The City of Kamloops says no one was fined in 2020 under its anti-idling bylaw.

Staff responded to 17 complaints last year and all were dealt with by education, according to community services manager Tammy Blundell.

“The idea is to educate about idling not to necessary fine. In all instances we did not have evidence that the person was idling,” Blundell says.

City councillor Kathy Sinclair says the bylaw was updated more than two years ago and she’s still seeing people idling when they don’t need to, in what has been an “extremely mild” winter for the most part.

“I think this is the kind of change that will only happen when we get some positive peer pressure. Like wearing a seatbelt, or no longer smoking in indoor public spaces or airplanes. Let’s stop idling our vehicles and consider our neighbours, our air quality and our (greenhouse gas emissions).

Drivers in Kamloops could be fined $100 dollars for idling for more than three minutes.

There are exceptions to the rule for emergency vehicles, for vehicles in traffic or in drive-thrus, vehicles pulled over with mechanical issues and city crews doing pesticide control work.