Survey Shows Huge Need for Yorkshire Business’s Idling Awareness Day

Yorkshire-based vehicle security and technology solutions provider, HH Driveright, has outlined the huge need for its inaugural Idling Awareness Day on May 17, after consumer research revealed 49% of people do not know what ‘engine idling’ is.

The vehicle specialist also found there is much work still to do in its own region – classed as Yorkshire and Humberside by researchers – when it comes to this environmental issue.  Here, 44% of people do not know what engine idling refers to.

This is despite engine idling being a habit resulting in tonnes of noxious chemicals being pumped out of vehicle exhausts and into the environment totally unnecessarily and the fact that engine idling contributes to the 40,000 deaths a year in the UK, which are caused by air pollution.[i]

This was, however, a higher degree of awareness in Yorkshire and Humberside than in the least aware region - Greater London -  where 57% of interviewees told the HH Driveright survey that they did not know what engine idling means.  This was followed by 56% of those in the East Midlands and Northern Ireland and 50% of people in Wales.

Leeds was also more aware of idling than many other UK cities.  Only 33% of people in Leeds did not understand the term, compared to 60% in Manchester, 54% in Birmingham and 53% in London.  Sheffield did not fare as well, with 56% there not understanding the term.

The city most aware what engine idling is proved to be Plymouth, where only 23% did not understood the term.  

The findings of the HH Driveright survey are worrying, not just because cities such as London, where air pollution is rife, have had specific campaigns to urge drivers to cut out engine idling but because the need to avoid engine idling is specifically mentioned in the Highway Code.  

The Highway Code’s Rule 123, which is focused on ‘The Driver and the Environment’, states  drivers must not leave a parked vehicle unattended with the engine running or leave a vehicle engine running unnecessarily while the vehicle is stationary on a public road.

When asked if they thought the Highway Code says anything about engine idling, nearly a quarter (24%) said they don’t think it does, with this rising to 28% of men and 18-24-year-olds and 31% of 25-34-year-olds.  50% of people didn’t know one way or another. 

A third of those surveyed in Greater London said they did not believe there was any mention of engine idling in the Highway Code – a percentage closely matched in South East England (31%) and Northern Ireland (29%). 

In Yorkshire and Humberside and Leeds, however, only one-fifth (20%) of those surveyed believed the Highway Code does not mention this.

The current fine of £20 for engine idling (with a potential to rise to £80 in London), which can be handed out by some local authorities as a Fixed Penalty Notice under the terms of the Road Traffic (Vehicle Emissions) (Fixed Penalty) (England) Regulations 2002, is  seen as not nearly enough by over a third of people.  

35% said they believed fines needed to be £500 or more, to have any impact.  This viewpoint rose sharply in Scotland, where 44% believed this, in Wales (41%) and in the North West (40%).  Nearly half of those in Edinburgh (48%) felt a fine of over £500 or more would be necessary, which contrasted sharply with Belfast, where only 15% believed this.

In Yorkshire and Humberside and Leeds, nearly a third of interviewees (32%) believed fines of £500 or more would be necessary.

HH Driveright’s managing director, Rebecca Hall, whose company offers van fleets its astute GM2020 technological solution, which has an engine idling identifier function, as one of its many  features, to help fleet managers clamp down on this bad habit, says: “We are somewhat shocked to find so many people are unaware what engine idling is and just how many do not believe the Highway Code mentions it. 

“Even though Yorkshire & Humberside has more awareness than many regions, there are still many people unaware of engine idling and what the Highway Code says about it, so we have work to do on home soil, as well as UK-wide, through our Idling Awareness Day.

“Our calculations show that engine idling for just an hour a day, in one diesel vehicle, can create 3100.5kg of CO2 a year and waste £2047.50 of fuel.  It makes no sense not to address engine idling and get out of the bad habit of doing it.

“It is also clear from our research that we cannot expect a fine of just £20, handed out only if the driver refuses to turn their engine off, to have any impact on this poor driving behaviour.  We need to educate drivers first and foremost, make them aware of the environmental and financial impacts of engine idling and increase the penalty for those who unnecessarily continue to keep engines running when there is no need to do so.”

HH Driveright will be revealing more facts and figures about engine idling before Idling Awareness Day on May 17 and is urging councils and motoring bodies to get behind the day and help increase knowledge of engine idling and its impacts.

More information about HH Driveright and its GM2020 device can be found at www.hhdriveright.com and Idling Awareness Day information is also at 

Notes to Editors

1.     HH Driveright commissioned a survey of 1000 consumers through Censuswide, in late April 2023, to elicit views on engine idling, whether or not drivers or drivers in their household engaged in engine idling in specific scenarios, and views on air pollution.  

2.     HH Driveright is a Leeds-based technological solutions company headquartered in Garforth, producing a variety of vehicle security and vehicle compliance solutions for fleets, private drivers, caravan owners and couriers.  The company won the AA-sponsored Keeping Your Show on the Road Award, at the 2022, Logistics UK Van Awards, in recognition of the benefits to be derived from its solutions.  These include the GM2020 – a device fitted to a van, which collects a huge amount of data and insight on driving behaviours, including engine idling.  The GM2020 also provides a CO2 calculator, which enables fleets to assess the CO2 they are generating and take measures to reduce it or offset it.  Furthermore, the GM2020 acts on the huge issue of delivery van theft, by immobilising a van, after 10 seconds, if the delivery driver has left the keys inside.  If the vehicle is compatible, the device can also auto-lock the doors.  The delivery driver, although able to get their van remobilised within minutes, quickly addresses their behaviour and learns to lock the doors.  

The same impacts on engine idling could be derived, if the fleet manager runs an idling report and then takes the issue up with their drivers, to ask them to be more responsible.  The report is a huge part of reporting capabilities for those fleets who need to prove to clients, with ECG procedures, that they do all possible to reduce their environmental impacts.

3.     A podcast with Rebecca Hall, in which she talks about all of the solutions available to drivers, including the GM2020, is available at bit.ly/3VyaGqR

[i] https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/emissions/idling/

Ends

Editors notes

HH Driveright is an award-winning vehicle security and compliance specialist, with exciting and advanced solutions for van drivers, caravan owners and car drivers wishing to protect their vehicles, livelihood and reputation. It won the 'Keeping Your Show on the Road' award at the 2022 Logistics UK Van Awards and is continually finding ways to achieve that goal, to keep vehicles and their drivers or owners safe and protected.