vans patroling for emission violations!!! what a crock!

[wolfdogs]

yup, no joke. Northern Va. drivers look out! White vans.... they locate them along the entrance ramps of highways a bunch of other local roads... equiped with emission checking equipment....... remote sensing devices to test vehicle emissions.......(boy does this leave the road open for alot of false "triggers"..) One VA official said "its like an emission radar".......(give me a break) Its a private contractor doing the work under "supervision of the State".......

ok, this "remote sensing equipment" projects an invisable beam, infrared and ultraviolent light across the roadway where vehicles pass. A mirror is set up on the other side of the road...it reflects the beam back across the street/highway/road and into a series of detectors. data collection devices also capture an image of the rear of the vehicle including the license plate......."so that Motor Vehicle records can be checked to identify the owner if a suspected violation is discovered"........ (sheez o flip)

if the remote sensors detect emission levels exceeding those alloweed, the owner recieves a notice from DEQ........ however..(and this is funny).."the letter is not sent to an owner unless emission problems have been detected twice by the mobile unit. (thier way of saying "it wasn't a false reading")

those that do not comply with the terms of the DEQ letter (they have 30 days) face a civil fine...the amount depending on the level of emissions.......

******************

this has got to be.....the biggest waste of the tax dollar in this crazy friggin state i've seen in many years....what a crock of buffalo shit!!!!!!!!!!

Im sure some your states are next, if they dont already have it.......

how accurate can these things be? there has to be a ton of variables!

big brother just keeps on getting more on our @$$

[Steel2686]

As much of a pain in the arse it would be, I'm sure it wouldn't be too tough to dispute the "notice". If it generates enough flak, they'll most likely end up scrapping the whole idea.

They had a similar thing for speeding going on here in my town a few years back. The strips they lay down for checking the frequency of traffic was being used for speed timing. They had two strips layed down about 500 feet apart. If you passed over both in too short of a time span, a remote camera took a pic of the rear plate.

The PD caught so much crap from alleged speeders, they canned the project all together. I hope that's the end result in VA, Ken.

[ryan34]

Hey ken, at least they aren't going to fine you for your car being too shiny....obstuction of view or something I can't believe those things to be too accurate. I mean how come they never had those "laser testers" at the DMV or anything? And besides wouldn't they need probably cause or something to that nature?

[Dave Vince]

EPA

Once again the Enviromental Peabrain Agency in action. George Orwell was right, big brother is all over us. I think now they have made the mosquito an endangered species so they can protect swampland. GIIA: Government Idiots In Action.

[Black97]

WHat happens when you have the t-roofs off and let on rip while you pass the van?

[Roger in Kensington]

About 30 years ago, Patrick Bedard of Car and Driver Magazine wrote one of his famous commentaries regarding the ongoing debate about whether cars should be equipped with airbags. He specifically referenced one of the arguments -- made by airbag supporters -- that if cars were not equipped with airbags, the government would make seatbelt use mandatory.

Calling this argument an example of "flatulent thinking," he sagely pointed out that governments being what they are, we would get both airbags and mandatory seatbelt use laws.

He was, of course, quite correct.

The current inspection system is wasteful, inefficient and costly. It screens all cars to detect those few that have high emissions.

Now, if it were proposed to substitute this remote sensing for the current emissions inspection system (doing away with the latter), then it might be a useful trade-off. But, as before with airbags, that's not how governments work.

We'll get both emissions inspections and remote sensing.

A wise man, that Patrick Bedard.

[Dave Vince]

Govt.

Can anyone name anything done by the Govt. that is done well and efficiently. I can't think of anything. Give anyone a job where nothing is produced and no real results are required, and you will end up with pretty much nothing.

i can. the Federal Tire Qualification Program. cancelled in 1996. I ran it for 13 years. 45 of the 50 states adopted it, as well as hundreds of county and municipal governemtns, school districts......you name it... . the tire manufacture's paid for all my travel and any expsenses related to it, and it weeded out the trash........

gee......wonder what politician got paid enough to make it go away.........

gave up 13 years of my life to do it.....tons of success.......down the drain..

[Kevin - Blown 95 TA]

I have trouble taking any of the emissions laws seriously until they make it equal for all the hugely popular SUVs & light trucks, which have different standards than cars, and until they do something about the dump trucks and deisels which spew huge plumes of black smoke out. And until they overhaul the stupidly engineered and archaic traffic light systems which cost us about 1/3rd of our fuel usage.

[wolfdogs]

I have trouble taking any of the emissions laws seriously until they make it equal for all the hugely popular SUVs & light trucks, which have different standards than cars, and until they do something about the dump trucks and deisels which spew huge plumes of black smoke out. And until they overhaul the stupidly engineered and archaic traffic light systems which cost us about 1/3rd of our fuel usage.

suv's and light trucks that are under 8500 gvwr have to meet the same standards as passenger cars. 85% of the suv's fall into this category. untill recent study, deisel emissions were less harmfull than gasoline emission....and its still questionable. kinda like smoke from your grill at home.

[thenuge876]

WHat happens when you have the t-roofs off and let on rip while you pass the van?

hahahahah then you get fined twice the amount! That does seem rediculous to me too, it would seem that there would be so many variables that could cause a misreading. What if two cars are going by at the same time, does it read twice as high? and if so how do they determine which car was putting out more, by how it looks? It seems kind of silly to me. I think that there is definately a more efficient way of doing it, but they won't put the time in to figure it out. And if we are able to get an emission sticker why spend the money to do all this remote testing when we could be doing something undoubtedly more productive with the money. I must agree with the above posters.

[JUICEDSS]

Easy solution. Relocate tailpipes pointing up or forward. bwahahahaha

[wolfdogs]

Easy solution. Relocate tailpipes pointing up or forward. bwahahahaha

or into the car............

[Rhode Island Red]

It's just the beginning folks,

*Vehicle onboard, live remote continuous monitoring of all emissions

*GPS circuitry embeded license plates to monitor locationand speed at all times

*all not owned by you but your local revenuer um, er, gubument

This idea's waving revenue generator above the bs flag. I do not see no reason to waste so much resources. A complete utter waste of YOUR MONEY

... you could always shift the car to neutral, turn off the car, and then when passed the trap, turn the car back on and continue driving along with no worries ... no emissions to detect when the car is off