These people are powerless to enforce the rules.
These people are powerless to enforce the rules. Christian Foss / Getty Images

It’s a familiar sight by now. You (and by you I mean me) get on your bike and battle the traffic, the hills, the disappearing bike lanes (which are there one block and gone the next) and arrive at the ferry terminal for your boat commute to Vashon, Bainbridge, or elsewhere in Kitsap County. Biking in Seattle is the most dangerous thing you do each day, and there’s some sense of relief upon making it to the terminal with brain, bones, and skin intact. And then, while you wait to load onto the boat, you notice, once again, the sweet smell of exhaust wafting your way from the cars parked beside you.

There are signs around the ferry terminal that instruct drivers not to idle while waiting for the boat. They are large and obvious. And yet, every time I am in line for the ferry, which happens approximately 6 to 10 times a week, I see and smell drivers idling. Not for a minute or two, but for a long-ass time, sometimes when parked directly below the signs telling them not to idle.

Now, I get rule-breaking. Who doesn’t want to occasionally vape at the movie theatre? But this is different. According to the state Department of Ecology (DOE), vehicle exhaust is the top source of both particulate pollution and carbon emissions in Washington. Pollution from cars exacerbates health problems like asthma and other respiratory disease, and has been linked to cancer, heart disease, and premature deaths all over the world.

As a spokesperson for the air quality program at the DOE told me, “Idling is bad. You should do less of it. You are just wasting gas and putting emissions in the air, which is especially bad with diesel engines. People breathing this in is not safe.”

Now, I could understand idling if Seattle got super hot or super cold and you needed some kind of air conditioning or heat to be comfortable, but this is not Arizona or Alaksa. It’s one of the mildest climates in the country, and unless you have an oxygen tank powered by your car battery, there’s very little reason to keep your car running while waiting for the ferry. You can listen to podcasts on your phone.

And, yet, for some goddamn reason, people driving onto the ferry do not seem to give a damn about either their fellow passengers or the climate when they are waiting to drive onto the boat. Or maybe they somehow reached the age of 16 without realizing inhaling exhaust fumes is bad for the body? Either way, it needs to stop.

While breathing exhaust fumes in line for the boat earlier this week, I decided to do something about it. My first idea was to dump sand in the fuel tanks of anyone idling in line at the ferry, but it turns out there’s a worldwide sand shortage, so I did the next best thing in contemporary activism and Tweeted about it.

Much to my surprise, Washington State Ferrys actually answered, and it turns out that those “Do not idle” signs are just friendly suggestions.

According to whoever runs the Twitter account, because the ferry system is an extension of the state highway system, the rules of the road apply to ferry property, too. There’s no state law against idling in your vehicle, so ferry employees can’t really stop you from doing it.

So, how do we fix this? Well, Tim Eyman seems to have some time on his hands, so I would like to formerly request that his next ballot initiative take on this particular issue. (Tim, if you do this, I’ll stop making fun of the long-sleeved billboards you wear as shirts). And if that doesn’t work, WSF never said I couldn’t try the old citizen’s arrest.

In the meantime, if this is something that bothers you (and how could it not), your local lawmakers would surely like to hear all about it. Or you could lead by example and turn your damn engine off. Breathers all over the ferry will thank you.

Katie Herzog is a former staff writer at The Stranger.