BANFF – The Town of Banff is looking to strengthen its no-idling bylaw to include all vehicles.
The municipality currently has a policy banning idling of commercial vehicles, but the governance and finance committee has unanimously voted to explore expanding the policy to non-commercial motorized vehicles as a priority in 2023.
Mayor Corrie DiManno said this direction would fit with Banff’s goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change – by 30 per cent by 2030 and by 80 per cent by 2050.
“There’s a bit of inconsistency that we have this for commercial vehicles, but not non-commercial vehicles and I’d like to explore what that could look like,” she said.
“This speaks to our higher level environmental goals and wanting to reduce our GHG emissions.”
Coun. Hugh Pettigrew said he doesn’t mind exploring the idea, but said he doesn’t know how a bylaw could be enforced.
“I am concerned about how we’re going to enforce 30,000 cars, 35,000 cars,” he said. “Certainly the education piece might be more important at this point.”
Natural Resources Canada has developed ready-to-use graphic materials, articles, tools and templates that can help people organize anti-idling public education campaigns at the workplace or develop a larger-scale awareness and outreach campaign in a community.
According to Natural Resources Canada, one easy way to cut fuel consumption, save money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions is to avoid unnecessary idling.
For every litre of gasoline used, the federal department estimates a vehicle produces about 2.3 kilograms of carbon dioxide (CO2), the principle greenhouse gas linked to climate change. If all drivers avoided unnecessary idling for three minutes a day, 1.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide would be prevented from entering the atmosphere daily and contributing to climate change.
“This would be equal to saving over 630 million litres of fuel and equivalent to taking 320,000 cars off of the road for the entire year,” states the government’s website. “Clearly‚ individual actions‚ when taken by millions of Canadians‚ can make a difference.”
In neighbouring Canmore, vehicles are not allowed to idle for longer than five minutes anywhere within the town. Canmore’s anti-idling bylaw has been in place since 2014.
DiManno said there are many Alberta communities with no-idling policies.
“They vary from community to community with different types of parameters,” she said.
“I’m being mindful that there may be some exceptions, but I don’t want to presuppose what those could be.”
Banff’s existing bylaw for commercial vehicles and Canmore’s bylaw include some exceptions.
The no-idling restriction in both bylaws does not apply to the following vehicles while being used in a work setting that requires that the vehicle be stopped or parked and idling – emergency vehicles; vehicles used in conjunction with the servicing of public utilities including telephone systems, electric systems, natural gas systems and cable vision systems; municipal and other government public works vehicles; and towing service vehicles.
Canmore’s bylaw also includes an exception for photo radar enforcement vehicles.
