Pollution
Reducing pollution - vehicle idling
Switch off your engine when stationary to keep Highland air clean
- Running your engine unnecessarily while your vehicle is stationary pollutes the environment, costs money and is against the law.
- If you are parked, turn off your engine. Idling your engine for more than a few seconds uses more fuel than it takes to restart your engine.
- An idling engine can produce up to twice as many exhaust emissions as an engine in motion. Pollutants in emissions include nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter.
- Children are more vulnerable to air pollution, and it can affect the development of the lungs and brain, including causing or worsening asthma.
- Adults are also affected, increasing the risk of heart and lung disease, cancer and dementia. Those with pre-existing health conditions are most at risk.
Idling is illegal
Vehicle idling is an offence against the Road Traffic (Vehicle Emissions) (Fixed Penalty) (Scotland) Regulations 2003. The law states that it is an offence to idle your engine unnecessarily and you may be issued with a £20 fixed penalty notice.
The legislation covers all vehicles on public roads, including buses, taxis and private cars.
The legislation does not apply to vehicles that move slowly due to road works or congestion, vehicles stopped at traffic lights, vehicles under test/ repair and vehicles defrosting a windscreen in very cold weather.
You can read guidance on the legislation on the Scottish Government website.
Schools and vehicle idling
We have rolled out an Air Quality and Vehicle Idling Awareness project at a number of Highland primary schools. A combination of nitrogen dioxide passive diffusion tubes and indicative real-time monitors were placed at school drop-off zones. Officers from Environmental Health presented the data to P5 - P7 children at the school, who were able to pass on the learning to the wider school community.
All the average air quality parameters met Scottish Government objectives for air quality, but peaks in some pollutants were observed during school pick-up and drop-off periods.
The information has been collated into an Air Quality Schools Project Summary Report available for download below: