My father being a semi-truck driver it becomes a very personal thing when state law makers pass anti-idling laws. It's irritating, to say the least, to discover that the majority of states have laws that do not allow truckers to idle their engines for more than 20 minutes every hour. Some have laws that shorten that to a measly 5 minutes an hour!
Ever gone shopping on a summer day when it was 90 degrees outside? Felt your steering wheel when you got back into your car? Burning hot right? How about winter when temperatures dip lower than 40 degrees? Idling a vehicle for 5 minutes barely begins to raise the temperature. Lawmakers want truckers to sleep in those conditions.
It's sickening to think of my father sleeping in those freezing cold or boiling hot conditions. And what is the point of it all? To save the environment? Ha! How about my father's health? How about his life? What if one night he falls asleep in below freezing temperatures and he doesn't wake up? What happens then? Is the environment saved then?
If I have to choose between the environment and my father then I'm picking my dad. I think that anyone else would make the same decision. What if it was your father? Or your mother, or child, or you? Which would you be more concerned about?
And besides that, how are drivers expected to get any sleep in such conditions? Generally, people complain that truckers often drive while drowsy. But how could they get any sleep with laws like these?
Anti-idling laws put everyone in danger.
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