It's a freezing morning, and you look out at your car from inside a toasty house, dreading having to grip a chilly steering wheel while your breath fogs up the windows.

Would it be all right to turn on the ignition to warm up the interior— and maybe melt some ice on the windshield— and finish your morning routine from the cozy confines of home?

Nope, says Assistant City Prosecutor Melanie Tobias.

Ohio state law prohibits leaving your keys in a vehicle "unattended." That's in the everyday sense of the word ("Not noticed, not supervised, not looked at," Tobias said).

It's illegal even if you lock the door and have an extra car key. It's illegal even if you have a remote-start key, which doesn't require you to unlock the car or leave a key in the ignition to run the engine.

If you're leaving a car unattended, the law's first requirement is that the engine be stopped.

Ohio Revised Code 4511.661 says that "no person driving or in charge of a motor vehicle shall permit it to stand unattended without first stopping the engine, locking the ignition, removing the key from the ignition, effectively setting the parking brake, and, when the motor vehicle is standing upon any grade, turning the front wheels to the curb or side of the highway."

Emergency vehicles and public-safety vehicles are exempt from having to stop the engine, lock the ignition and remove the key from the ignition.

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Tobias notes, though, that remotely starting your engine is fine under some circumstances.

"If you have a remote starter and can see your vehicle, I think there could be a good argument that it's not unattended," she said.

The law has been on the books for decades. In 1979, then-Ohio Attorney General William J. Brown wrote in an official opinion that the statute was created to prevent auto theft and accidents caused by runaway, driverless cars.

Violators are guilty of a minor misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $150.

But it isn't enforced very often, Tobias said.

Former Columbus Police Sgt. Earl Smith told The Dispatch in 2001 that he had cited just a few drivers over the years for violating the law.

"The reason is the cars get stolen and then guess who's responsible for recovering them?" he said (meaning police).