What I see littering the highways are tread patches jettisoned from retreaded semi tires. That’s what I most fear coming through my windshield.
I have to agree with you based on watching a YouTube channel, Wham Baam Teslacam. Every week, there are lots of crashes caused by failure to pay attention, drivers on the phone, drivers speeding on dry pavement in heavy traffic, speeding on wet pavement or heavy rain, impatient drivers who apparently do not care to share the road, impaired drivers, unsecured loads falling into the roadway, violating rules of road, the list goes on and on. I recall one instance where a single vehicle crash was attributed to the use of bald tires on an icy road. A Tesla has 4 cameras recording continuously to capture everything leading up to and including the crash. It's a source of data that's difficult to dispute.Did you notice my name and Avatar. I live in Charleston, and I just got back from Columbia, so 200 miles on I-26 just today. I have seen tons of crashes on I-26. You know what caused them - idiot drivers, some local, some tourists - of which there are a ton - mostly just passing through, and a lot of trucks out of the 2 busiest ports on the East coast. It was bumper to bumper for 100 miles there and 100 miles back with lots of trucks slowing things down. It was a slow day, I only saw one car in the ditch. I wonder if it was there because it had a rusty fender? Somehow I doubt it.
I certainly don't wish an accident on anyone. I just have not seen one iota of proof that inspections help, only vague inferences. Your personal experience in SC doesn't seem like it would have been prevented with an inspection, since it was something that fell off a truck?
Saying that vehicles had some sort of problem some percentage of the time isn't very definitive. Having bald tires on dry pavement doesn't much matter. If my brake light doesn't work but I run into the back of someone, it didn't matter. Its not proof of anything.
Maybe someone should actually do a quantitative peer reviewed study with actual data. Now its simply opinions, usually by people or organizations with a bias.
Idiot drivers in brand new cars cause accidents all day long. And for the record, even my oldest vehicle would pass any state inspection - I promise you. However I would fail emissions in a CARB state since I used federally approved aftermarket CAT's, not CARB compliant ones when they failed, even though there is no inspection at all here.
So much rides on details. What does “robust” actually mean?Does a robust vehicle inspection program improve road safety?
Does anyone seriously doubt that it does?
The other side would be who would be impacted.
We have members here who use EOL beaters as DD commuters. They have the DIY skills and the money to keep their rides fully functional and could also afford to replace these old dears if required.
What about lower income folks who can't afford to properly fix what they have nor replace?
They rely upon their car to get to work, to get their kids to school or day care and to shop for groceries. and in the absence of that car would truly be lost.
In a perfect world, we'd all buy factory new cars and retire them after fifteen years or 200K, whichever comes first. By then, any vehicle is at the end of its life, if we're being honest.
We don't live in any such world nor will we ever.
Car dependency due to American car centric infrastructure is a huge problem. It is a product of 50s fantasy (and auto marketing) that the world of the future was car dependency, better termed car slavery. In the United States, it is extremely difficult to live without a car, and that is a problem. Imagine if a majority of city dwellers could live without a car, that would be such a relief for people who are struggling financially. America needs to rethink its urban planning.What about lower income folks who can't afford to properly fix what they have nor replace?
They rely upon their car to get to work, to get their kids to school or day care and to shop for groceries. and in the absence of that car would truly be lost.
There are a few American cities that are walkable and also offer efficient public transportation. Many people who live in NYC do not own cars and can do quite well without them. They fly on trips or they rent a car as needed.Car dependency due to American car centric infrastructure is a huge problem. It is a product of 50s fantasy (and auto marketing) that the world of the future was car dependency, better termed car slavery. In the United States, it is extremely difficult to live without a car, and that is a problem. Imagine if a majority of city dwellers could live without a car, that would be such a relief for people who are struggling financially. America needs to rethink its urban planning.
If I ever buy a used car from you, I'm bringing a magnet with meFor those who need to fill body holes in a quick manner that will pass inspection, consider using a "high density" minimum expanding foam. A 6 pound foam is a rigid waterproof foam that will make a pretty epic repair. But even a can of high density foam will work nicely.
The foam can be quickly sanded to shape, coated with spray paint, spray undercoating or bed liner.
I will never claim this makes a perfect repair. But it can, with just a few minutes work, get a car to pass the body rust inspection.
Samsung and LG use magnesium in their washing machines... that stuff corrodes pretty quickly in bleachy water.Or my favorite, how OEMS are allowed to use pot metal spare tire hangers that allow the tire to rot off the car and fall out on the road.
PA and WV is like that too!In my current state of NC it all depends on the county, some have emissions. Otherwise, horn, wipers, lights, tires, tint, and a muffler (doesn't specify type). When I was in Maine. Sheeeew, they looked it over with a fine tooth comb. All the above plus rust/rot "sharp edges", e-brake, idler arm, tie rods, ball joints, u-joints, brakes, windshield, lift, tire size, headlight angles. You could run near any exhaust, but if you got a ticket for being too loud, the burden was on you to prove it was under 96db.
We used Wax paper and Tigar Hair!Years ago, this was the main reason duct tape and bondo were created! PA inspection said 'no rust holes in body or trunk"
AGREE!!!!!I live on the WV and OH/KY border. You can visually tell from a block away which cars are from KY and OH neither of which require safety inspections.
Safety inspections help keep junk off of the road and everyone safer.
What about that brake drum on that dump truck?Possibly, but there still talking about debris not inspections. Here is one quote for example"
"However, you might want to call an attorney if debris fell off another person’s vehicle, causing an auto o truck accident. This could include loose cargo, lumber, gravel, and barrels falling off the back of a truck."
completely different topic.
Still no study or reliable analytics showing lack of inspection causing accidents.
It's not funny whoever put the laughter emoji he's right!View attachment 175268
It’s foolish to think that vehicle safety inspections do not make the roads safer. Brakes and tires alone are of course critical to operational safety of a vehicle.
The fact that investigations specifically focused on the cause of accidents relating to substandard equipment barely exist doesn’t mean that they are not happening.
I was Fire Marshal for over five years and wrote hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of citations for Fire code violations a year and probably more than that in required remedial action building permits.
The guys in the building inspector department called me the $10,000 man as a joke as someone presenting my paperwork to pull a permit hardly ever got out of that office with lesser permit requirements. Me and the electrical inspector were on a first name basis.
Many building owners butted heads with me and often said they’d call the mayors office to which I would pull my phone out, pull up the mayors personal phone number and ask them if they wanted to push the button or should I.
Do I know if I “saved a life”? Not directly but how do you quantify someone saved from something that was prevented? Where a fire happened was anyone interviewed asking if they found the exit because the exit sign worked or that the exit door wasn’t pad locked? Not that I recall but overall everyone was safer because of it.
Every word of the Fire code is written in blood as is the automotive safety standards. Enforcement of these standards makes us safer no matter how far down in the sand we push our heads.
Well possibly the car could have been in the ditch because of a broken ball joint?Did you notice my name and Avatar. I live in Charleston, and I just got back from Columbia, so 200 miles on I-26 just today. I have seen tons of crashes on I-26. You know what caused them - idiot drivers, some local, some tourists - of which there are a ton - mostly just passing through, and a lot of trucks out of the 2 busiest ports on the East coast. It was bumper to bumper for 100 miles there and 100 miles back with lots of trucks slowing things down. It was a slow day, I only saw one car in the ditch. I wonder if it was there because it had a rusty fender? Somehow I doubt it.
I certainly don't wish an accident on anyone. I just have not seen one iota of proof that inspections help, only vague inferences. Your personal experience in SC doesn't seem like it would have been prevented with an inspection, since it was something that fell off a truck?
Saying that vehicles had some sort of problem some percentage of the time isn't very definitive. Having bald tires on dry pavement doesn't much matter. If my brake light doesn't work but I run into the back of someone, it didn't matter. Its not proof of anything.
Maybe someone should actually do a quantitative peer reviewed study with actual data. Now its simply opinions, usually by people or organizations with a bias.
Idiot drivers in brand new cars cause accidents all day long. And for the record, even my oldest vehicle would pass any state inspection - I promise you. However I would fail emissions in a CARB state since I used federally approved aftermarket CAT's, not CARB compliant ones when they failed, even though there is no inspection at all here.
No inspections in British Columbia. They used to enforce emissions testing every two years in Vancouver but stopped about 10 years ago because emissions declined about 90% in the city for cars and light trucks from 1992 to 2012.