12/31/2005: ""Idle Danger, or Ferry Riding Smokes You""

As a person who has either lived here or been coming to the Island regularly for the past 20 years I have noticed a distinct shift in the behavior of ferry riders. Correct me if I am wrong, but in the "Old Days" we used to respect the ferry workers and not blind them with our headlights at night. We also regularly froze in the ferry line waiting for the boat to show up because we had too much respect for our fellow drivers than to idle our motors, belching exhaust in their faces and inevitably into their cars.

Circa 2005, this is not the case. In the newly highly "enlightened" San Juans, where the much heralded cigarette smoking ban is strictly observed, and cigarette smoking is prohibited in the ferry lines, it is perfectly OK to idle your automobile for an hour while waiting for the boat. It makes me wonder what the gallon-of-gas versus pack-of-cigarettes equation is for inhaled carcinogens.

I would like to attribute poor ferry etiquette to the tourists, but there are too many San Juan Island license plates to make that excuse fly. People are just inconsiderate, and confusingly so. I guess that for some in this warm and fuzzy burg, being warm is enough.

I am not for a law prohibiting the idling of your car, or conferring police powers onto ferry workers, but I am all for the exercise of some common courtesy. If you are in line early, there are numerous businesses around the ferry dock offering a warm cup of coffee. For you that must idle, know that we are fuming, literally, over your selfishness and hoping you run out of gas.

(Readers have my permission to print this out, and hand, or place it, under the windshield wipers of idler's cars)

(Name withheld at readers request)