Idling

Often when I watch cops, limo drivers, contractors, and all manner of citizens idling in their vehicles for no good purpose and spewing useless emissions into the ether, I think to myself: there really ought to be a law about this. Especially for cops.

And, thanks to the miracle of the so-called "internet", I find that already in 2006 there were a number of state and local laws on idling. Below is the statute from Princeton Township, New Jersey (there is none for Princeton Borough, where I live, nor are there any in the whole state of North Carolina). Note below that cops are not exempted. But if you bust them, they'll hassle you. What are you gonna do?

Sec. 11-31.9 Idling of gasoline fueled motor vehicles on township streets.
Pursuant to N.J.A.C. 7:27-14.3, no person may cause, suffer allow or permit the engine of a gasoline fueled motor vehicle to idle for more than three consecutive minutes on streets within the Township of Princeton if the vehicle is not in motion with the following exceptions:
(a) The above provisions shall not apply to:
(1) Autobuses while discharging or picking up passengers;
(2) Motor vehicles stopped in a line of traffic;
(3) Motor vehicles whose primary and/or secondary power source is utilized in whole or in part for necessary and definitively prescribed mechanical operation other than propulsion, passenger compartment heating or air conditions;
(4) Motor vehicles being or waiting to be examined by state or federal motor vehicle inspectors;
(5) Emergency motor vehicles in an emergency situation;
(6) Motor vehicles while being repaired;
(7) Motor vehicles while engaged in the process of connection, detachment or exchange of trailers; or
(8) Motor vehicles manufactured with a sleeper berth while being used in a nonresidentially zoned area by the vehicle’s operator for sleeping or resting.
(Ord. No. 2004-9, § 2.)