Weird. As I’ve mentioned before, I really do think that this “clear off your whole vehicle” thing is regional. No one here clears off their whole vehicle, and I’ve seen posters from Alaska mystified by the whole thing. My wife is from MN and she says no one there clears off their whole car, either. Is this just an East Cost quirk?
As in my post, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland have laws about cleaning off your car, so that doesn’t really qualify as a “quirk” be it easternly or not.
I do not know, maybe you have different snow that does not become a dangerous chunk of flying debris. Alternatively and more likely Alaska and Colorado have so many less drivers per mile on the roads that it is far less of an issue. I am surprised NY, Massachusetts & Connecticut do not have the same laws.
The Garden State Parkway, NJ Turnpike, Rt. 80, Rt. 287, etc. are all highways with huge amounts of traffic all moving at an average of 70-75 miles per hour during commuter times. (Well, when they are moving.) There are roughly 3 millions cars on the NJ roads at around the same time every workday morning. This is in one of the smallest states. It is for this reason, that NJ has among the toughest inspections and laws to remove snow from our vehicles. A single idiot driving a ‘junker’ breaking down or having an accident because their brakes do not work well can make a hundred thousand people late to work.
It is like living near LA but with snow as an extra hazard. 
Jim
Yeah, we don’t usually have problems with bad brakes, since everyone here rides a horse to work. 
If I wanted to be overly cynical, my guess is that we don’t have laws about it here because everyone just freaking deals with it, as opposed to throwing a whiny drama queen East Coaster fit about it.
But, I should probably go with: Our snow is different out here. 
The population density in your state and Alaska verses the state I live in is rather huge. If you want to believe we are overstating the case you are welcome to, but you could also choose to look at the difference in traffic concentration and amounts and realize there might be a far higher incident of flying snow/ice debris in North East states. I never implied you were hicks or road horses or anything close to that. I was trying to explain why we might have a law that your state does not actually need.
Keeping it to NJ vs. Colorado.
NJ: Area - Ranked 47th - Total, 8,729 sq mi
Population Ranked 11th (as of 2006) - Total (2000) 8,414,350 (8,724,560 as of 2006) - Density 1,134/sq mi
438/km² (1st) - Median income $56,772 (2nd)
Colorado: Area - Ranked 8th - Total 104,185 sq mi
Population Ranked 22nd - Total (2000) 4,301,261 - Density 41.5/sq mi 16.01/km² (37th) - Median income $51,022 (10th)
Note we have nearly twice the people in about 1/12[sup]th[/sup] the area for a Density 27 times higher. This means a lot more cars per mile of highway. Additionally NJ is in the top three for longest commutes in the country. One of our nicknames was the “crossroads state” and millions of the residents commute to NY or Philly, too many by car. Even more commute to North Jersey almost all by car.
So, no offense or slight meant upon the fine citizens of Colorado, just a very different reality of living in my little overcrowded state.
Jim
I don’t really want to get into a pissing match about this, but I see average commute time for SOV at the 24.8 min point for New York and the 23.7 min point for Denver:
US Metropolitan Areas with Largest US CBDs: Average Commute Time 1990.
We are 29th on this list, and Newark is 11th: http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Products/Ranking/2002/R04T160.htm
Not a huge difference. Keep in mind that our population density is low because no one lives in like 95% of our state. In fact, I’ll bet you my daily commute is worse than yours. 
I tried to edit this in, but failed. Stupid board lag. Anyway, I’m not trying to be snarky. I really do think that the difference is that our snow is different here. It tends to blow off with no issues. Bad traffic, though, is universal.
Just don’t move or travel out west here and expect people to clear all the snow of their cars. The concept is foreign to us…
Ok cool. As far as commute, you are probably correct. Mine is 38 miles one way, but the opposite direction of the Huge North Bound Commute. So I do my 38 in 45 minutes. My next door neighbor would take your bet in a heartbeat. For some reason he drives into NYC daily. His 46 miles takes him 2 hours on most days and on snowy days much longer. 
I was joking about the different type of snow. Go figure, that my joke might be part of the truth.
Jim
My 25-mile commute takes me between 70 and 90 minutes each way, so on a per-mile-travelled basis, I might even have your neighbor beat.
:smack: I plead typing too fast without taking a breath to reconsider my wording.
But I concur with the fucktard.
That’s illegal around here. Not the getting dressed and showering part, but the leaving an unattended car running to preheat part. While, a broom will usually take care of the snow on top of a car, the truly lazy and reasonable among the ungaraged will flop out an $8 Home Depot tarp over roof, windshield and back window when parking the car. In the morning, pull that off and the snow and such comes with it. That may not work in more humid climates, but here in Colorado where snow tends to fall “dry”, it is an easy solution.
Wow. What’s the reasoning behind that? Emissions, maybe? (that’s an honest question, btw, not snark).
I was thinking that there are parts of Jackson where your car would dissapear if you left it running, but we don’t have a law against leaving it unattended.
In NYC they had/have a law about not letting cars idle as in contributer to bad air quality days. This could be the reason for **Tabula Rasa’s ** location.
Yes. Emissions.
I am anal about clearing all the windows of of my minivan before driving to work. But, I confess, I never thought about the roof. I plead 20 years of living in southern California, if it’s any consolation my luggage rack hopefully breaks the chunks that may have existed into smaller missiles.
Starting tomorrow I’ll clear the roof.
Thank you.
Toronto has had an idling-control by-law since 1996 as well. Originally (mid-1980s) it was tabled to address a noise concern issue due to delivery trucks and tour buses sitting out near hotels. By mid-1990s with so many smog alerts and awareness environmental issues surounding emisisons. You can now be ticketed for $105, although it’s rarely enforced unless they are having a blitz in the summer to coincide with public awareness campaigns that go along with smog alerts.
Personally, if you’re* letting your car idle for 20 minutes because you’re lazy, you’re a dick.
“You” in the general sense, not meaning NinetyWt.
Recent incident in NJ. Article details the penalties for allowing it to happen (assuming they can identify the vehicle in question - seeing as how the driver hit by the ice was a little preoccupied by the glass shards in his eyes. :rolleyes:
http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007702210338
VCNJ~
Hooray, a small triumph for the Dope. Very cool of you to post that.
Jim
Word. I keep an ice scraper just in case, but I can count on one hand the times it snowed enough here (in 47 years) to have to clear the whole car off.
However, if I ever find myself living in the Frozen Nawth[sup]TM[/sup], I promise to diligently clear all ice/snow off of my vehicle before operating it.
See, this is the difference between various regions of the country. If you go to a supermarket in Alaska in the dead of winter, half the cars in the parking lot have their engines running, while the owners are shopping in the store. Clearly, mileage varies wildly on this subject.