Forest Park issues spate of tickets for warming up cars
Louise Wood warms up her car every chilly morning so her 6-year-old son won't have to get into a cold car.
After starting the engine, she locks her car, sets its alarm, and heads back into her home.
Sounds basic, but Wood and more than a dozen other Forest Park residents have learned an expensive lesson about this common routine.
It's against the law.
A little-known state statute makes it illegal to leave a car running and unattended. The 33-year-old law was meant to prevent driverless cars from rolling away.
But the law is finding new purpose in Wood's hometown of 22,000 people, as a tool to prevent auto theft.
Wood, a senior operations clerk at AT&T, is one of 14 people ticketed since January by Forest Park police for violating Georgia code section 40-6-201. The ticket runs $168.
"I was furious," Wood said after getting a ticket at her apartment complex. "I guess the police would rather me sit in my car while it warms up and let some carjacker point a gun to my head than let me lock and alarm it while it runs."
Wood pleaded ignorance of the law. And, in this case, she has company. Attorneys specializing in traffic violations and police in several jurisdictions said they had no clue.
Forest Park police Major Chris Matson makes no apologies for the way his department is applying the law. He said Forest Park's warmup stings are part of a citywide campaign to cut down on stolen cars.
Auto theft in Forest Park dropped by 25 percent last year, from 240 in 2005 to 180 in 2006. But Matson remains concerned. He said 11 cars left warming and unattended were stolen during the first five weeks of 2007.
"Thieves are just walking around these apartment complexes and store parking lots, looking for exhaust coming out of tailpipes," he said. "They're thinking, 'That's my way to get to school or work.' "
Police have posted fliers about car thefts around the city, and placed automated calls alerting residents to the problem and the law, he said.
Now, Forest Park police on late night and early morning shifts patrol apartment complexes and convenience store parking lots looking for offenders.
The state law was news to Clayton County police Lt. Olen Smith.
"I am not familiar with that code section," Smith said. "That must be a city ordinance."
Smith was partly correct. Several months ago, Forest Park police adopted an ordinance based on the 1974 state law, which means the city gets to keep the fines instead of sharing revenues with the state.
Checking records, Smith found that Clayton police have issued 22 citations for unattended running cars since 1985. He was unable to provide the reasons for the tickets, for which the county charges $103.
If Forest Park's initial 14 tickets end up being paid, the city won't reap a windfall — $2,352.
But Wood plans to fight her ticket and so does her apartment complex neighbor, James Holland, 44, who got a ticket at 6:05 a.m. on Feb. 5, minutes before Wood got hers.
"I had my brother watching my car through the window while I used the bathroom," said Holland, who works for the Atlanta Public Works Department. "When he told me a cop was out there, I said, 'Man, stop playing.' "
Luckily for Forest Park commuters, spring — and warmer mornings — are on the way.
Regardless, Holland said he's learned his lesson.
"I don't have $168 just for warming up my car in the morning," Holland said. "Every morning, even if it's 19 degrees out, I'm sitting in my car, letting it warm up."
Still, he wonders whether his being in the car makes a difference.
"If a thief wants your car," Holland said, "he'll take it whether or not it's running."
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