Forest Park issues spate of tickets for warming up cars, leaving unattended cars running

ajc.com ^ | Published on: 03/06/07 | By KATHY JEFCOATS

[rawhide]

Louise Wood warms up her car every chilly morning so her 6-year-old son won't have to get into a cold car. After starting the engine, she locks her car, sets its alarm, and heads back into her home.

Sounds basic, but Wood and more than a dozen other Forest Park residents have learned an expensive lesson about this common routine.

It's against the law.

A little-known state statute makes it illegal to leave a car running and unattended. The 33-year-old law was meant to prevent driverless cars from rolling away.

But the law is finding new purpose in Wood's hometown of 22,000 people, as a tool to prevent auto theft.

Wood, a senior operations clerk at AT&T, is one of 14 people ticketed since January by Forest Park police for violating Georgia code section 40-6-201. The ticket runs $168.

"I was furious," Wood said after getting a ticket at her apartment complex. "I guess the police would rather me sit in my car while it warms up and let some carjacker point a gun to my head than let me lock and alarm it while it runs."

Wood pleaded ignorance of the law. And, in this case, she has company. Attorneys specializing in traffic violations and police in several jurisdictions said they had no clue.

Auto theft in Forest Park dropped by 25 percent last year, from 240 in 2005 to 180 in 2006. But Matson remains concerned. He said 11 cars left warming and unattended were stolen during the first five weeks of 2007.

[rawhide]

I wonder how many of these cops leave their own police cars running?

[rlmorel]

Well, at least they weren't doing it in the guise of preventing Global Warming.

That we know of.

[Jaysun]

Well, at least they weren't doing it in the guise of preventing Global Warming.

That we know of.

Right. I fully expected that to be the reason given.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

This is a true story.

Vice President Bush and his wife were going to visit their son G. W. Bush in Midland, Texas.

The SS had checked out the neighbors earlier but checked to see if they had any new people or visitors in the Mid Class housing area.

One of the supervisors of 2 of my crews lived next door.
He had just received a new company car and had started it to warm it up while he finished his coffee.
The car caught on fire under the hood (maybe a loose gas line).
There were more SS Agents and people running around, the fire was put out and it was put on an Army trailer to be hauled away.
The car was leased and he was given a new leased car the same day and nothing was ever mentioned about the old burned auto.

I wondered what tests the car was put through!