In the 30 minutes that it just took to prepare and consume my dinner, I've noticed a red minivan idling outside my window on Lincoln Avenue in Portsmouth. The driver has stopped--in the middle of the road with her engine running the whole time--to chat with a pedestrian.

I can't stand it any longer. So I march outside, apply my "Fake Friendly" personality (it doesn't fool anyone) and investigate. 

"What's wrong," I ask. "Can I help?"

"No, we're just chatting," the pedestrian says.

"You've been here for 30 minutes in the middle of the road with the engine running," I say, hoping to mask my irritation. Then I signal with a flip of my wrist for the driver to turn the car key--and she complies.

No more fumes! But this boat of a vehicle remains in the center of the road for another 10 minutes as cars (you know, the kind that actually move) navigate around it.  

Hey, drivers: What's with the chronic idling?

An idling vehicle wastes fuel, pollutes the air and can harm your engine. A year ago, you were paying $4 a gallon and complaining constantly. But you were idling then and you're idling now.

If you shut off your ignition after 10 seconds of idling, you will not burn more fuel when you restart it, according to the Environmental Defense Fund. It’s impractical to shut off your engine while you wait at a red light. But when summarizing the last 20 years of your life—day by day--with a friend along the side of the road, idling is unnecessary.

I know An Inconvenient Truth is long forgotten (sadly), but Al Gore is still distraught about the future of the planet. He’s just as unhappy about the pollutants spewing from your tailpipe as I am.

Maybe less so, because he’s probably jetting to some speech in Europe in the comfort of a first-class cabin while I’m having my dinner ruined by a red minivan outside my window.

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Morey Stettner is the author of five books including SKILLS FOR NEW MANAGERS (McGraw-Hill) and THE ART OF WINNING CONVERSATION (Prentice Hall). He is the editor of the popular newsletter Managing People at Work (www.managingpeopleatwork.com) and his articles on leadership and entrepreneurship appear every Monday in Investor's Business Daily, a national financial newspaper.