California is governed by morons and jerks

Today's trucking:Sleeper trucks now banned from idling in California dated 10/26/05

Heavy-duty trucks with sleepers are now prohibited from idling for more than 5 minutes in the Golden State.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has passed a regulation adding diesel trucks with sleeper cabs to the current prohibition on diesel engines. The regulation applies to current and future trucks, and will go into effect in 2008.

The rule is a follow-up to earlier regulations that limit idling but excluded diesel trucks with sleeper berths, which frequently depend on idling for cabin climate control and to run appliances.

The first part of the rule regulates new 2008 and subsequent model year heavy-duty diesel engines, requiring them to be equipped with a non-programmable engine shutdown system that automatically shuts down the engine after five minutes of continuous idling.

The second component regulates in-use sleeper berth-equipped trucks, including those registered out-of-state, requiring operators to shut off their engines before the five minute idling time is reached. The rule provides for the use of alternative technologies to provide power for cab comfort, such as auxiliary generators, and on-board accessories that would otherwise have required continuous idling of the vehicle’s main engine.

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About one quarter of trucks operating in California are registered out-of-state, with 90 percent of those vehicles equipped with sleeper cabs.

Of course california is talking about banning the use of APUs (i.e. the "auxiliary generators") mentioned above in 2007. So most truckers will have no legal climate control method while they sleep. That'll be for in the summer. So we'll have lots of extra tired truckers cruising the roads. I wonder how many hours of idling it takes to equal the pollution from a flaming wreck?

Of course they have now made the lucky folks who purchase trucks in their state a bit poorer. Since these controls will be non-programmable the vehicle will be less attractive to buyers out of state, so resale value will be affected. California has afflicted to auto buyers with extra cost emissions equipment for some time now. The difference is most heavy trucks do not stay in one state. Hey I wonder if more interstate operations will just buy their trucks out of state (at $90-120K a pop). That'll help the budget and the economy....of the surrounding states.

I still remember the one and only time I have been to California they had all the traffic on I-40 coming from Arizona stopping at "customs booths" before it entered the state. They really think they are their own country. Maybe if Congress sells America out again on immigration they will be.....(hey, there's a silver lining to every dark cloud)