MICHIGAN MAN TICKETED FOR WARMING UP CAR IN HIS OWN DRIVEWAY

[1/7/16] A Roseville man took to Facebook to insult an officer who gave him a ticket for warming up his car in his own driveway.

“Every person warms up their car,” Nick Taylor said. “We live in Michigan!”

Roseville police phones have been lighting up with calls from people who are furious that Taylor was given a ticket for warming up his car.

“I was furious when I saw it,” Taylor said.

Taylor said he started his car Tuesday morning to warm it up and went inside for 5 minutes. When he went back outside, he had received a ticket that said “motor vehicle unattended.”

“Vehicle parked in drive with keys in ignition, motor running — no one around,” the Roseville officer wrote on the ticket.

The officer didn’t knock on the door to inform Taylor of the problem.

“That would have been respectful,” Taylor said. “I had no clue that this was a law, an ordinance.”

Police said the key component of the case is whether the key is in the car. Using a remote starter is OK because the key isn’t in the car. If the key is in the car, it’s a state and local violation, because somebody could take off in the car.

“You’re putting the public at risk,” Roseville police Chief James Berlin said. “This is purely a public safety issue.”