I see they are contemplating a new law here.

That should be interesting?

Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment Richard Bruton is considering new laws to prevent cars from ‘idling’ outside schools as part of the National Clean Air Strategy.

The Journal

I suppose the question here is how you define “idling”? And how do you define “outside schools”? If I stop my car for some reason just down the road from the school am I to become an outlaw? How long am I allowed to stop before having to switch off my engine?

Knowing our lot, they’d fuck it up anyway. It would probably be deemed illegal to have the engine running while a car is stationary, which would conjure up lovely images of fifty cars in the rush hour all frantically trying to restart their cars when traffic lights change to green.

I’m sure our illustrious Boys in Blue would love this law too. I suppose they would have to send a plod to each and every school in the country to enforce the law. His job would be to inspect the exhaust pipe of each vehicle to see if anything is coming out and to issue tickets accordingly.

If they did tie the law down to specifically mention “outside a school” would I be liable if my car was idling outside a shop, which just happened to be beside a school? Surely I could claim immunity as I am “outside a shop” which isn’t defined in the law?

It would be easier just to ban school runs. Make it illegal to drop off a child within a mile of a school.

Let the little sods walk or cycle, as I used to do.