KENNEDY COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE

Week of January 22-26, 2007
Anti-Idling Blitz RESULTS

Introduction:

The week of January 22-26, 2007, students from Kennedy Collegiate Institute learned how to conduct an anti-idling blitz. Students were divided into teams, and given the responsibility of either observing or approaching vehicles in the school parking lot at the end of the school day.

Baseline observations were made on Tuesday, January 23rd in order to determine the number of idling vehicles and the amount of time vehicles spent idling. On Wednesday, January 24th, students approached motorists to hand out information packages, to tell them about Windsor’s anti-idling by-law, and to ask them to turn off their engine as they wait. Finally, follow-up observations were made on Thursday, January 25th.

Results:

On Tuesday, January 23rd, students observed a total of 34 vehicles. Twenty-seven (or 79%) of these were idling for an average of 9 minutes. Whereas some vehicles idled for as little as 30 seconds, others idled for as long as 20 minutes (which was the entire length of our observation period).

On Wednesday, January 24th, students approached a total of 32 vehicles. Twenty-five (or 78%) of these were idling. Twenty-seven (or 87% of) motorists were willing to talk about the anti-idling issues, and 28 (or 90% ) of them took the information package that was handed out by the students. Twelve (or 41% of) motorists put the Idle-Free Zone sticker on their windshield, demonstrating their commitment to reducing the amount of time they spend idling.

On Thursday, January 25th, students observed a total of 43 vehicles. Thirty-two (or 74%) of these were idling for an average of 5 minutes. Whereas some vehicles idled for as little as 1 minute, others idled for as long as 20 minutes.

Conclusion:

The anti-idling project seems to have had an impact on motorists’ idling behaviour. This was demonstrated by comparing the number of idling vehicles and the amount of time vehicles spent idling on both observation days. Specifically, motorists idled for an average of 4 minutes less on the second observation day. Also, there were 5% fewer idling vehicles on the second observation day. Approaching vehicles and talking about the anti-idling issues seems to have had a positive impact on the motorists who wait in the Kennedy Collegiate parking lot at the end of the school day. Way to go Kennedy!!