I am writing in support of your editorial of April 19: “Stop idling your car, our ozone is killing us.”
We all have read about the very real respiratory health risks to children posed by automobile exhaust. We should not forget that there are respiratory, cardiovascular and neuro-cognitive risks to adults as well.
Just like wearing a seat belt, “no idling” needs to become our standard default. Local ordinances are important and necessary but social pressure, especially by children and parents of young children, may go the furthest in making “no idling” the standard, and the folks who do otherwise to be looked down on as outliers.
If you wouldn’t throw trash on a Utah landscape, you shouldn’t idle — sending toxic gases into the Utah air — either.
Robert T. Peterson, M.D., South Jordan