Idle Cars

OUR DOORSTEP... WHICH PROBABLY MEANS YOU'LL WANT TO WARM UP YOUR CAR BEFORE TAKING OFF. BUT IF YOU DO... YOU BETTER STAY IN IT... MAX TSAPARIS JOINS US NOW LIVE IN ROCKFORD... AND MAX... TONS OF PEOPLE DO WHAT YOU'RE DOING NOW... BUT IT MIGHT NOT BE THE BEST IDEA... THIS WINTER--MANY OF US WILL START THE CAR AND LEAVE TO LET IT WARM UP BEFORE GETTING BACK IN IT. BUT IF YOU LEAVE YOUR CAR IDLING IN CERTAIN PLACES--YOU MAY BE BREAKING THE LAW. MANY OF US ARE GUILTY OF IT. WE LEAVE OUR CARS WHILE THEY'RE WARMING UP BEFORE GETTING BACK IN. "It's miserable, like, who wants to go out in the cold?" "You don't want to go out to your car and it's freezing cold and then you have to go drive around in the freezing cold and wait for it to warm up." "I do it every day during the winter." BUT CAREFUL--IF YOU DO IT ON A SIDE STREET OR ANY OTHER ROAD--YOU COULD BE SLAPPED WITH A 120 DOLLAR TICKET. THE LOVES PARK POLICE CHIEF SAYS IT'S FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY. "I don't blame people, cuz it's cold out here during the winter. It's nice to be able to leave the store and jump in a warm car and take off...But they may come out and find their car gone!" BUT SOME ARE JUST--NOW--BECOMING AWARE OF THE LAW. "I had recently got stopped in my subdivision and was told that I'm not allowed to leave my car running in my driveway to warm up in the morning." ACTUALLY -- THERE'S SOME CONFUSION ABOUT THAT. THE STATE POLICE SAY YOU CAN'T BE TICKETED IF YOU LEAVE YOUR CAR IDLING ON PRIVATE PROPERTY LIKE YOUR DRIVEWAY OR IN A COMERICAL LOT AND HERE'S ANOTHER EXCEPTION: "When you have a lock out in your ignition to where the key comes out, that's perfectly fine to do to leave your vehicle running that way." BUT WILL STATELINERS LET THE LAW -- LEAVE THEM OUT IN THE COLD? "I'll keep my car on my driveway and start it." "They can make it against the law if they want to, but I don't care." SO HERE AT THE SO HERE AT THE MOBIL GAS STATION, IT'S ACTUALLY OKAY TO LEAVE YOUR CAR WHILE IT'S IDLING. THAT IS--UNLESS THE COMPANY SETS UP AN ORDIANCE WITH THE POLICE ALLOWING THEM TO TICKET YOU. BUT IN REALITY, WHETHER YOU'RE IN YOUR DRIVEWAY OR AT A GAS STATION--THE POLICE CHIEF SAYS YOU RISK YOUR CAR BEING STOLEN IF YOU LEAVE THE KEYS IN THE IGNITION. REPORTING AT THE MERIDIAN MOBIL--MAX TSAPARIS-- EYEWITNESS NEWS.