t too mush of a discomfort in order to save on pollution, and protect your property. Same thing for the summer, when the wimps leave their air conditioning on and the car running before they head out. heck, I don’t even use the car AC in the summer. i just open the windows (I’m so tough eh?).

# 10 Gary said, on March 7th, 2007 at 9:14 am

JT – Remote starters don’t involve keys, the doors are locked, and you can’t drive off even if you get in without a key. I’m sure an ingenious thief could bypass the system, but otherwise it’s no less apt to be stolen than a parked car without remote starting capabilities.

# 11 Big Dubyah! said, on March 7th, 2007 at 9:25 am

Mr. Fusuion, I agree with you in principal that it is wrong to punish the victim of the crime at any cost but I think the plan here was to deter people from becoming victims in the first place by making them think twice about letting their car run unatended in a public place such as an apartment complex parking lot.

Of all things, this lady lives in Georgia. It’s not cold in Georgia like it is in the northern states or pretty much all of Canada. Couldn’t she just have bought her kid a warm coat?…it probably would have cost less than the fine!

# 12 Bruce IV said, on March 7th, 2007 at 9:54 am

Agree JimR (9) – prestarting the car is totally a comfort issue – and a pointless waste of gas/production of greenhouse gases. I have to walk 15 mins to school every day, 8AM. Sometimes its cold up here in Canada – under -30C with the wind chill (that’s about -30F too, give or take – quick and dirty conversion C to F is add 15, then multiply by two). We North Americans are too lazy – we live way beyond what we should. Personal automobiles are a needless luxury – green mass transit! (frig, I sound like a leftist …)

# 13 TheGlobalWarmer said, on March 7th, 2007 at 9:58 am

They should sue Algore for trying to slow Global Warming (TM). Let it go and it won’t be so damn cold that we have to warm our vehicles.

# 14 Raff said, on March 7th, 2007 at 10:10 am

You know if we banned cars, there would be no more tickets, no more traffic deaths, (one of the leading killers here in the U.S., way more than illegal drugs) no more greenhouse emmissions, no more waiting in traffic, no more traffic cops, no more auto theft, no more….

# 15 Elwood Pleebus said, on March 7th, 2007 at 10:14 am

Hey here’s a 2nd use for the dummies that people put in their car so they can drive in the HOV lanes! Just start your car, prop it in the seat, and go back inside.

# 16 Ben Franske said, on March 7th, 2007 at 10:18 am

These laws are nothing new and they exist mostly to curb car theft. Even in many colder states such as Minnesota laws like this are on the books. 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. As has been pointed out above it’s unfair to ask police to waste time investigating such crimes which could have been easily prevented. That said, in many cases it is not illegal to run a car with no key in the ignition (such as the case of a remote starter). This is usually considered alright because the ignition interlock will prevent the car from going into gear until a key is inserted.

# 17 Jim Scarborough said, on March 7th, 2007 at 10:33 am

Who cares about curbing the car theft? This law should be rigorously enforced as a means of saving the planet. My mother-in-law tells of a neighbor in Denver who idles the car for 45 minutes to avoid scraping the windshield. Imagine if we paid anything close to the impact cost for gasoline… then she would think twice about idling the car!

# 18 circuitsmith said, on March 7th, 2007 at 10:50 am

Idling a car to warm it up wastes gas, creates more pollution, contaminates the oil and rots the exhaust system. Besides, people are so spoiled they can’t bear to sit in a cold car for a few minutes? It’s not like there’s an arctic wind blowing in there.

# 19 James Hill said, on March 7th, 2007 at 11:27 am

Mr. Fusion almost got one right. That’s better than his norm, of fucking the whole argument up.

# 20 RonD said, on March 7th, 2007 at 11:34 am

Many times when I am eating at say McDonald’s, police officers will be dining also. Each time they leave their police car running and unattended while they eat. Will they get the $168 ticket. I think not.

# 21 Ballenger said, on March 7th, 2007 at 11:36 am

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.

# 22 Chris Evans said, on March 7th, 2007 at 11:50 am

#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.

# 23 Mr. Fusion said, on March 7th, 2007 at 12:11 pm

#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.

# 24 Clayfoot said, on March 7th, 2007 at 12:16 pm

About time these scofflaws paid the price for their crimes! Jaywalkers and loiterers, you’re next!
/me shakes fist

# 25 natefrog said, on March 7th, 2007 at 12:26 pm

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.

# 26 Andy said, on March 7th, 2007 at 1:22 pm

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.

# 27 TJGeezer said, on March 7th, 2007 at 2:17 pm

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.

# 28 Smith said, on March 7th, 2007 at 4:04 pm

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!

# 29 Lauren the Ghoti said, on March 7th, 2007 at 9:15 pm

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?

# 30 Bruce IV said, on March 8th, 2007 at 9:33 am

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.

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