Let’s talk about drive-thrus and idling. (Oh, ugh. I cannot handle spelling through that way. It’s like Krazy Ice Kreem or something. WRONG. Just WROOONG!) Seriously, I think it’s time we sit down and talk about this innocent habit of ours.
It seems simple enough – you want a doubleshot on ice at Starbucks. (Yum. Me, too.) You pull into the drive-thru and order. You idle for a minute waiting, deciding, and ordering. You wait a few more minutes to pull around. Then a few more minutes till you get your drink. Exchange money for caffeine goodness, and you pull out of the lot. Life is tricky and far from certain. There are many circumstances that you just can’t predict and situations you could never see yourself in. Good or bad luck can change your life in an instant. One of the most life-changing circumstances that you think you may never face is that of a car crash. Such an unpredictable predicament can turn your life upside down, from impacting your job and finances, to your physical and emotional well being. Go through https://louisianaspeedingticket.com to know more about traffic ticket attorney. Luckily, at least in the case of injury causing accidents and negligence, there are attorneys you can turn to for help protecting your rights.
Those five or six (or sometimes MORE. Ugh.) minutes can add up to wasted gas and air pollution. Don’t believe me? Check it out:
The US EPA estimates that for every minute a typical auto engine sits idling it emits 6.6 grams of pollutants such as volatile organic compounds, nitrous oxides, and carbon dioxide. If, over a year, two million drivers—which is a small percentage of US drivers—stopped idling their cars unnecessarily for two minutes just once a week, it would reduce these emissions by over 1,500 TONS.
Some cities have instituted fines for idling cars because of the pollution they cause. So if you’re going to idle for more than a minute, turn that key. Not at a stoplight, though…that could be dangerous – but if you’re listening to the end of a song, finishing a conversation on your cell, or waiting for someone, go ahead and turn off your car. You’ll save gas (read: MONEY!) and keep a little pollution out of the air.
A study, which looked at five years of data, showed that when nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels rise by one microgram per cubic metre, the number of traffic collisions rises by two per cent, even with the LSE adjusting their findings for extra traffic. They believe that toxic air can impact driver fitness, whilst an itchy nose and watery eyes could distract motorists. Car crashes are becoming much more common and people are having to call for auto accident attorney services way more than the past few years. If you are involved in a car accident, it is important to know your rights and to record or keep any of the evidence that will prove the details of the car accident. If you’ve been injured during a serious way, thanks to the fault of somebody else, it’s vitally important that you simply have someone you’ll trust to assist. Here Kruger & Hodges Attorneys at Law in Butler County, we’re a team of trained professionals which will assist in giving you the relief you would like. A personal injury attorney is always available to assist you in any sort of accident that happens to you. If you unfortunately become the victim of an accident and get yourself injured, a personal injury attorney is the most capable individual who can assist you to take necessary steps against the person responsible for that accident, as well as, to get remuneration. A personal injury attorney is a specialized lawyer who is well equipped with the knowledge of both injury laws and civil rights. An experienced personal injury attorney can easily categorize the severity of the injury of the victim along with the severity of the case. Thus, they can take necessary steps against the party for whose negligence the mishap happened. Again, if someone’s carelessness led to the victim’s injury, then the attorney takes steps accordingly. Whatever the reason may be and whoever may be responsible for the injury, the attorney tries their best to find out all of the related issues, and then take all the necessary steps against them. In case the situation demands they can even rope in private investigators to help them on the case with additional info that can help them in persecution.
Car accident law refers to the legal rules that determine who is liable for the private and property damage resulting from a traffic collision. This area of the law consists of the principles of negligence, as applied to the present particular category of private injury cases. Like other cases during which negligence law applies, car accident litigation is governed almost entirely by state law. While nuances exist, car accident victims in every state must prove an equivalent basic four elements so as to recover compensation. These elements are: duty, breach, causation, and harm. With reference to duty, drivers have a legal obligation to obey the principles of the road and to work their vehicles during a reasonable manner. You can visit this original site for the details about car accident attorney. this suggests driving a secure speed, maintaining control, exercising awareness, observing traffic signals, using blinkers and headlights. To get more information about car accident attorney, then you can visit our website.
Once the investigation is done by the police and attorney, you can send your car to the garage for the repair, get you car a complete check up to know, which part got damage during the accident. The body damage can by replaced by the car expert but if in case any part of car got damage, this would cause you a replacement. You can easily replace you damage spare part of car by contacting with Tooley Imports Australia, to get a new spare part for your car.
Once your car got repair, give yourself a new chance and complete your dream by going for the drive thru again. It’s funny – I notice the drive-thru line is usually at least a few cars deep, but there are NO customers inside.* I go in, order, and am back in my car by the time one car gets served in the drive-thru lane. So I save money and time, and cause a bit less pollution. It’s so characteristic of us Americans to not want to get out of our car. (Different story if you have small children. TOTALLY different. I completely understand wanting to stay in your car!)
Maybe you saw my Tweet about the Chinese man I met.
He ranted about Americans being fat because we drive every-freaking-where. We don’t want to walk or bike anywhere. Even to get food from a restaurant. He said we should bike to stay in shape and because “we need to protect the environments.” :) Imagine his adorable accent, and his enthusiasm and concern. Trust me, it was delightful.
callina says
Dude. I was with coworkers this week at our conference, and on the way to a workshop we stopped at a Starbucks. We did NOT go through the drive-through, yet our driver pulled into a psuedo-parking spot and idled for 15 minutes while we were inside getting coffee for a big group of people. Then later, as we were getting ready to leave our conference and people were saying goodbye to each other, he started the car and left it running for another 15 minutes before anyone was actually inside the car. Um, yeah, it was rrrreeeeallly hard for me to be professional and not say anything about it.
well-intentioned heartbreaker says
Yeah, you have a great point here.
I’m an anti-idler too. Can’t handle it!
Oh, and I love the Chinese man :)
Tipp says
I recently started a photoblog, but I keep forgetting about it. Dang.
Ashley says
Callina: Ugh! What can you do?! I mean, it’s his gas, I guess…but it’s not his environment! When people leave the water running at work, or use Styrofoam cups, I flinch but never correct. It’s hard!
Heartbreaker: Booyah! Anti-idlers unite, baby! I also love the Chinese man. He kind of made my night.
Tipp: I think that tends to happen to people. I’m going to try with all my might to update it. Blogging is a part time job, dangit!
Bayjb says
That’s actually a really good point about fining idling cars. I never thought about it in that context. They should fine them, especially in big cities.
Wickedly Scarlett says
I’ve actually heard that if you’re going to have your car off for less than five minutes, you use more gas turning off the engine and restarting it than if you were to just idle… HOWEVER, I have absolutely no source material for that and I can’t even remember where I heard it. I think it’s time for me to do a bit more research, because you gave some very powerful statistics there.
Also, I’ve contemplated biking instead of driving before, but holy crap, does it ever look terrifyingly dangerous… I think I’ll stick with my elliptical machine for now to keep from becoming a fat American!
EP says
I like to walk inside and get whatever I need instead of idling in the drive-thru line. (Also, spelling thru like that drives me CRAZY.) Not only do you oftentimes get your food/drink faster, but you get a little exercise on your way in and out.
*jimaie.marie* says
i always do this little mental dance everytime i go thru a drive thru by myself…on one hand drive thru’s are gods gift to mothers b/c really, who wants to drag their kids out of the car when they don’t have to. But when they’re not with me there’s absolutely no reason for me not to get my butt outta the car!
And it’s so true what you say about the line inside vs drive thru!!
good post!