Windscreens

Now I was always told and indeed taught that you shouldn’t drive anywhere until vision is clear for the simple obvious reasons !!!

Some of my cars have heated windscreen , some don’t , but whatever I really don’t move until I can see where I’m going , indeed in the old carburettor days you’d spend a few minutes warming up until choke was no longer needed ...
But today we live in crazy times where the pc brigade in the rush to hug a penguin somewhere turn common sense on its head and so am I reading this correct in saying police ( for younger readers police are something that used to help you when needed ) will screw you for idling and clearing windscreen and are in reality saying you SHOULD BE DRIVING WITHOUT VISIBILTY !!!???? That’s what I’m reading between the lines here

494 drivers fined in 4 years for de-icing windows with idling engines
https://mol.im/a/6755399

We asked all police forces in England and Wales how many fines they'd issued
Since 2015 only 494 people had been fined
The Road Traffic Act 1988 states you can be fined up to £40 for leaving your engine running - but it's unlikely to happen
How many drivers were fined where you live? Check the table below to find out
Fewer than 500 of Britain's 48million motorists - which works out at around 0.001 per cent of all licence holders - have been fined in the last four years by police for leaving their engines running.

This undermines warnings about being slapped with fines for de-icing windscreens.
Leaving your car's engine to idle so the heater can defrost the windows is an offence under Section 42 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, with motoring organisations and companies seeking publicity regularly using cold snaps to issue warnings it can 'land drivers in hot water' with the law and a £40 penalty.
However, police records suggest this isn't necessarily the truth.
According to data obtained through a Freedom of Information request by This is Money, police forces around the country revealed just 494 fines had been handed out since 2015 for breaches of Section 42 - and many of them won't even be for de-icing a car outside the owner's home.



As for engine off in traffic , one of my cars does indeed switch itself off when stopped ... however ford have spent a lot more developing my car than the British government think tank and there are times the car says NO !!! And keeps running asi presume it’s decided battery has had enough stop starting so again the police are saying they are all mechanics now too and KNOW MY BATTERY IS GOING TO KEEP STARTIN G ME ALL DAY

Re: Windscreens

Cars with stop/start use a different battery type (AGM). Also the starter motors are uprated to handle constant stop and start

Re: Windscreens

Agh right so it’s okay to drive without seeing through a frosted steamed up windscreen ....

Re: Windscreens

My point exactly .... other cars aren’t even updated ...

Re: Windscreens

I think it’s only if the car is left unattended whilst the engine is running that you can be fined, if you sit in your vehicle while it’s defrosting the windscreen then that’s ok, cold I know , plus ,if your car is stolen whilst the keys are in and the engine is running,then it’s unlikely your insurance will pay out

Re: Windscreens

What we should all remember is that all this rubbish has absolutely nothing to do with the environment or saving the planet but it has everything to do with money. The authorities will continue to screw the motorists until they are unable to afford it. It will be a single driver tax next.

I have only recently obtained the dreaded stop/start button but I doubt it would work if the windscreen de-icer was on. I'm not sure because I always turn it off anyway.

Re: Windscreens

It would be understandable to fine someone for sitting in a parked car with the engine on and music blaring. As most of the drivers fined were men, I'm assuming fluttering your eyelashes still works for the ladies.