It is a very common practice on the road for the car drivers to leave the car running at rest condition while it is stopped before traffic signal or the driver has gone to the near by shop to purchase something. Normally we are not very much aware on how much fuel we are wasting because of this habit. In a country like UAE, where the cost of fuel is not much (in fact it is almost 1/3 rd. of the price of India/Europe per litre), drivers/owners are not very much concerned about the price of the fuel wasted due to this, but from saving our environment point of view, it is a real waste!!! A car in idle condition with engine running, for 10 minutes, consumes enough fuel to run for 8 km.

Before a traffic signal, if the car is stopped for more than 10 seconds, it is always economical to stop the engine and re-start the same from fuel consumption point of view.

We all must try to spread awareness about this wastage. My community report in Gulf News on the same subject is attached here.(published on 31^st January 2013) -

http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/community-reports/running-cars-encourage-criminal-activity-1.1139835