If you’ve been keeping up with the news relating to the environment, you’ve likely heard some weird stories. I recently encountered one reporting that Australia is considering a Child Tax. This basically means that people who have children will have to pay a tax because they are creating more people, which means bad news for the environment (Australia’s idea, not mine).

But back here in North America, the ideas aren’t much saner.

In Ontario, California, officials are considering a $30 fine imposed on people who leave their cars running for more than one minute. The only exceptions to this rule apply to stop lights and drive-thru windows.

Luckily, this is in southern California, a place where it doesn’t get very cold during the winters. If this occurred in Michigan, for instance, there would be a huge uproar. You can’t just get into your certified Ford (or any other car for that matter) on a frigid morning and start driving. You can do serious damage to some auto parts if you don’t allow them to warm up first and get the fluids flowing. Heck, your defroster won’t even work right until the vehicle has warmed up for at least a few minutes. If the defroster isn’t warmed up, it’ll just make your windshield even foggier than it already is.

But apparently some people are more concerned with the pollution that drivers create than the safety of those drivers.
According to Donald Fraser, manager of air quality and transportation for Peterborough Green-Up, the new law should also apply to drive-thru windows. He walks into Tim Horton instead of using the drive-thru. Apparently, he thinks everybody should do the same.

Why not take it a step further? Make the law apply to stoplights, too. If you come up to a red light, make a legal right turn and go around the block until you have a green light.

If you ask me, some of these laws are simply going too far. Does anybody else agree?