Large Scale Environmental Pollution
From Fast Idling Heavy Duty Diesel Trucks
All Across America
For those of you who do not spend countless days and nights in your vehicle like I do this
observation will come as a shock to you! Heavy duty diesel trucks with large 800 cubic inch
six cylinder engines DO NOT shut their engines off when parking their vehicles even for
long 4-6 hour durations at a time! In fact many modern trucks do have auto engine shut off
features that would shut the engine off after a certain time interval, however the truck
drivers I talked to told me that they get around this fuel saving feature by fast idling their
heavy duty diesel truck engines to trick the software into believing that the vehicle is not
idling! So most 800 cubic inch heavy duty diesel trucks fast idle in the U.S. when they are
not in motion, merely parking at fuel or truck stops, parking for up to 6 or more hours while
the occupants get some rest from driving... Have you ever seen what an American truck stop
looks like in 2004? 25-75 heavy duty 800 cubic inch diesel truck engines fast idling constantly,
using up climate changing fossil fuels at an incredible rate just sitting there hour after
hour fast idling their engines and not actually going anywhere at all! I asked some of the
truck drivers why would they not want to conserve energy by shutting their 800 cubic inch
displacement heavy duty diesel truck engines OFF when it is not actually used for the energy
needed to move cargo down the highway? Mainly I was told (1) climate control for the truck
cabin where the driver resides, (2) company policy to run engine at all times, (3) it is
better for the engine to fast idle as opposed to regular idle, (4) it is not their fuel to
save, (5) the battery might discharge if engine is turned off and parking lights left on, (6) its part of the trucking
culture... The combined environmental impact of thousands of large 800 cubic inch heavy duty
diesel trucks fast idling at truck stops all across America, each for many hours at a time
while the drivers get their rest is shockingly seriously huge! Not only is it a
huge source of noise pollution but it is a huge source of unnecessary atmospheric pollution
where each one of the thousands of heavy duty diesel trucks have a six cylinder engine with at
least 800 cubic inches of displacement (14+ liters or 14000cc) and will use at least one
gallon of diesel fuel to fast idle for each hour that the heavy duty diesel truck just sits
there fast idling! The unconcerned drivers and companies know that fuel costs are easily
passed onto the ignorant consumers, and environmental noise pollution or atmospheric pollution
is NOT a concern that would modify their behavior to the point to actually shut heavy
duty diesel truck engines OFF when not using them for the transportation of goods on American
highways.
E-mail_1:tiborgbalogh@gmail.com
E-mail_2:Tibor_G_Balogh@HotMail.com
Last Update: 19.NOV.2004
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