Jeep passed state safety "inspection"!

Wow, what state are you in?

Inspection stickers are just another tax, often combined with a swindle from a easy-grader garageman. There is no known evidence comparing traffic morbidity between a "sticker state" and a "no sticker state" that has found ANY decrease in equipment related failure morbidity in the sticker state.

SP Cook did pass the time by typing:

Tell you this much. Since Oklahoma did away with inspection stickers I have seen a marked increase in vehicles with no tail lights, single headlamps, almost-flat tires, and bald tires with cords showing.

Three times I've nearly rear-ended some yahoo with NO working brake lamps or just one dimly lit lamp. I pay attention but it's just a matter of time before someone is too busy sucking down a starpukes coffee or chatting on the celly.

After recent heavy rains here I counted no less than ten vehicles off the highway in the median or up on the fences. Can we say bald tires and careless driving.

Seems the average driver these days is flatly too ignorant to properly maintain a vehicle and some too ignorant to have the right to drive period.

Doug, I was here when Colorado canned their "safety inspectiom" and saw a rash of the same type of crap. That lasted 5-6 years and then the crappers started to disappear from the roads. Now, it's more common to see a cop writing a ticket for a bald tire than for wild lane changes. Lights and tires will get you stopped here as fast as speeding and bad tires mean a tow job. Now we have "emissions testing" in Colorado, at least along the Front Range - I'll take the saftey inspection any day since it's sooo much cheaper to get thru. Of course, in the bad old days they did two things that I did like. They tested the headlight ouput and alignment and we had to pull at least 2 brake drums to physically inspect the brakes (that will tell you how long ago that was).

Where's the Front Range in Colorado? Given that, where's the Back Range?

Bill

Still (supposedly) the case in Virginia. A good inspector will put the car on a lift and examine the undercarriage for leaking shocks, holes in the exhaust, rusted brake lines - whatever.

Having just moved here, I'm frustrated with the fact that I seldom see ANY lane changes, wild or not... n.

But the real idiocy of the Colorado system was that it was due at one of two times during the year which meant the poor inspection station was either swamped or sitting on their hands. My future Father-in-Law had a station and I would bring 6-8 buddies from the Academy in over the push weekends - he suppied the beer, pizza, and burgers and we pulled inspections in record time. Made a few bucks for spending money, the customers got in and out with minimum hassle so everyone was happy.

I still believe that a competent safety inspection should be a required maintainance item at least twice a year, especially where the climate varies dramatically between summer and winter, but note the word competent: state mandated/run systems generally don't qualify. I would imagine that any of us who do our own maintainance to keep a Jeep running actually do all that is required and more on an even more frequent schedule.

I love the new tech that cannot find the starter button on the floor.

My best story is taking the '49 pickup in for inspection. The tech was standing in front. I turned on the lights, flashed the dimmer. Then he said "Right, turn signal." He repeated this command a couple of times more and then looked at me to see me with my left arm out the window, elbow cocked at 90 degrees, palm forward. He rolled his head and with an air of total disgust asked "What year is this thing?" He made me put a wiper on the passenger side window.

The story does not end there. My wife and I were out on a joy ride early one evening in the small East Texas town where my folks live. We were driving around the loop to get ice cream when a young cop pulled us over. Conversation went like this: "What is wrong officer?" "Tail lights." "Well,sir, I can see it right there," pointing to the drivers side rear. "Someone runned off with the right side one." "Uh, it did not come with one," I said. "I dunno anything about that," said the cop. "Oh, look right here on the front of the windsheild," I said, "I had her inspected this morning and they would not have put the sticker on if it was not leagel." Bumfuzzeled, the nice officer took a closer look at us. Realizing we were not rabble but a clean, decent-looking young couple that pay a lot of taxes, probablly vote, and most likely have access to cash enough to have a lawyer make him fill out more paperwork that he would care for, he politely disengaged from the situation with a compliment to our old truck.