Pennsylvania idling law: the 5-minute per hour rule

What the law says

No driver or owner of a diesel-powered motor vehicle with a gross weight of 10,001 pounds or more, engaged in commerce, shall cause and no owner or operator of the location where the vehicle loads, unloads or parks shall allow the engine of the vehicle to idle for more than five minutes in any continuous 60-minute period…

Act 124 of 2008, §3(a)

Who and what it covers

Only diesel vehicles of 10,001 lbs gross weight or more that are “engaged in commerce” are covered. DEP reads that phrase to include any vehicle with a business name or logo on the outside, any vehicle carrying or heading to pick up a load or trailer, and school buses, while a diesel used exclusively for private use is not covered. Motor homes, farm vehicles, farm equipment and implements of husbandry are excluded outright (§3(b)). The limit is a running total: five minutes in any continuous 60-minute period, not five minutes at a stretch.

Exemptions

• Stopped by highway traffic, a traffic signal or device, or a law enforcement official (§3(c)(1))
• Defrosters, heaters, air conditioning or cargo refrigeration needed to prevent a safety or health emergency, and not for a rest period (§3(c)(2))
• Buses, school buses and school vehicles with non-driver passengers aboard: heat or air conditioning for up to 15 minutes in a continuous 60-minute period, with no cap when needed for students with special needs (§3(c)(10))
• Sampling, weighing, active loading or unloading, or an attended truck waiting for those: up to 15 minutes in any continuous 60-minute period (§3(c)(12))
• Mechanical breakdown, but only if the owner mails the repair paperwork to DEP within 30 days of the repair (§3(c)(9))
• Maintenance, particulate filter regeneration, servicing, diagnostics, or a Federal or State inspection that requires idling (§3(c)(4), (5))
• Work-related mechanical, safety or electrical operations other than propulsion; cabin comfort and nonessential onboard equipment do not count (§3(c)(6))
• Emergency, public safety, military and utility vehicles in an emergency or training mode, security checks entering or leaving a facility, and armored vehicles with a guard inside (§3(c)(3), (7), (8))
• School buses queuing off school property where the school’s layout does not allow stopping, oversize loads waiting for a police escort, and active trash or recycling collection (§3(c)(13) to (15))
• Trucks displaying a CARB label showing the engine meets California’s optional NOx idling standard are exempt from the limit entirely (§3(d))

Penalties

A conviction is a summary offense with a fine of “not less than $150 and not more than $300 and court costs” (Act 124, §5(a)). Separately, DEP may issue enforcement orders and assess a civil penalty that “shall not exceed $1,000 per day for each violation” (§5(b)). Where local police brought the case, half the fine goes to their municipality and half to the state Clean Air Fund (§6(b)); otherwise all of it goes to the Clean Air Fund. If the convicted driver is not the owner, DEP must notify the vehicle’s owner (§5(c)).

Who enforces it, and how to report

State police, local police and DEP all enforce. The Act lets the Secretary of Environmental Protection designate DEP employees to issue citations for the summary offense, with the Office of General Counsel prosecuting (§7). Locations where covered trucks load or unload, or that provide 15 or more parking spaces for them, must post at least one permanent sign, PennDOT sign R7-100, telling drivers idling is restricted (§8), and DEP warns that property owners risk fines if illegal idling occurs on their property.

DEP’s statewide environmental complaint line is 1-866-255-5158, and it takes complaints online through its Environmental Complaint Form (reviewed weekdays 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.). DEP says reports are confidential. You can also take an idling complaint to state or local police. Inside Philadelphia, the city handles it: diesel trucks and buses over 8,500 lbs go to Air Management Services at (215) 685-7580 (weekdays 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.) or dphams_service_requests@phila.gov, and the city says those complaints are investigated the same day; any other vehicle goes to the Philadelphia Parking Authority at (888) 591-3636 or to police.

Schools and school buses

Act 124 has no separate school rule, but it treats school buses as engaged in commerce and gives them two specific allowances: up to 15 minutes per continuous 60-minute period of heat or air conditioning with students aboard (unlimited when needed for students with special needs), and queuing off school property when the school’s street layout does not allow stopping (§3(c)(10), (13)).

Local rules in Pennsylvania

• Philadelphia (all vehicles): No motor vehicle may idle longer than three minutes while parking, stopping or standing, unless it is below 20°F, the vehicle is an authorized emergency vehicle, doing government road work, being serviced, running auxiliary equipment (not heat or air conditioning), or stuck in traffic. Buses and trucks at a terminal point on an established route get five minutes, with no limit at 40°F or below. Fines are set under the city’s parking adjudication chapter, 12-2800. The Parking Authority and police enforce it. (Philadelphia Code §12-1127(1), (2); §12-1129(2))
• Allegheny County (Pittsburgh): The county health department’s diesel idling regulation is still on the books, but DEP reports it has been found not more restrictive than Act 124, so ACHD does not enforce it and refers idling complaints to DEP. (PA DEP, Diesel Idling and Act 124, Local Regulations)

History

Signed October 9, 2008 (P.L. 1511, No. 124) and effective February 6, 2009, 120 days later. Its sleeper-berth exemption for rest periods below 40°F or above 75°F expired May 1, 2010 (§3(c)(11)).

Reporting in Pennsylvania is unpaid. The only program that pays complainants is New York City's.