Kathleen Gray

Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau

LANSING — It may be too late for Taylor Trupiano, who got a $128 ticket for leaving his car running and unattended in his Roseville driveway in January.

But the state House of Representatives wants to ensure that such a ticket isn’t issued again. It voted 77-30 on Tuesday to repeal the portion of the Michigan Vehicle Code that allows law enforcement to ticket drivers who leave their car idling on roadways and on private property.

Many people leave their cars running in their driveways to warm them up in the winter or to cool them down in the summer. That was the case for Trupiano, 24, who contested the ticket he got when he left his car running to go back into his house to get his girlfriend and her 2-year-old son.

Related:

$128 ticket stands for Roseville man who left car running in driveway

Roseville man gets $128 ticket for warming up car in driveway

A judge was unconvinced last month and denied the request to dismiss the ticket.

State Rep. Holly Hughes, R-White River Township, sponsored the bill and said it was a matter of personal property rights.

“This would just rescind the rule of someone warming up their car on their own private property,” she said. “We’re keeping in place the provisions dealing with a car running unattended on a public roadway or parking lot.” So law enforcement could still issue tickets for people who leave their car running when they run into a store or gas station.

But state Rep. John Chirkun, D-Roseville, said the law is a good deterrent for auto thieves and will help keep thieves from stealing cars from people who leave their children in the cars to run back into their homes or into stores.

“This particular rule is a vital and necessary tool that many communities use to combat auto thefts,” he said. “The bill sponsor never talked to me about the city ordinance, but I would have gladly explained the necessity of this ordinance for the city of Roseville.”

He recalled two instances in which cars that were running and unattended with children inside were stolen. In both cases, the thieves abandoned the cars, and the children were unharmed.

“But this is the kind of stuff the Roseville ordinance is designed to end,” Chirkun said. “In more rural communities, the driveways are longer, but in a more densely populated area, a vehicle can become a 4,000-pound assault weapon. We lock our guns up, why not our cars?”

Hughes countered that Roseville or any other community is free to pass an ordinance that would allow tickets for leaving cars running and unattended — “but they’ll have to answer to their own constituents.”

The bill — HB 4215 — now moves to the Senate for consideration.

Contact Kathleen Gray: 313-223-4430, kgray99@freepress.com or on Twitter @michpoligal