Fined in Singapore for Car Idling: What You Need to Know

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So you need to take away a quick meal, and you leave your car idling for five minutes with your kid in it as a human coupon. You come back with the fish noodles and... you got summoned. You read the slip, and it says its for "car-idling".

Yes. In Singapore, other than waiting for traffic to move, it's pretty much illegal to leave your car running while it's stationary.

What's the point, right? Well...

Why is it necessary?

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Global warming! Motor vehicles pollute the air by emitting an ungodly amount of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and other earth killers. To put it into perspective, for every 10 minutes your engine is off, you'd save nearly half a kilogram from being released.

Repeat for a year, and that's about 165 kilograms of carbon dioxide gas kept from the environment. That's how much just turning off your car for 10 minutes a day can help!

How much will I get fined?

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If you think you are safe just idling for awhile, think again! For the first 3 months of 2016 alone, NEA took action against 1,489 motorists just for idling vehicles- an average of nearly 500 a month! And if you're caught? That's a $70 fine for first-time offenders, a $100 fine for repeat offenders, and a whopping $5,000 if you refuse to pay. Wew!

What's in it from me?

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Okay, we get it. You might not be the biggest tree-hugger and would rather watch the world burn around you (not talking about the Singaporean heat) and enjoy your extra 10 minutes of sweet, sweet air-con.

We're guilty of that too.

However, besides risking a heavy fine, not idling your car could help you save money too! You might think that turning your car off and on again burns more fuel than just letting your car idle. That might be the case, well, if you're idling for less than 10 seconds. Past that and you're burning precious dollars!

Fuel cost about $2 per litre nowadays, and an hour of idling burns nearly a litre of fuel, which pretty much means you're burning away your dollars.

For the sake of all breathing folks, the world and your wallet, don't leave your car running!

Read more: Car Parks in Singapore with Free Parking (2018 Edition)

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