The Socialist Party's Parliamentary Group wants the Government to prohibit, with some exceptions, the idling of cars (car stopped, but with an engine running), as one of the measures to combat pollutant emissions and improve air quality.
According to the Parliamentary Group, based on a national estimate by the Department of Energy of the United States of America, in the total exhaust gas emissions of a vehicle, 2% corresponds to idling.
Also according to that same report, idling for more than 10 seconds uses more fuel and produces more emissions than stopping and restarting the engine.
The proposal, which has already been signed by several PS deputies, is not unprecedented. It has already been put into practice by several countries such as the United Kingdom, France, Belgium or Germany, as well as several US states (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Texas, Vermont and Washington DC).
Miguel Costa Matos, socialist deputy and first signatory of the draft resolution“The climate emergency requires a strategy of combat on all fronts, and there we have to include the idling car stop which, despite representing only 2% of a car's emissions, is a particularly low-productive emission source.
That's why Portugal must ban idling (idling), following the path of several states, and must continue to promote the adoption of technologies such as start-stop and the change in the behavior of motorists, thus also achieving health gains , by combating air and noise pollution”.
Recommendations and exceptions
The PS Parliamentary Group therefore recommends that the Government “study the best legislative solution to prohibit idling, with the appropriate exceptions, namely in situations of congestion, stop at traffic lights or by order of authorities, maintenance, inspection, operation equipment or urgent service of public interest”.
If this draft resolution goes ahead and is approved in the Assembly of the Republic, the Highway Code will have to be amended in order to clarify and define in which situations having cars idling at idle will be prohibited.
Socialist deputy Miguel Costa Matos highlighted, in statements to the TSF, one of these cases which is what happens at the doors of schools, where drivers spend several minutes without turning off the engine: “This is a situation that worries us, with consequences for the health and learning of young people in Portugal and throughout the world.”
The Socialist Parliamentary Group also recommends that the Government “encourage the research, development, adoption and use of technologies to combat idling, namely start-stop systems, in motor vehicles, and, in refrigerated vehicles, systems that allow the engine to be turned off when they are not moving”.