No idling, please
Village policy in effect

A new "no idling" sign has been installed at Glen Park in the Village of Williamsville.

Residents and visitors to the Village of Williamsville are asked to turn off their vehicles when not in motion.

In April 2007, the Williamsville Village Board passed a no-idle policy for the village. New signs alerting vehicle operators of this policy were recently posted at the Glen Park area.

The policy does not permit idling of vehicles within the village during most waiting periods. The policy applies to personal vehicle idling such as at the sledding hill area of Glen Park, at stores while waiting for a customer to "run in for one quick item," and waiting to pick up students at schools, Jon Nickerson, of the village's Environmental Committee, explained.

The purpose of the policy is to help guide citizens into making sustainable choices. Excess fuel consumption carries several issues of concern to most people, including unnecessary use of a nonrenewable resource, greenhouse gas emission, and air quality degradation.

"Personally, I believe in a much more pragmatic view: regardless of the price of fuel, or the size of the engine, every person of every age, race, and religion not only requires clean air to live, but deserves it," Nickerson said. "Absolutely no one holds an endowed right to pollute air, yet every fossil fuel-burning engine is doing it. Therefore, it is our responsibility, as citizens of the Earth, to eliminate needless operating of vehicle engines."

Steps that can be taken include avoiding the use of drive-through lines at stores, banks, or coffee shops, avoiding running of vehicles while waiting to pick up someone, such as from school, from a sports event, or from a store, and avoiding operating one's engine while just sitting, such as what many parents do at the Glen Park sledding hill.

While the policy does not specifically eliminate use of remote car starters, Nickerson asks those who use these devices to ask themselves two questions: "Are those very few minutes of comfort I'm going to gain really worth all that extra dirty soot, carbon dioxide and other pollutants I'm going to create?" and "Is my personal short-term comfort truly that much more important than the long-term health of myself, my children and my neighbors?"

In addition to the signs in the Glen Park area, sign postings are planned for Island Park. Some village merchants have also expressed interest in promoting this policy, he said.

"So while many people are willing to act in a more sustainable manner, ... they need suggestions on what they can do. A very easy thing is simply avoid leaving your engine running. It's that simple," he said.

The village's new policy also affects delivery vehicles and limousines. New York State already has enacted a no-idle policy for school buses.

Neighboring states, including Vermont, Massachusetts and New Jersey, have enacted similar policies and laws. Several businesses, such as UPS, have had such policies for many years.

The village's policy is one of the first in Western New York, Nickerson said.

Frank Mischler was chairman of the village Environmental Committee, and village Trustee Basil Piazza was the board liaison.