Kestas
Staff member
Over 30 years ago the tri-county area around Detroit had tailpipe testing. After running this program for ten years it was found that this program had cost the public $2 billion and improved the air quality by ~2%. That's not even statistically significant. They canned the program.
I suspect something similar is true with the rest of the country. For all the money spent to determine whether cars are clean and compliant, I doubt the public is any better off. Sure you might catch a few scofflaws and cars that have deferred maintenance and repair. But I don't think there are too many of these around to make a difference.
Detroit isn't completely off the hook. The EPA has put SE Michigan on notice. If the air quality is worse than a certain level for too many days, we'll be forced to put some clean-air plan into action. So, Detroit has Ozone Action Days when the summer air is stagnant, where residents are urged to abstain from pollution creating activities, such as mowing the lawn, or filling up with gas.
I suspect something similar is true with the rest of the country. For all the money spent to determine whether cars are clean and compliant, I doubt the public is any better off. Sure you might catch a few scofflaws and cars that have deferred maintenance and repair. But I don't think there are too many of these around to make a difference.
Detroit isn't completely off the hook. The EPA has put SE Michigan on notice. If the air quality is worse than a certain level for too many days, we'll be forced to put some clean-air plan into action. So, Detroit has Ozone Action Days when the summer air is stagnant, where residents are urged to abstain from pollution creating activities, such as mowing the lawn, or filling up with gas.