I was recently invited by the Air Resources Board (ARB) of California to attend a meeting to discuss the development of a regulation to reduce emissions from under-inflated vehicle tires. That's right, the State of California wants to figure out a way to implement a means to control how much air you have in your tires, as well as a means to enforce it.
I can't wait to hear how they intend to do this. Back in the 60s and 70s, the California Highway Patrol had random road-side inspections in which an officer would perform a checklist of required safety items. A list consisting of things like horn, lights, turn signals, emergency brakes, cracked windshields and yes, even bald tires, was checked. If there were any infractions, the motorist was then given a fix-it ticket and the safety items would then need to be repaired within a given time period and signed off, or suffer the consequences. Continue reading...
As a professional who has been in the business of auto repair/service over 40 years and counting, I am willing to wager that not even 1 in 10 vehicles that come into most facilities has tires which are properly inflated. It's a well known fact that improperly inflated tires causes not only premature tire wear, which in it's self can be a safety concern, but it can greatly affect the vehicle's gas mileage as well. This in turn has a direct impact on vehicle emissions and in turn has an adverse effect on global warming.
As I recall, the main reason road side vehicle safety inspections were eliminated was because of its cost effectiveness. It also took officers away from what many considered more important duties. The truth is I can see this dilemma from two different viewpoints. On one hand I am sure a lot of motorist are going to consider such inspections, whether they be road side inspections or otherwise, a waste of time or even a possible violation of their rights. But then again, if you worked on as many cars on a daily basis for and many years as I have, and if you saw some of the deathtraps I see that are running around out there, you might just start thinking vehicle inspections were a good idea.
On a regular basis many auto related businesses all over the country see vehicles with dangerous brakes, bald tires, unsafe suspension components and worse. Most of the time after we mention these unsafe concerns to them we hear comments like, "I'll take care of it with my next pay check." Or "I'll do it when I have more time." And so on. But the simple facts are, these same cars (lots of them) are the very same cars that are right behind you when you are trying to panic stop on the freeway because someone in front of you has swerved over into your lane. Or they are the ones with bald tires that are passing your child's bicycle or his or her way to the little league game. They are all around you. They are doing freeway speeds and they have no idea that they can not possibly keep their car in control should something go wrong. While your car may be able to stop on a dime because you keep it well maintained, that car behind you may not be able to stop for a couple hundred more yards because, "My neighbor has some tools and I'm sure he can figure out how to do a brake job. The tires? Oh hell, they must have at least a 100 more miles on them."
When it's all said and done, the truth is, I would personally love to see random, surprise, road side vehicle inspections in an effort to get these issues taken care of or at very least, regular state regulated vehicle safety inspections. Here in the State of California we have licensed facilities where smog inspections are performed. They could be set up by the same agency that oversees smog inspection stations and so on. At the same time, tire pressures could be checked as well as the all important condition of tires. And while they are at it, make it mandatory that every service station have free air pressure hose in a safe place where motorist can check their tire pressure when their getting gas. Besides, as much as the oil companies are charging for fuel, they can afford to offer what they should be considering a reward for paying their ransom prices in the first place.
So what do you think? Do you feel there is a need to attempt to make motorists more aware of the importance of checking the amount of air in their tires? Should the state be the one enforcing it? If not, who? And is simply checking tire pressure enough or should there be vehicle safety inspections again?
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