Good questions out there about what are the current idling laws, if any? Woodstock Early Bird has learned that Burlington, Vermont limits idling to three minutes or you’re ticketed. And, already under state statutes, according my locally well-informed Woodstock Police officers, “standing” in a road-way is prohibited.
We’re sure Sustainable Woodstock’s Chris Miller would be happy to share MORE info on this issue directly.
Also, WCAX-TV did a piece on anti-idling campaigns last January which you can find at http://www.wcax.com
Here is the current STATE LAW related to the matter newly under discussion:
Title 23: Motor Vehicles
Chapter 13: OPERATION OF VEHICLES
23 V.S.A. § 1101. Stopping, standing or parking
§ 1101. Stopping, standing or parking
(a) No person shall stop, park or leave standing any vehicle, whether attended or unattended, upon the paved or main-traveled part of the highway or within that portion of a highway right of way which the traffic committee finds to be a dangerous location on the basis of an engineering and traffic investigation and designates as a no-parking zone by suitable signs at each end, and by such additional signs as the committee may determine.
(b) Where parking is permitted, at all times an unobstructed width of the highway opposite a standing vehicle shall be left for the free passage of other vehicles and a clear view permitted of any stopped vehicles from a distance of 200 feet in each direction upon the highway.
(c) This section does not apply to any vehicle which is disabled while on the paved or main-traveled portion of a highway in a manner and to the extent that it is impossible or impractical to avoid stopping and temporarily leaving the disabled vehicle in that position, nor to stopping at a railroad grade crossing. (Added 1971, No. 258 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. March 1, 1973.)
If you have been ticketed in the past, it was probably under this particular bit of legislation.
Julia Carlisle
Woodstock Early Bird 