There's a lot of externalizing of costs going on. The trucks are idling because the drivers are operating at the slimmest possible margin under the assumption that idling doesn't cost anything.

What we actually would want to get to is that idling does have a cost (environmental, health, pleasantness of the area, etc). And that cost ought to be passed up the chain so that the various goods being shipped are more expensive.

But without a more centrally-managed economy, the implementation is to put all the pressure on the truck drivers and leave them responsible for passing that pressure to the next step up the chain. It doesn't work out very well in practice because the drivers need to make a bunch of capital expenses for something like adding a cab AC and adding a batter-powered lift, but they've been operating at low margins so they're not in a position to do it.

My understanding is that turning off and on a diesel engine is not great for it or something like that. Sorry, my grandpa was a mechanic and I'm half remembering something he said.

There are also older and jankier trucks still around which need the engine running for things like the lights and/or the hydraulic loading gate in the back to operate. Both these things are non-negotiable safety needs when loading or unloading a truck.

an army of mercenary profit driven people out there looking to make a buck off the guy

that's one interpretation. another could be "a group of people who care enough about the air quality of their neighborhood that they finally stand up for themselves".

To add to this as a Diesel mechanic,

Diesel engines are designed to operate continuously for the most part, the most wear and tear on the engines happen during start up and shut down.

They take large batteries and more effort to start so repeatedly doing that over and over in short intervals will lead to flat batteries and burnt out starter motors

Diesel engines run most efficiently I.e less pollution and better fuel economy when warm, cold engines cause more soot etc.

The engines wear poorly and develope carbon deposits from stop start operations too increasing fuel consumption and NOX emissions.

Lastly but certainly not the end of it is most Diesel trucks have what's known as a turbo timer, this keeps the engine running 2 minutes or more depending on settings after the ignition is turned off.

This allows oil flow around the turbo and prevents unnecessary heat damage to components.

Certainly if i applied some thought to this i could come up with more reasons and others could argue against but that's what I've got to say on the matter

Yeah that sucks, but that truck should be a train on a rail spur, and if we can punish anyone involved in making it not that, i am in favor.

Yeah all of those things do suck, we empathize with you. Just go ahead and turn off your engine though and avoid the fine.

Sorry, but those don't exist in any appreciable amount in the US, unfortunately.

That is wear and tear on your engine, and the meager benefits you get from that are far offset by the maintenance costs.

For example, my not so fuel friendly car has, over the course of 3 years, shut itself off at stop lights for over an hour and a half.

Through doing this an entire gallon of fuel has been saved.

Over 3 years.

It's engine down time is usually less than 10 seconds.

I get that it feels like this is a benefit if you have all of the cars everywhere doing it, but this ain't it. Even environmentally, the extra batteries we need to produce will be more harmful than the miniscule exhaust will be.

Service trucks will put many, many more miles on them in that 3 years than I will. Their idle time might be a great deal more if they're leaving it to idle while they go try to make a delivery. But, two things: those systems are ridiculously easy to turn off, by design, and diesel engines really don't like working that way. The wear and tear would be worse, more expensive, and more harmful.

I'm not saying throw your hands up and give up. I an saying that the service vehicles are the ones we actually should be making exceptions for. Even in a consumer car free society, we'll still need the service vehicles to do work.