If I had a gasoline-powered lawn mower, I wouldn’t leave it running unattended, no.
You’re missing the point of what he’s saying.
You pull up in the driveway. You put the car in park and while sitting there with nothing in your hands, you decide to grab all your groceries and other stuff and fill up your hands before taking the .5 seconds to turn off the car.
WHY?? Why in the hell would you not put the car in park, then turn it off, then grab all the things that made your hands full, then go inside and pass out from exhaustion.
How does a person park a car and then exit it before turning it off?
Easy: put it in park, open the door, and get out.
A lot of people will leave the car running while they dash in and drop something off.
It’s actually illegal in some communities.
Plus, if one happens to be stoned…
My roommate just got a Prius. She’s also kind of a ditz. She came home one afternoon and the neighbor came over to ask her about the car. She showed off the car for him, then closed it and came in the house. She had the next day off and didn’t need to drive anywhere. The next morning after that I was out watering plants and heard a strange noise. Odd. It appears my roommate’s new car is running.
See, when it’s running on electric, it’s silent. But I guess after 40+ hours idling on electric it had no choice but to switch to its gas engine.
:smack: Doh!
Believe me, I thoroughly enjoyed going to her room and mentioning, “did you know your car is on?”
Ha! Interesting. That’s another thing about cars that are too quiet, particularly the current crop of hybrid electric drivetrains. Much like a high-end luxury vehicle, I can see how the lack of an engine idle on a vehicle running with an electric motor might just be quiet enough for someone to forget it was on in the first place. My situation was a little different (plain old stupidity), but I wonder how many folks have forgotten their cars were even running in the first place because they’re so quiet. I’ve been in Lexuses (Lexii?) and even big Ford trucks that were so quiet at idle, you’d think they were off.
This is a true story, told to me by the owner of the vehicle. He and his wife live in South Dakota; his daughter and son-in-law live in California. Daughter was expecting; bags were packed, ready to leave on a moments notice. Son-in-law calls, daughter in labor. Guy calls wife, goes home, grabs bags, throws in car and takes off for airport. Stops in front of terminal, wife gets out, guy gets out, grabs bags and follows wife into terminal. Somewhere over Arizona, he realizes he left his car in front of the terminal with the doors open and the engine running. Car is a new Cadillac by the way. His plane lands, he calls security at original airport: Car has been parked in remote lot, keys are in security office: I miss South Dakota.
I would definitely send a friend to collect those keys. Cops, even rent-a-cops, are not gentle in humorous situations. It would take son-in-law guy at least a half-hour od humiliation to get out of there with the keys. :o
It actually takes more effort to go back into the car and shut it off than just turning it off before getting out. I can’t imagine why anyone would get in the habit of leaving a car to do something and then going back to just turn it off. What exactly is the point of doing it like that? You’re already sitting there with your hand on the wheel. Just reach over a few inches and turn the car off. Then, exit. How is it more convenient to do it any other way?
Beats me. As an adult, most of my driving years have been on the west coast. It would never occur to me to leave a car running. You shut if off, make sure the windows are rolled up and lock it. Imagine my surprise when I went to Virginia and saw people leaving their cars running, windows down, unlocked, while they popped into a store for a few things. Blew my mind. Of course, a lot of these cars weren’t worth stealing, but still. Very strange to me. This was in the mid-late 1990’s.
Ever had someone sit in their car and jesture for you to come over to talk? Ever done that yourself? Why? Can’t get out of the car for some reason?
Same idea, possibly. Makes no sense, but people do it.
I’m also baffled by this. It is so automatic to me to put the car in park and then turn off the key and take it out, that I can’t even imagine being so exhausted that you don’t do it without thinking. And I hate that ding-ding noise the car makes when you get out while it is running so much that I will do anything to make it stop. If you were that tired, it is amazing you got home alive. Get some rest!
In my cse, I sat in my van after arriving at the theatre and chatted with my sisters, since we were early for the movie, then got out and went in wothout shuting off the van. In my defense, my father was dying of cancer, so my mind was elsewhere, and I’m quite hard-of-hearing, so I didn’t hear it running.
StG
I can understand that, though. It takes less effort to sit in the car and motion for someone to come over to you. I completely understand people gaining habits out of convenience or laziness or efficiency.
But the strategy of leaving the car running, carrying your groceries into the house and then returning to the car to turn it off??? That makes no sense at all!
Even though silly, I could understand (kinda) someone who left the car running because they intended to get back in it and go somewhere. This would save the inconvience of turning it off, and then starting it back up again in ten minutes. I could then see how a person might become distracted during that 10 minutes and never turn it off. Silly, but I could see how it would happen.
But the OP said he was not going to go anywhere. He just forgot to go back and turn it off. As if it’s a normal thing to leave a car running while you unload groceries and then go back to turn the car off. That makes no sense at all!
I did that too once. We lived in a small house in a small city, and had a fridge delivered in winter, I backed the car off the driveway to make room for the delivery truck and since it was cold I left it running till I could move it back. Three hours after the fridge was plugged in, we thought we should head out for some milk, if only the car was warm… :smack:
In Post #20 the OP explains that he wasn’t sure if he wanted to go back out again and simply got distracted.
I can easily see how this can happen. We lead such busy lives and never give our brains a chance to rest that distractions are are impossible to avoid.
I used to work at Busch Gardens in Tampa, FL. One summer, I worked in the parking lot. We probably had 2-3 cars everyday that folks left running. Just so excited to get to the park, I guess 
Thanks Ruby, nice to know at least you know where I’m coming from. Between the failure to actually read the thread and the inability to forgive me my misdeeds, the actions that led up to my foible seem lost on some here who know better than I do what the best technique to turning a car off is. At what point in the turning-off process do I remove my seatbelt, guys? :rolleyes:
My hope was for others to share similar stories, and I appreciate those who have done so … some have been far scarier than mine … but I guess it wouldn’t be the Dope without at least one faultfinder chiming in about how inconceivable it is that a car can idle (on one’s personal property) without someone being in it.
SIL was in California; car was left running at airport in South Dakota; point was that no one stole the car and the South Dakota airport security people parked it safely and held the keys for the owner’s return. This was, of course, about twenty years ago; in South Dakota back then even rent-a-cops were trustworthy.
Still, I’ll bet they gave him a good ribbing. You know, newlywed guy, mind elsewhere. That sort of thing.