Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > comp.misc > #4234

Re: Policecar computer takes 7 minutes to boot, so they leave the engines running 24 hours a day

Show all headers | View raw

On 2014-08-04, Whiskers <catwheezel@operamail.com> wrote:
> On 2014-08-03, Paul Sture <nospam@sture.ch> wrote:
>> On 2014-08-02, Whiskers <catwheezel@operamail.com> wrote:
>>> On 2014-07-31, Paul Sture <nospam@sture.ch> wrote:
>
> [...]
>
>> In Switzerland and possibly Germany it is illegal to leave your car
>> running when not needed and it is common practice to switch off at red
>> traffic lights.  The owners handbook for my 1997 Audi documented an
>> extra which started the engine when you depressed the clutch to ease
>> the process, though I've never come across a car which actually has
>> this feature fitted.
>
> It's an option on several models; I think Citroën may have been the
> first maker to offer it.  I don't know how well it works in practice;
> I'd be worried about causing annoyance by not moving off promptly enough
> for the idiot behind, or of flattening the battery in a long stop-go
> traffic jam.

Moving off promptly isn't a problem when everyone is doing it.  I can't
see that working in France though.  My experience of Paris driving is that
everyone in the queue is watching for the light to change and as soon
as it goes green (or more precisely the other lights turn red, if they can
be seen) everyone moves off en masse.

>> Besides all that, in 1973 got a caution for leaving a car unattended
>> with the ignition switched on.  After all these years I don't remember
>> the wording of the offence but it might have covered leaving the keys
>> in the ignition with the engine off.
>
> Could be quite dangerous if the fuel pump is electric.

Yes, the pressure of fuel pumps for injection engines is surprisingly high.

I've a feeling the offence was to do with the concept of the driver being
in control of the car; you ain't if someone can just drive it off.   It's
a basic deterrent against opportunistic theft - the example the copper
gave me was of someone popping into a newsagents and leaving the car
running.

-- 
The early bird gets the worm but the second mouse gets the cheese.
The early mouse is now a late mouse of course.

Back to comp.misc | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Next in thread | Find similar | Unroll thread

Thread

Policecar computer takes 7 minutes to boot, so they leave the engines running 24 hours a day Paul Sture <nospam@sture.ch> - 2014-07-31 13:47 +0200
  Re: Policecar computer takes 7 minutes to boot, so they leave the engines running 24 hours a day Andy Burns <usenet.feb2014@adslpipe.co.uk> - 2014-07-31 19:30 +0100
  Re: Policecar computer takes 7 minutes to boot, so they leave the engines running 24 hours a day "Dirk T. Verbeek" <dverbeek@xs4all.nl> - 2014-08-01 07:02 -0300
  Re: Policecar computer takes 7 minutes to boot, so they leave the engines running 24 hours a day Shadow <Sh@dow.br> - 2014-08-01 10:33 -0300
  Re: Policecar computer takes 7 minutes to boot, so they leave the engines running 24 hours a day Whiskers <catwheezel@operamail.com> - 2014-08-02 16:25 +0100
    Re: Policecar computer takes 7 minutes to boot, so they leave the engines running 24 hours a day Paul Sture <nospam@sture.ch> - 2014-08-03 23:19 +0200
      Re: Policecar computer takes 7 minutes to boot, so they leave the engines running 24 hours a day Whiskers <catwheezel@operamail.com> - 2014-08-04 01:07 +0100
        Re: Policecar computer takes 7 minutes to boot, so they leave the engines running 24 hours a day Paul Sture <nospam@sture.ch> - 2014-08-04 13:38 +0200
      Re: Policecar computer takes 7 minutes to boot, so they leave the engines running 24 hours a day Andy Burns <usenet.feb2014@adslpipe.co.uk> - 2014-08-04 07:29 +0100
        Re: Policecar computer takes 7 minutes to boot, so they leave the engines running 24 hours a day Paul Sture <nospam@sture.ch> - 2014-08-04 13:51 +0200
      Re: Policecar computer takes 7 minutes to boot, so they leave the engines running 24 hours a day Gordon Henderson <gordon+usenet@drogon.net> - 2014-08-04 12:06 +0000
      Re: Policecar computer takes 7 minutes to boot, so they leave the engines running 24 hours a day "Dirk T. Verbeek" <dverbeek@xs4all.nl> - 2014-08-04 14:12 +0200
      Re: Policecar computer takes 7 minutes to boot, so they leave the engines running 24 hours a day Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be.invalid> - 2014-08-04 14:36 +0200
    Re: Policecar computer takes 7 minutes to boot, so they leave the   engines running 24 hours a day Sylvia Else <sylvia@not.at.this.address> - 2014-08-07 23:10 +1000

csiph-web