# Wasting fuel as a criminal offense?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasting-fuel-as-a-criminal-offense/960762>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [March 9, 2022, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasting-fuel-as-a-criminal-offense/960762 "2022-03-09T17:39:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 61

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**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasting-fuel-as-a-criminal-offense/960762/61 "2022-03-09T23:54:23Z")

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And people in my town STILL don’t seem to get the message. It remains an ongoing problem, in part because it’s mostly done by juveniles.

> [@Don't leave your unlocked car running and then wonder why it gets stolen](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-leave-your-unlocked-car-running-and-then-wonder-why-it-gets-stolen/777980):
>
> :smack: We’re having a rash of this in my area, and it happened to my friend’s 30-year-old son over the weekend. :rolleyes: He said, “But I was just running in to get cigarettes!” (at 11pm in a dicey neighborhood, no less!) No matter how brief your errand is, shut off the ignition and take the keys with you. The time you use will be more than made up by the reduced inconvenience.

To me, “wasting fuel” would be more an environmental issue - dumping it inappropriately, that kind of thing.

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