Enforcement statistics for the first two years of Ottawa’s Idling Control by-law
My recent entry reminding people that the temperature during the days lately have been such that the Idling Control by-law (Bylaw #2007-266) got me wondering about how often people have been ticketed for violating it, so I asked the City of Ottawa for the statistics.
According to the City of Ottawa, between the start of its enforcement in 2008 and the end of 2009 a total of 713 warnings were issued and 3 charges were laid, which is pretty good given the number of vehicles on the road at any given time.
| Warnings | Charges | |
| 2008 | 460 | 2 |
| 2009 | 253 | 1 |
Broken down by year, we can see that there was almost twice as many warnings were issued in the first year (2008) as in the second (2009). Similarly, the number of charges laid dropped by 50%, but given that this number dropped from 2 to 1 you really can’t draw many conclusions. The important numbers are for the number of warnings issued because they suggest that drivers are becoming more environmentally aware and choosing to turn off their engines rather than letting them idle when waiting to pick someone up.
AKA Keeper of Maps, I'm a geocacher who lives in Ottawa, Canada.
I wouldn’t necessarily draw that conclusion, yet. You could just as easily say that drivers aren’t being warned because the bylaw officers aren’t issuing the warnings.
A few more years and we’ll see a trend, and then be able conclude what the effect of the bylaw was.
You’re right… it is a little early to make a definitive statement, but it is one thing they do suggest. (In fact, without actually conducting a survey of drivers asking why they are turning their engines off rather than letting them idle we will not truely be able to establish a link between the two.)
I’m willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the bylaw enforcement officers that they are warning people when it’s appropriate, but it could be that they are just giving verbal warnings rather than a written warning.
This is just a quick look at what’s gone on in the first two years of the by-law and regardless, I think it’s encouraging that the number of warnings has dropped. It’ll be interesting to see the stats for 2010 when they’re available.