Gas station stupidity and bonus story

[Andara Bledin]

It's a time thing. If you leave your car running while you're fuelling up you have that much more time with engine running + cloud of fumes. If you just drive away there's significantly less time for this to happen.

Well, anything's possible.

At this point, I'm still filing this particular tidbit in with the stuff "everybody knows" like the whole stomach cramps from swimming too soon after eating "fact."

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[Magpie]

A warning I should have put when I first gave the explanation: that's adapted from why they don't let you do it at the tank farms/refineries/etc. In that specific case it's that if something goes wrong and you end up with a cloud of fumes you don't want to have the car running. Driving through said cloud would be fatal too. Hence the "time" factor. You just don't (hopefully) get the same quantity of fumes at a service station.

[Andara Bledin]

Yeah. Tank farms and refineries would be totally different animals. I suspect the closest you get with a gas station is when the truck is filling the tanks, and even then, they do that in the middle of the day with people driving all around the forecourt, so it can't be that much a risk.

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[Chromatix]

Another factor is that a moving car stirs up the air, so even if it drives through a cloud of vapour, most of that will be pushed away from the sparky bits. A stationary car, however, just sits in the middle of the cloud as it settles.

Really it's just a precaution for if someone is really dumb or clumsy and a spill happens. If there are fewer running motors and smouldering fag-ends and so on, then there's fewer chances for a small mistake to turn into a huge problem.

[Becks]

As I was on my way home, my cell phone went off. It was AT&T asking for someone who was obviously not me. I tell the guy he's got the wrong number, but he insists he's got the right one. I tell him again it's the wrong number and hang up.

You gave the wrong answer.

The correct one is "There's no one here by that name."

[EvilEmpryss]

About the pumping gas while the engine is running: the best answer I could find on the web is that for various reasons it is illegal to do so in some states (possibly all, but I cannot confirm). the other answer I found on an ooooold blog.

It could start a fire if the fumes from the gas being pumped get close enough to a source of ignition, though that is not really a concern today with the new vapor recovery nozzles that almost every gas station uses these days. Some of the other risky things that leaving your vehicle running while you are pumping your fuel are if the shifter is not completely in park it could move and your vehicle could move on it's own running you over or hitting the car behind or in front of you,if a child or a pet is in the vehicle they could hit the shifter by accident and the same problems as described above could happen. Another thing to be concerned about is static electricity between your body and the fuel pump that is why the tell you to touch a metal object like your cars body to discharge any static electricity before you pick up the fuel nozzle because if a spark from static electricity finds any fuel on or in the nozzle a fire will start on you faster than you can react,and THAT WILL DEFINITELY RUIN YOUR DAY QUICKLY.

I think the risk of passengers accidentally putting the car in gear or a static spark setting off fumes are pretty serious. I always turn off the engine out of habit.

But I also won't smoke because I might get lung cancer, so I might be considered an alarmist by some.

[Andara Bledin]

But I also won't smoke because I might get lung cancer, so I might be considered an alarmist by some.

Eh, I pick my things to worry over. Keeps stress down.

My boss was militantly anti-smoking. He died of prostate cancer, which he never got checked till it was far too late. But he beat that whole lung cancer thing, you betcha.

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