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Is Your School an Idle-FREE Zone???

Air Pollution especially Diesel Exhaust and Gasoline Exhaust are threats to anyone with asthma. Exhaust fumes and particles from the combustion of these fossil fuels are a known trigger of asthma attacks.

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WV-DEP) has provided IDLE-FREE ZONE SIGNS to all 55 counties in West Virginia to be posted at every school. These signs are to remind bus drivers, parents, teachers, and kids that you should not sit with the engine running.

  • Does your school have their signs posted?
  • Do the bus drivers turn off their engines while they wait to pick up or drop off the kids?
  • Do the parents turn off their engines while they wait to pick up or drop off their kids?

What can you do to help? – Contact the School Principal and the School Superindendent for that county to ask why the anti-idling signs are not posted and if the school bus drivers are not shutting off their engines as stated in the WV School Policy. 

The West Virginia Department of Education has a policy in place to reduce idling problems near schools. It regulates the school buses idling by stating: 

  • In normal weather, a school bus operator shall not idle the bus while waiting for or loading students.
  • Buses will be allowed to idle when the temperature is 40 degrees F or colder, when needed to defrost driving windows, when the safety or comfort of the students is in question, or when emergency dictates.

  • School bus operators are prohibited from idling the buses for more than 10 minutes unless defrosting windows and then idling shall be limited to thirty minutes

A new rule signed into law May 13, 2010 Restricts the Idling of Diesel-Powered Motor Vehicles in West Virginia. The law states: No driver or owner of a diesel-powered motor vehicle with a gross vehicle weight of ten thousand one pounds or more engaged in commerce may cause, and no owner or operator of the location where the vehicle loads, unloads or parks, may allow the engine of the vehicle to idle for more than five minutes in any continuous sixty- minute period, except as provided under section three of this article. §17C-13A-3. Drivers who don’t follow the new law could face a fine of up to $300. To view the entire law go to http://www.legis.state.wv.us/bill_status.

WVAC No Idling Campaign

Click on the following for more information   

WV-DEP Anti-Idling Information

WV-DEP Anti-Idling Brochure

WV-DEP Distribution of Anti-Idling Signage 2009

 

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