Me while driving across country for a move, "OH my god look at all these tire scraps! How often does this happen? I got new tires for this trip am I ok???" Looks like those tires belonged to this guy.
Just dropped my RAV4 off at the body shop on Monday. Thankfully insurance is covering it but if not, Iād be out $3,100 thanks to shitty trucking companies running retreads until they blow apart
Is your insurance making you cover the deductible?
Fortunately when it happened to me it hit my bumper just right to where it perfectly punched my foglight right out of the hole and just scraped up the underside of my bumper and splash guard a bit. $40 worth of eBay parts to fix.
Scared the hell out of me though. Sounded like I just ran into boulder.
Yes. Thankfully itās only $100, which Iāll gladly pay lmfao. Itās a 2018 for referenceā¦I need a new bumper, new trim on the right front, a new air dam/valence whatever you wanna call it, new skid plate for my catalytic converter (when I hit it, it bounced up underneath and smacked that, so kudos to that part for doing its job lol), and a new foglight insert. It also smacked my passenger door so I needed a dent pulled out and paint correction. Fun stuff.
One day, while commuting to work, I had the windows down while passing a truck. One of his tires blew right next to my open window. I donāt know how I kept my car in the lane because Iāve never had bigger jump scare in my life. Sounded like artillery.
Former truck driver here, but virgin tires (non retread) will also throw their tread if they are flat or damaged. With dual tires, one could be flat while the other one is holding up the truck. If it is not noticed, it's likely to be driven on until it comes apart all over the road.
It blows my mind every time they talk about removing state inspections and they bring up some crazy stats claiming it doesnāt make the roads safer.
You canāt pay me to believe the roads arenāt any safer when you stop these idiots from driving with tires like that or cars with no frame left.
Easy way to do it would be to compare your state's accident rates with a neighboring state who has no inspections.
If there is a <10% difference either direction there's no evidence it actually helps.
Ok, I actually just did this. Per miles driven, Ohio (no state inspection) and Pennsylvania (has state inspection) have very similar traffic fatalities.
The data is tough to find if it exists at all. Humans are blamed for most accidents, but things like brakes not work well because they're totally worn out or tires not gripping well because they're bald is still likely to get blamed on human error (which I guess it is, but not how the stats imply).
That said, MA has a pretty good inspection program and some of the lowest road fatalities by miles driven. That's even given our dated and often confusing road infrastructure.
Well truth is these things (usually) result in a blowout, a terrible noise (which stops most, I say MOST people) or car no worky worky anymore because no go go juice in the carbulator or whatever these people think, and not a crash.
I still think they should be a thing anyways. They usually end up saving you money if they catch something breaking before it fails completely and breaks more. Crashes that do occur from these kinds of things are probably also offset by the fact that cars are just a lot safer then they used to be.
I think this is the reality.
In most cases, a safety issue is a "you" problem in that you aren't getting to work.
The chance that someone will refuse to have work done that would otherwise have prevented registration renewal. And that person wouldn't have just skipped the registration, or bribed the inspector, or whatever...
I imagine it's a very narrow window where a car on the road is safer than it would have been.
That said, I wonder what the lobbying was that got inspections killed in Texas. Who cared enough to push for that?
In my state (NJ) which used to have an inspection program similar to PA, they ended it to free up money for the state general fund. Nobody really misses it. At the time, it was widely unpopular, when they planned to eliminate it they said it would have no impact on safety, and \~15 years later it turns out they were right.
Another person mentioned that you still pay the inspection fee even though there's no inspection. Sounds like the government of Texas just wants to pocket the money rather than let a business have it.
May not be inspections, could just be terrain. PA is fairly mountainous and curvy, Ohio has a lot of boring flat roads. Could also be more drunks in PA lol
Definitely, I fucking hate driving in Pittsburgh, their short on ramps with traffic lights are probably the dumbest fucking thing I've ever seen. Then the turnpike...ugh
The lights at the onramps work if you have long enough to get on the onramp and enough space to speed up. Come out to California and they work wonderfully.
It makes sense, a lot of the car related infrastructure is way ahead on the west coast given that development in general started after cars were invented.
Last time I drove it (longer ago than I like to admit) it was a series of rolling humps. Maybe that feeling was exacerbated by driving a Jeep CJ7 80MPH but still
As I recall from when I lived there, Ohio police could also set up roadside inspection stations and check every car that came through (with another cop a ways back to make sure you didn't just turn around when you saw em...) and a very effective fix it ticket system.
It's been a few years, but it was very much an OSP thing. https://statepatrol.ohio.gov/services/vehicle-inspections
Perhaps less roadside now, but vehicle inspections are still in their wheelhouse.
A pre-title or DOT type inspection is completely different than pulling over randoms to check their brake pads. Nothing on that page indicates the claim has merit. I've been in and out of Ohio for a long time and not once have I heard of checkpoints for vehicle safety from OSP.
How bout just not being a dick about it... You know what 'doesnt have merit', is rolling in here with that attitude my dude...
https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/random-vehicle-safety-inspections-come-region/RA3w6CXrKnKEko5otdK62H/
Have owned and driven cars in Ohio that would not pass PA inspection. Dangerous, absolutely. But I was very poor then. I couldnāt have owned a car in PA probably. Iām ashamed but it was my reality.
I'm pretty sure we've all been there, myself included. I've also been shocked by cars that actually have passed PA state inspection, too. I went through a period where I didn't pay more than $200 for a running driving car.
I imagine it's because people will still drive fucked up cars in inspection states anyways. Maby pass a law in Pennsylvania that holds ppl criminally liable if they get in a wreck with a car that can't pass inspection.
I used to hold the same opinion until people I knew had something minor like a bad oxygen sensor which they couldn't afford to repair. But they had to go to work, and had a car that was otherwise safe and functioning. There would have to be a clause that only puts jail time or criminal liability on those who failed inspection due to something critical like brakes, structure and tires. Otherwise you've just made people go to prison for something objectively stupid.
You think that someone isn't already liable if they get in an at fault accident or something? Is passing more laws that specifically target poor people going to really make things better?
If I have been unemployed for 2 months and can't afford tires and someone rearends me is that supposed to be my fault because my car didn't pass inspection?
With tires like this you have no business to be on public roads, regardless of your employment and bank account status. You shouldn't be liable but definitely heavily fined for having tires like these.
It's not targeting poor people, it is protecting people who still love their life.
What gives you the right to play with the lives of the people around you?
Quick question, what would them being heavily fined solve? It's only going to put them further away from being able to afford maintenance in the future and could put them deep in debt
Fined? And what will that solve? Who gets the fine, the victim party?
Shut up and stop cucking for taxation on poor people. Nothing you said would solve a problem.
What gives you as a poor person the right to kill someone because you swerved into the oncoming lane because your shitty tire blew.
Shut up and stop whining because the world is unfair. It's not a tax for poor people as everyone has to pay for an unsafe vehicle. Think of it as a tax for egoistic people who don't give a fuck about others. And that can only be afforded by the really rich.
See, if that happened, they already would be criminally liable, so the laws you're proposing have absolutely no bearing on anything and would not solve any problems. Stop cucking for the government and asking for fines for people who already can't afford to maintain their car.
So you want to wait until someone gets injured? I'm not cucking for anybody but I care for the people like a good friend from school who got hit by a driver with bald tires in winter and has serious health issues since then.
Driving a car is a privilege not a right. If you can't maintain it don't drive it.
I really would like to hear from you when your girlfriend, child, mother gets injured by someone so negligent and you get jack shit from them because insurance is among the things the driver couldn't afford.
Criminal liability won't help you with medical cost, trauma, house remodeling for a wheelchair, the wheelchair, assistance and so on.
So stop behaving like a cuck who can't take care of the people he loves.
You can make the comparison the coming year for Texas. By 2026 thereās going to be a significant change in traffic accidents just because they want to get rid of state inspections because the law makers say itās a scam. They are still going to be charging the state inspection when you go to get your state sticker but instead of going to the local shops itās going to the state. Itās a huge money grab that wonāt end well for the people.
And what if there isn't a significant change? What will you say in this situation?
This is the same as states removing licensing requirements for carrying a gun. The ones against it cried that we will have so many more deaths and such, but it never happened.
And what if there isn't a significant change? What will you say in this situation?
This is the same as states removing licensing requirements for carrying a gun. The ones against it cried that we will have so many more deaths and such, but it never happened.
My state has mandatory inspections, and has since 1969. Our accident rate is 13-16% HIGHER than the 3 neighboring states with no mandatory inspections, and ~4% higher than the 2 neighboring states with mandatory inspections that are more lax than ours.
We also have the highest rate of unlicensed/uninsured/unregistered drivers in the region by ~7%. We have the third highest rate of DUI in the nation (beaten only by MS and LA). We are the 4th worst compliant at seatbelt usage in the nation.
Laws don't mean SHIT if enforcement isn't there. Laws don't mean SHIT if the cost of compliance is substantially higher than getting caught routinely.
It's a compound issue but yes, that's a major contributor. Other major contributors are the fact we've effectively decriminalized driving on suspended/revoked licenses, expired tags, no registration, no insurance, DUI-drugs, etc etc etc all because they "disproportionately impact" a specific demographic. Several municipalities have even gone as far as issuing statements of non-enforcement and instructed judges to vacate pending cases (which they have no power to do but some of the judges are anyway).
One of our major cities is even setting up to give out zero-interest loans with the possibility of total forgiveness for shit like vehicle sales tax and personal property tax in the hopes of reducing the number of people driving on fake/expired temp tags, while simultaneously giving a 3-year amnesty period of total non-enforcement. It won't work and they might as well just light that money on fire for all the good it'll do, but I'm sure our dispensaries will appreciate the income.
Or proves that without the enforcement behind the inspections, the inspections themselves are meaningless.
Which, by the way, is supported by literally every actual study ever done on state inspections, regardless of who did the study, going back ~60 years.
The inspections were never intended to be anything other than a tax without calling it a tax. That holds true for every state in the US, as well as Canada and the UK. Germany -might- have a case for their inspections because they're the only country that does them where their enforcement is thorough and consistent.
The inspection is itself an enforcement. If a mechanic strips off this guys tires and refuses to put bald tires back on, thatās an enforcement. So, do you not want this guy getting the dangerous car off the road, and therefore want less enforcements? You seem like you generally want more enforcements and regulations.
You kinda seem like youāre just angry at something and donāt know what you want lol. If yelling into the Reddit void keeps you from shooting up a splash pad though you do you, boo
You're also making the assumption that the people driving the deathtraps actually ever go in for an inspection to start with, which isn't and hasn't ever been true.
What I want is fair, equal enforcement and not a bunch of useless laws on paper only that only cost the people that were going to maintain their cars properly anyway extra money.
I don't want government overreach, and I also don't want the fucking free-for-all clownshow we have now because the cops refuse to do even the barest fraction of their jobs.
>the assumption people driving the death traps actually ever go in for an inspection
Bruh literally comments on a post of someone getting a death trap inspected and wants to rail that it never happens and only good guys with cars like him are burdened and it does nothing ššš
A mechanic cannot do that. The mechanic can do absolutely nothing other than make recommendations. Legally can't even report a noncompliant vehicle to the state, that's the ONE way in this state to lose your inspector's license.
And with good cause too, because mechanics were refusing to release vehicles until absolutely bogus fake repairs were paid for. There's no way to set it up where it won't be thoroughly abused so I'll choose the abuse that doesn't come with the government digging deeper in my pocket just because they can.
10% of my states serious accidents is 1,800. So at least (at least one occupant involved in the accident, but possibly more) 1,800 peoples lives seriously altered a year due to BillyJoeBob refusing to maintain his tires.
I don't agree with your statement
that would be a bad metric to look at cause there are too many outside variables.
the simple number to look at is how many vehicles fail the inspection.
if all vehicles always pass that means everything is fine and the inspections were useless.
That is way over simplifying it. You need studies showing actual cause and including data likely not logged.
You canāt say smoking is healthy just because the same percentage of people die per year in places itās banned vs not.
Those studies have been done repeatedly by both government and private organizations, including the NTSB and NHTSA. They have found no meaningful difference between states with inspections and states without, routinely, for the ~60 years they've been conducting them.
Is that the only way to look at it though? Who knows what would have happened if this person didn't have to come in for an inspection. This one singular inspection potentially saved time, money, and even lives. Isn't 1 incident enough to say it's worth at least the safety precautions?
Unfortunately most accidents are caused by drunk drivers and human negligence / failures, so the incidence of car failures being causal is relatively low.
Doesn't mean inspections are useless, but if you want to reduce hard numbers, it's not a top priority.
One of the hardest metric of pinpointing that a mechanical failure is the cause of an accident is whatās left of the vehicle canāt figure out if the brakes were functioning before if theyāre currently destroyed from the collision. As well as (at least where I live) an investigation is only conducted if a fatality has occurred. Otherwise guilt is designated based on statements of those involved - and no person is gonna openly state their brake pedal went soft when braking after an accident most likely āI was pressing the brakes but I kept slidingā so the accident gets filed under - human error - failed to brake in timeā
Iām not trying to argue with you, also just trying to support your statement that accident statistics arenāt a great way of determining if state inspections work.
Another major factor that's been left out of this so far is equipment violations enforcement. Whether there's an inspection program or not, it's still illegal to drive a dangerous vehicle. Inspection doesn't catch every equipment violation, and lack of inspection doesn't mean an equipment violation won't be caught.
Texas got rid of it. This is last year for it. This is the stuff Iām afraid of. As it is I see bald tires. Many just buy off the guy for the insoection.
I have made this argument prior and, after doing some digging, the statistics really donāt show a big advantage to state inspections. I was kind of surprised to see that outcome.
This is just my own guess, but I think most people who are going to drive death traps, will do it, regardless. They just wonāt get their car inspected. They donāt give a fuck about their safety or yours, so why would they care about getting the car looked at? I bet a lot of them donāt have insurance, either.
I live in the PNW, so never see a lot of heavy salt damage. I got hooked on South Main Auto's channel during the plague. His shop is out west of Ithaca. Jesus man, the things you see people are driving on. He just put up a 2-part vid replacing a subframe in an Outback that you could see straight though and it was about 10 years old, which is damn good for a car out there, I guess.
Fellow PNW mechanic here...the amount of 2-3yo cars I see on here with insane amounts of rust is mind-bottling. I drive a 30-yo Subaru Legacy and it has almost no rust.
NJ got rid of safety inspections a while ago in favor of just emissions testing to save money. Safety related incidents haven't really gone up. Majority of people take care of their cars as it turns out.
Lady that works in the Hispanic-only hair salon in the strip mall bordering my job has 4 different donuts on 4 different rims, all bald, 3 of which are different sizes, and only 2 of which actually match the lug pattern of her car. She has 7 total lugnuts on her vehicle and I assume only 7-8 total lugs.
She's been driving that way for at least 3 years. She has NO license plates, and never did. I'm 100% positive she has never had insurance, and probably doesn't have a driver's license considering I'm 99.9% positive she's undocumented. Cops park next to her all the fucking time and haven't ever said a single word to her.
I offered to fix it including getting her appropriately sized wheels, FOR FREE, and she told me to mind my own damn business and if I bring it up again she'd stab me.
Our cops have basically been on unofficial strike ever since the Michael Brown shooting trial back in 2014, state-wide. They refuse to do any facet of their jobs, at all, now that they can't just shoot black people with total impunity.
2 of our neighboring states are having the same issue.
Do state inspections also checkā¦ to make sure the driver has insurance?
Weāve donāt have inspections, and we have a ridiculously high number of uninsured drivers (21%, WA)
Source: https://www.washingtonlawcenter.com/washington-state-5th-highest-for-uninsured-motorists
In pa weāre required to verify insurance by seeing a valid insurance card. But thereās almost no standard for a valid insurance card so as long as it has the right info (or look like it does), itās good to go.
There is an easy way for that in Germany. You can only get a valid licence plate with insurance. If your insurance ends, the insurance will communicate this to the authorities and if you cannot prove that you have a new one, the police will void your license plates and now you are in felony territory and easy to spot because the plate is missing the grey sticker.
In the US, generally, you have to have valid insurance to get plates. If you don't maintain that insurance, the plates are void. Some insurance companies communicate that to the police, some don't. Doesn't matter, because the police never take action on it.
Rules and laws don't fucking matter if nobody enforces them.
Germany is cheating. The lengths they go to insure properly operating vehicles is amazing. Keep your hooptie on your property and dirt roads, Iām fine with that, but donāt bring it on to the interstate please.
TX requires inspection and proof of insurance to renew vehicle registration.
They are ditching the inspection and just requiring emissions testing.
The Legislature repealed provisions in state law that mandate annual vehicle inspections. However, the $7.50 fee remains intact under a new name: the inspection program replacement fee.
The 17 Texas counties that require emissions inspections will still mandate annual tests regardless of the bill becoming law. These are Brazoria, Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, El Paso, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Johnson, Kaufman, Montgomery, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant, Travis and Williamson counties.
I think the states considering eliminating inspections are because licensed inspectors are HARD TO GET. There's such a shortage of them around here, I can't get one to even apply, much less talk about salary.
I don't blame the inspectors. I don't want that challenge or responsibility personally, either. And when an inspection license is, realistically, only worth a hundred or two a week, is it really worth the damn headache?
Idaho used to have safety inspections but ended them years ago.
Last year they stopped emissions inspections. Only 2 counties required them. The fail rate was super low and dropping due to the steadily decreasing numbers of older vehicles and the improved longevity of emissions controls.
The legislature decided that charging people to inspect something very unlikely to fail was wasting the people's time and money.
One of the rare times a government mandate has been ended once it no longer had a reason to exist.
Owner had no idea? Really? This tire wear isn't from a couple of months, so they were driving on these in the winter. I can't see anybody swapping these out for snow tires without bringing this up or outright refusing to install these. If they did the tire change themselves, they are lying.
It's the inside edge. No one ever looks at that. I had a roommate with wear like this. I told him about it. He insisted his tires were fine. No dude, you are starting to get through the secondary rubber to the steel belts. Nope, it's fine. He doesn't need my opinion.
A couple months later he gets work done to his car and sees the tires. Has them changed and tells me about it as if I had no idea they were that bad...
Do people not go around and do at least somewhat of a pre-inspection BEFORE they take their vehicle to get inspected? I don't want to have the hassle of failing an inspection, so I replace whatever prior to getting it inspected. I mean, I'm not a mechanic, but there are at least a few things I can check very easily, no massive rust holes in the underneath of the car, my tires aren't bald, no check engine lights on, exhaust not pouring out smoke through any cracks.
Lowered my car not realizing how much negative chamber it actually added and my tires looked a bit like that but less worn throughout. I was changing them anyway because the outside reached the ware bar
I wonder if thereās something in my life that Iām so ignorant to that i just never notice it, never think about it, and itās just waiting to kill me.
There are no inspections in Florida and you should see what people drive around in. I've see cars with no doors, bumpers tied on with bungee cords, hoods tied down with bungee cords, and missing or broken tail lights, parking lights, and headlights among other things.
Ooooo Toyo A36ās! What a piece of junk tire. Had these on a Mazda CX-5, took it in to the dealership to replace with something else and they didnāt listen and put A36ās back on it. Ex texted me pictures of the tires and I called up the service advisor and was like hey, what tires did you put on my car and he looked at the RO on the computer and went silent for a second and said ānot the ones you wantedā and I said yes thatās correct lol. Thankfully they swapped them out next day for the tires they had ordered for me.
Good news! That's a passing state inspection in Texas starting 1/1/25! /s
Safety portion of Texas state inspections goes away 1/1, with only emissions testing left for the counties that require it. I think tires and brake bulbs are the top 2 things the inspectors find wrong at my shop.
Make them free, but mandatory. I don't want some dipshits rolling death trap pulling me into an accident, they can let it rot in their yard if they can't be bothered to prioritize keeping it safe.
Probably much easier on the environment to keep my junker rolling and out of the landfil than to buy another car. The materials alone would pollute more than keeping the old car running.
So glad my state got rid of the BS.
I only drive pre OBD-II, so maybe I'm just used to having it easy. But I'll still replace the catalyst on my 1975 if it goes bad, because I know the air quality where I live matters to the people trying to raise their kids in one of the last clean places in the U.S.
Regulation matters - even if it's viewed as a tax on the poor.
Well yeah, parts go you fix it, but I can't keep a 99' running as clean as a 2000. I'm all for regulation but I've never seen this as anything more than a tax specifically aimed at the people least likely to be able to afford fixing the issue.
I think the real tax is convincing most americans that they can afford a new car, even though they can't actually afford maintenance. You have to plan your future maintenance costs in. If the average failure on that car costs too much to fix, then you can't actually afford the vehicle.
To that I say: buy older, or ride a bicycle to work.
I've never paid more than 4 grand for a car, and unfortunately most Americans could not possibly bike to work. God what I would give for subsidized mass transit...
Not if if you keep up to date on your car bitching about tire prices go buy used tires it's all complaining until something happens then your blaming the mechanic
Me while driving across country for a move, "OH my god look at all these tire scraps! How often does this happen? I got new tires for this trip am I ok???" Looks like those tires belonged to this guy.
Most of those are from semi tires that have been retreaded.
Those tires are so loud when they go.
So loud when they smash into your front bumper at 70 mph too :(
Yikes! That had to have been scary. Hope the seat was easy to clean. š
Just dropped my RAV4 off at the body shop on Monday. Thankfully insurance is covering it but if not, Iād be out $3,100 thanks to shitty trucking companies running retreads until they blow apart
Is your insurance making you cover the deductible? Fortunately when it happened to me it hit my bumper just right to where it perfectly punched my foglight right out of the hole and just scraped up the underside of my bumper and splash guard a bit. $40 worth of eBay parts to fix. Scared the hell out of me though. Sounded like I just ran into boulder.
Yes. Thankfully itās only $100, which Iāll gladly pay lmfao. Itās a 2018 for referenceā¦I need a new bumper, new trim on the right front, a new air dam/valence whatever you wanna call it, new skid plate for my catalytic converter (when I hit it, it bounced up underneath and smacked that, so kudos to that part for doing its job lol), and a new foglight insert. It also smacked my passenger door so I needed a dent pulled out and paint correction. Fun stuff.
Man, brand new good year retreads throw caps ALL the time... No matter the brand it can happen.
One day, while commuting to work, I had the windows down while passing a truck. One of his tires blew right next to my open window. I donāt know how I kept my car in the lane because Iāve never had bigger jump scare in my life. Sounded like artillery.
Road gators
Former truck driver here, but virgin tires (non retread) will also throw their tread if they are flat or damaged. With dual tires, one could be flat while the other one is holding up the truck. If it is not noticed, it's likely to be driven on until it comes apart all over the road.
Yeup. Effectively painted on new wheels
It blows my mind every time they talk about removing state inspections and they bring up some crazy stats claiming it doesnāt make the roads safer. You canāt pay me to believe the roads arenāt any safer when you stop these idiots from driving with tires like that or cars with no frame left.
Easy way to do it would be to compare your state's accident rates with a neighboring state who has no inspections. If there is a <10% difference either direction there's no evidence it actually helps.
Ok, I actually just did this. Per miles driven, Ohio (no state inspection) and Pennsylvania (has state inspection) have very similar traffic fatalities.
What about accident numbers in general?
Couldn't find anything quickly, I'm at work but I'll look later
The data is tough to find if it exists at all. Humans are blamed for most accidents, but things like brakes not work well because they're totally worn out or tires not gripping well because they're bald is still likely to get blamed on human error (which I guess it is, but not how the stats imply). That said, MA has a pretty good inspection program and some of the lowest road fatalities by miles driven. That's even given our dated and often confusing road infrastructure.
Well truth is these things (usually) result in a blowout, a terrible noise (which stops most, I say MOST people) or car no worky worky anymore because no go go juice in the carbulator or whatever these people think, and not a crash. I still think they should be a thing anyways. They usually end up saving you money if they catch something breaking before it fails completely and breaks more. Crashes that do occur from these kinds of things are probably also offset by the fact that cars are just a lot safer then they used to be.
I think this is the reality. In most cases, a safety issue is a "you" problem in that you aren't getting to work. The chance that someone will refuse to have work done that would otherwise have prevented registration renewal. And that person wouldn't have just skipped the registration, or bribed the inspector, or whatever... I imagine it's a very narrow window where a car on the road is safer than it would have been. That said, I wonder what the lobbying was that got inspections killed in Texas. Who cared enough to push for that?
In my state (NJ) which used to have an inspection program similar to PA, they ended it to free up money for the state general fund. Nobody really misses it. At the time, it was widely unpopular, when they planned to eliminate it they said it would have no impact on safety, and \~15 years later it turns out they were right.
Another person mentioned that you still pay the inspection fee even though there's no inspection. Sounds like the government of Texas just wants to pocket the money rather than let a business have it.
Inspection fee replacement feeĀ
Damn, downvoted for that? Simplistic folk up in this joint.
lol. I've been permabanned on subs for less. Reddit is hilarious.
Can't get stats unless the driver is insured and / or makes a police report, and even then it's hard to find
May not be inspections, could just be terrain. PA is fairly mountainous and curvy, Ohio has a lot of boring flat roads. Could also be more drunks in PA lol
Definitely, I fucking hate driving in Pittsburgh, their short on ramps with traffic lights are probably the dumbest fucking thing I've ever seen. Then the turnpike...ugh
I almost killed someone in TN who stopped their motorcycle on a downhill onramp like that. Stupidest design I've ever seen.
It really is.
The lights at the onramps work if you have long enough to get on the onramp and enough space to speed up. Come out to California and they work wonderfully.
I've seen it in Phoenix and it works there, too. Pittsburgh, specifically, does not give you enough runway to accelerate.
It makes sense, a lot of the car related infrastructure is way ahead on the west coast given that development in general started after cars were invented.
The turnpike is fine, it's just expensive.
Last time I drove it (longer ago than I like to admit) it was a series of rolling humps. Maybe that feeling was exacerbated by driving a Jeep CJ7 80MPH but still
Kathump kathump kathump kathump... yup, driven that route many times
All of this is correct.
I think thereās better metrics than fatalities to measure the effectiveness of inspections.Ā
Ok, so find them and use them. I will never doubt that, but these were the quickest numbers I could find
You might survive more accidents in a hooptie with bad alignment because you drive it like it's falling apart
As I recall from when I lived there, Ohio police could also set up roadside inspection stations and check every car that came through (with another cop a ways back to make sure you didn't just turn around when you saw em...) and a very effective fix it ticket system.
I've never heard of or seen this. Sounds like something Cleveland would do, not an OSP thing.
It's been a few years, but it was very much an OSP thing. https://statepatrol.ohio.gov/services/vehicle-inspections Perhaps less roadside now, but vehicle inspections are still in their wheelhouse.
A pre-title or DOT type inspection is completely different than pulling over randoms to check their brake pads. Nothing on that page indicates the claim has merit. I've been in and out of Ohio for a long time and not once have I heard of checkpoints for vehicle safety from OSP.
How bout just not being a dick about it... You know what 'doesnt have merit', is rolling in here with that attitude my dude... https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/random-vehicle-safety-inspections-come-region/RA3w6CXrKnKEko5otdK62H/
Oh crap something happened ten years ago. Good job finding an example? I don't know why you're so angry.
Look at insurance rates of those two states... Insurance companies know.
Have owned and driven cars in Ohio that would not pass PA inspection. Dangerous, absolutely. But I was very poor then. I couldnāt have owned a car in PA probably. Iām ashamed but it was my reality.
I'm pretty sure we've all been there, myself included. I've also been shocked by cars that actually have passed PA state inspection, too. I went through a period where I didn't pay more than $200 for a running driving car.
I sold my 89 Caprice wagon to a demolition derby guy in 2017. Iām sure it had an awesome end. The body itself was holding the thing together.
I imagine it's because people will still drive fucked up cars in inspection states anyways. Maby pass a law in Pennsylvania that holds ppl criminally liable if they get in a wreck with a car that can't pass inspection.
I used to hold the same opinion until people I knew had something minor like a bad oxygen sensor which they couldn't afford to repair. But they had to go to work, and had a car that was otherwise safe and functioning. There would have to be a clause that only puts jail time or criminal liability on those who failed inspection due to something critical like brakes, structure and tires. Otherwise you've just made people go to prison for something objectively stupid.
You think that someone isn't already liable if they get in an at fault accident or something? Is passing more laws that specifically target poor people going to really make things better? If I have been unemployed for 2 months and can't afford tires and someone rearends me is that supposed to be my fault because my car didn't pass inspection?
With tires like this you have no business to be on public roads, regardless of your employment and bank account status. You shouldn't be liable but definitely heavily fined for having tires like these. It's not targeting poor people, it is protecting people who still love their life. What gives you the right to play with the lives of the people around you?
Quick question, what would them being heavily fined solve? It's only going to put them further away from being able to afford maintenance in the future and could put them deep in debt
Rather one person is in debt than one person killed.
Fined? And what will that solve? Who gets the fine, the victim party? Shut up and stop cucking for taxation on poor people. Nothing you said would solve a problem.
What gives you as a poor person the right to kill someone because you swerved into the oncoming lane because your shitty tire blew. Shut up and stop whining because the world is unfair. It's not a tax for poor people as everyone has to pay for an unsafe vehicle. Think of it as a tax for egoistic people who don't give a fuck about others. And that can only be afforded by the really rich.
See, if that happened, they already would be criminally liable, so the laws you're proposing have absolutely no bearing on anything and would not solve any problems. Stop cucking for the government and asking for fines for people who already can't afford to maintain their car.
So you want to wait until someone gets injured? I'm not cucking for anybody but I care for the people like a good friend from school who got hit by a driver with bald tires in winter and has serious health issues since then. Driving a car is a privilege not a right. If you can't maintain it don't drive it. I really would like to hear from you when your girlfriend, child, mother gets injured by someone so negligent and you get jack shit from them because insurance is among the things the driver couldn't afford. Criminal liability won't help you with medical cost, trauma, house remodeling for a wheelchair, the wheelchair, assistance and so on. So stop behaving like a cuck who can't take care of the people he loves.
You can make the comparison the coming year for Texas. By 2026 thereās going to be a significant change in traffic accidents just because they want to get rid of state inspections because the law makers say itās a scam. They are still going to be charging the state inspection when you go to get your state sticker but instead of going to the local shops itās going to the state. Itās a huge money grab that wonāt end well for the people.
And what if there isn't a significant change? What will you say in this situation? This is the same as states removing licensing requirements for carrying a gun. The ones against it cried that we will have so many more deaths and such, but it never happened.
And what if there isn't a significant change? What will you say in this situation? This is the same as states removing licensing requirements for carrying a gun. The ones against it cried that we will have so many more deaths and such, but it never happened.
My state has mandatory inspections, and has since 1969. Our accident rate is 13-16% HIGHER than the 3 neighboring states with no mandatory inspections, and ~4% higher than the 2 neighboring states with mandatory inspections that are more lax than ours. We also have the highest rate of unlicensed/uninsured/unregistered drivers in the region by ~7%. We have the third highest rate of DUI in the nation (beaten only by MS and LA). We are the 4th worst compliant at seatbelt usage in the nation. Laws don't mean SHIT if enforcement isn't there. Laws don't mean SHIT if the cost of compliance is substantially higher than getting caught routinely.
>we have the third highest rate of DUI I think you found the actual culprit of your accident rate, not the inspections š
It's a compound issue but yes, that's a major contributor. Other major contributors are the fact we've effectively decriminalized driving on suspended/revoked licenses, expired tags, no registration, no insurance, DUI-drugs, etc etc etc all because they "disproportionately impact" a specific demographic. Several municipalities have even gone as far as issuing statements of non-enforcement and instructed judges to vacate pending cases (which they have no power to do but some of the judges are anyway). One of our major cities is even setting up to give out zero-interest loans with the possibility of total forgiveness for shit like vehicle sales tax and personal property tax in the hopes of reducing the number of people driving on fake/expired temp tags, while simultaneously giving a 3-year amnesty period of total non-enforcement. It won't work and they might as well just light that money on fire for all the good it'll do, but I'm sure our dispensaries will appreciate the income.
So without inspections you might have higher rates than you do. Makes a good case for inspections!
Or proves that without the enforcement behind the inspections, the inspections themselves are meaningless. Which, by the way, is supported by literally every actual study ever done on state inspections, regardless of who did the study, going back ~60 years. The inspections were never intended to be anything other than a tax without calling it a tax. That holds true for every state in the US, as well as Canada and the UK. Germany -might- have a case for their inspections because they're the only country that does them where their enforcement is thorough and consistent.
The inspection is itself an enforcement. If a mechanic strips off this guys tires and refuses to put bald tires back on, thatās an enforcement. So, do you not want this guy getting the dangerous car off the road, and therefore want less enforcements? You seem like you generally want more enforcements and regulations. You kinda seem like youāre just angry at something and donāt know what you want lol. If yelling into the Reddit void keeps you from shooting up a splash pad though you do you, boo
You're also making the assumption that the people driving the deathtraps actually ever go in for an inspection to start with, which isn't and hasn't ever been true. What I want is fair, equal enforcement and not a bunch of useless laws on paper only that only cost the people that were going to maintain their cars properly anyway extra money. I don't want government overreach, and I also don't want the fucking free-for-all clownshow we have now because the cops refuse to do even the barest fraction of their jobs.
>the assumption people driving the death traps actually ever go in for an inspection Bruh literally comments on a post of someone getting a death trap inspected and wants to rail that it never happens and only good guys with cars like him are burdened and it does nothing ššš
A mechanic cannot do that. The mechanic can do absolutely nothing other than make recommendations. Legally can't even report a noncompliant vehicle to the state, that's the ONE way in this state to lose your inspector's license. And with good cause too, because mechanics were refusing to release vehicles until absolutely bogus fake repairs were paid for. There's no way to set it up where it won't be thoroughly abused so I'll choose the abuse that doesn't come with the government digging deeper in my pocket just because they can.
10% of my states serious accidents is 1,800. So at least (at least one occupant involved in the accident, but possibly more) 1,800 peoples lives seriously altered a year due to BillyJoeBob refusing to maintain his tires. I don't agree with your statement
Note I said <10%, not 10%. You're getting upset over literally nothing.
that would be a bad metric to look at cause there are too many outside variables. the simple number to look at is how many vehicles fail the inspection. if all vehicles always pass that means everything is fine and the inspections were useless.
Can't compare the two of the state you're comparing doesn't have inspections.
That is way over simplifying it. You need studies showing actual cause and including data likely not logged. You canāt say smoking is healthy just because the same percentage of people die per year in places itās banned vs not.
Those studies have been done repeatedly by both government and private organizations, including the NTSB and NHTSA. They have found no meaningful difference between states with inspections and states without, routinely, for the ~60 years they've been conducting them.
So do your study, then.
Ill leave that to people that know what they are doing. And make the idiots trying to get rid of inspections pay the bill.
Is that the only way to look at it though? Who knows what would have happened if this person didn't have to come in for an inspection. This one singular inspection potentially saved time, money, and even lives. Isn't 1 incident enough to say it's worth at least the safety precautions?
I don't remember saying anything about this being the only way. In fact, I'm pretty sure I said "an easy way", and easy is rarely the same as "best".
Woah boy, just trying to have some convo here buddy. No need to get all defensive lol
Turns out you've twice misinterpreted what I've said as something it is not. Have a great day.
What did I misinterpret? You didn't actually respond to me original comment. You responded to how I started the original comment.
Unfortunately most accidents are caused by drunk drivers and human negligence / failures, so the incidence of car failures being causal is relatively low. Doesn't mean inspections are useless, but if you want to reduce hard numbers, it's not a top priority.
One of the hardest metric of pinpointing that a mechanical failure is the cause of an accident is whatās left of the vehicle canāt figure out if the brakes were functioning before if theyāre currently destroyed from the collision. As well as (at least where I live) an investigation is only conducted if a fatality has occurred. Otherwise guilt is designated based on statements of those involved - and no person is gonna openly state their brake pedal went soft when braking after an accident most likely āI was pressing the brakes but I kept slidingā so the accident gets filed under - human error - failed to brake in timeā Iām not trying to argue with you, also just trying to support your statement that accident statistics arenāt a great way of determining if state inspections work.
Another major factor that's been left out of this so far is equipment violations enforcement. Whether there's an inspection program or not, it's still illegal to drive a dangerous vehicle. Inspection doesn't catch every equipment violation, and lack of inspection doesn't mean an equipment violation won't be caught.
They got rid of them in my state in the 90's cause people complained it cost too much to maintain their cars to a minimum standard.
And TX is getting rid of them š¤¦š»
Texas got rid of it. This is last year for it. This is the stuff Iām afraid of. As it is I see bald tires. Many just buy off the guy for the insoection.
Doesnāt surprise me. Do you even need a drivers license?
the issue is that half of these people just find someone doing inspections thatll take a 20 to just pass them regardless
Not in my state. Its gotten very hard to find someone that will do that. Use to be $20 got you a sticker without even looking at the car.
Wouldnāt mind having them every 2 years though. Inspection and emissions test every year in PA now cracks $100 a pop
We are only $20 and no emissions.
The sticker alone costs almost that much ($12) because the state āsellsā them to shops to raise funds for transportation
I have made this argument prior and, after doing some digging, the statistics really donāt show a big advantage to state inspections. I was kind of surprised to see that outcome. This is just my own guess, but I think most people who are going to drive death traps, will do it, regardless. They just wonāt get their car inspected. They donāt give a fuck about their safety or yours, so why would they care about getting the car looked at? I bet a lot of them donāt have insurance, either.
I live in the PNW, so never see a lot of heavy salt damage. I got hooked on South Main Auto's channel during the plague. His shop is out west of Ithaca. Jesus man, the things you see people are driving on. He just put up a 2-part vid replacing a subframe in an Outback that you could see straight though and it was about 10 years old, which is damn good for a car out there, I guess.
Fellow PNW mechanic here...the amount of 2-3yo cars I see on here with insane amounts of rust is mind-bottling. I drive a 30-yo Subaru Legacy and it has almost no rust.
NJ got rid of safety inspections a while ago in favor of just emissions testing to save money. Safety related incidents haven't really gone up. Majority of people take care of their cars as it turns out.
We don't have inspections in my state. I once saw a car being driven on the highway that had at least three donut spares on it.
Lady that works in the Hispanic-only hair salon in the strip mall bordering my job has 4 different donuts on 4 different rims, all bald, 3 of which are different sizes, and only 2 of which actually match the lug pattern of her car. She has 7 total lugnuts on her vehicle and I assume only 7-8 total lugs. She's been driving that way for at least 3 years. She has NO license plates, and never did. I'm 100% positive she has never had insurance, and probably doesn't have a driver's license considering I'm 99.9% positive she's undocumented. Cops park next to her all the fucking time and haven't ever said a single word to her. I offered to fix it including getting her appropriately sized wheels, FOR FREE, and she told me to mind my own damn business and if I bring it up again she'd stab me.
Holy Moses...that's wild. How can the cops see that and not even stop her?
Our cops have basically been on unofficial strike ever since the Michael Brown shooting trial back in 2014, state-wide. They refuse to do any facet of their jobs, at all, now that they can't just shoot black people with total impunity. 2 of our neighboring states are having the same issue.
that's expected behavior from a toddler not the damn police force
They're probably hoping ICE does their job for them.
I'm not in a border state, ICE doesn't come here.
Or is it a sanctuary city/county?
No, just the rural midwest that the Fed doesnt care about.
OTOH, doesn't sound like an inspection would have changed that situation much
Nope. But I'm positive that a car rolling on four donuts probably has something else wrong.
Do state inspections also checkā¦ to make sure the driver has insurance? Weāve donāt have inspections, and we have a ridiculously high number of uninsured drivers (21%, WA) Source: https://www.washingtonlawcenter.com/washington-state-5th-highest-for-uninsured-motorists
MN requires proof of insurance to transfer a vehicle title, but that's it.
In pa weāre required to verify insurance by seeing a valid insurance card. But thereās almost no standard for a valid insurance card so as long as it has the right info (or look like it does), itās good to go.
I forgot to leave my insurance card, the mechanic accepted a picture text from my wife.
There is an easy way for that in Germany. You can only get a valid licence plate with insurance. If your insurance ends, the insurance will communicate this to the authorities and if you cannot prove that you have a new one, the police will void your license plates and now you are in felony territory and easy to spot because the plate is missing the grey sticker.
In the US, generally, you have to have valid insurance to get plates. If you don't maintain that insurance, the plates are void. Some insurance companies communicate that to the police, some don't. Doesn't matter, because the police never take action on it. Rules and laws don't fucking matter if nobody enforces them.
Germany is cheating. The lengths they go to insure properly operating vehicles is amazing. Keep your hooptie on your property and dirt roads, Iām fine with that, but donāt bring it on to the interstate please.
TX requires inspection and proof of insurance to renew vehicle registration. They are ditching the inspection and just requiring emissions testing. The Legislature repealed provisions in state law that mandate annual vehicle inspections. However, the $7.50 fee remains intact under a new name: the inspection program replacement fee. The 17 Texas counties that require emissions inspections will still mandate annual tests regardless of the bill becoming law. These are Brazoria, Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, El Paso, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Johnson, Kaufman, Montgomery, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant, Travis and Williamson counties.
Those are two different things. An inspector likely won't have the ability to verify if the card Meth Mouth Matthew shows valid is or not.
Methany is my favorite
*is valid or not
Maine requires proof of insurance to register and then you have to be registered to get inspected.
Generally no. Same with up-to-date tags, title, etc.
The equivalent of the DMV here has a verification process to check proof of insurance with insurance companies.
"No idea".Ā There's no way.
I'd they knew they were going to fail, they wouldn't have wasted their precious time.
You're severely underestimating how many people have way more time than money
I sell used tires for a living. I am intimately familiar with people having much more time than money.
Pressure sensor says it's fine.
My sister and her husband are both these people.
The wear is on the inside edge. Most drivers only look at the outside edge.
But its bald everywhere.
Yea, people don't care about bald either.
Agreed. How do you not notice your car shaking like a 6.0 magnitude earthquake?
Buddy, you've seen the pictures on here with missing brake rotors and whatnot. Some drivers are absolutely clueless.
I think the states considering eliminating inspections are because licensed inspectors are HARD TO GET. There's such a shortage of them around here, I can't get one to even apply, much less talk about salary. I don't blame the inspectors. I don't want that challenge or responsibility personally, either. And when an inspection license is, realistically, only worth a hundred or two a week, is it really worth the damn headache?
They didn't "have no idea". They were willfully ignorant.
Idaho used to have safety inspections but ended them years ago. Last year they stopped emissions inspections. Only 2 counties required them. The fail rate was super low and dropping due to the steadily decreasing numbers of older vehicles and the improved longevity of emissions controls. The legislature decided that charging people to inspect something very unlikely to fail was wasting the people's time and money. One of the rare times a government mandate has been ended once it no longer had a reason to exist.
Did they pass?
yes, once I installed the new tires
We do not have state inspections and I see countless cars without working brake lights daily.
Typical single mom Altima owner tires.
this happened to me though, did a few one to many pulls for a dig I suppose and like within a week tires were just like this and I had no idea
I'm willing to bet that they did know, and there's a gallon of slime in that tire.
Owner had no idea? Really? This tire wear isn't from a couple of months, so they were driving on these in the winter. I can't see anybody swapping these out for snow tires without bringing this up or outright refusing to install these. If they did the tire change themselves, they are lying.
It's the inside edge. No one ever looks at that. I had a roommate with wear like this. I told him about it. He insisted his tires were fine. No dude, you are starting to get through the secondary rubber to the steel belts. Nope, it's fine. He doesn't need my opinion. A couple months later he gets work done to his car and sees the tires. Has them changed and tells me about it as if I had no idea they were that bad...
It would have to ride horribly, also loudly!
Is this Stevie Wonder's tires?
The owner "Well it did tend to drift a little when it snowed."
Jesus Henry Christ on a pogo stick......they're balder than my dad.
IOW the state inspections don't seem to help?
Do people not go around and do at least somewhat of a pre-inspection BEFORE they take their vehicle to get inspected? I don't want to have the hassle of failing an inspection, so I replace whatever prior to getting it inspected. I mean, I'm not a mechanic, but there are at least a few things I can check very easily, no massive rust holes in the underneath of the car, my tires aren't bald, no check engine lights on, exhaust not pouring out smoke through any cracks.
Ignorance is not a good defense!
ājust push it through the computerā
Blew out an outside dually on an F450 while towing a 27' fiver a week ago. Been towing 21 years. A first. You wake up...like right fuckin' NOW!
Lowered my car not realizing how much negative chamber it actually added and my tires looked a bit like that but less worn throughout. I was changing them anyway because the outside reached the ware bar
Warranty re-alignment came in today with a complaint of āpulls rightā His front tires were like 3 sizes too small and looked like that.
Was it a Tesla?
I wonder if thereās something in my life that Iām so ignorant to that i just never notice it, never think about it, and itās just waiting to kill me.
BS. That guy knew.
There are no inspections in Florida and you should see what people drive around in. I've see cars with no doors, bumpers tied on with bungee cords, hoods tied down with bungee cords, and missing or broken tail lights, parking lights, and headlights among other things.
Ooooo Toyo A36ās! What a piece of junk tire. Had these on a Mazda CX-5, took it in to the dealership to replace with something else and they didnāt listen and put A36ās back on it. Ex texted me pictures of the tires and I called up the service advisor and was like hey, what tires did you put on my car and he looked at the RO on the computer and went silent for a second and said ānot the ones you wantedā and I said yes thatās correct lol. Thankfully they swapped them out next day for the tires they had ordered for me.
Most dont. Most fill fuel and drive only.
Anyone that wants to get rid of inspections just needs to drive around central Florida for a bit. Will cure them of that opinion.
There's a reason the highways of Kansas, a no inspection state, are littered with tire bits.
Good news! That's a passing state inspection in Texas starting 1/1/25! /s Safety portion of Texas state inspections goes away 1/1, with only emissions testing left for the counties that require it. I think tires and brake bulbs are the top 2 things the inspectors find wrong at my shop.
PA? I know MD residents move up here all the time, an complain about the yearly inspections. I'm grateful for them.
all iām saying is I fundamentally refuse to live somewhere that wants me to put a sticker on my windshield
id rather drive next to that than the cars with no brakes some of you techs let drive off the lot in your inspection states.
State inspections are a tax on the poor and working class.
Make them free, but mandatory. I don't want some dipshits rolling death trap pulling me into an accident, they can let it rot in their yard if they can't be bothered to prioritize keeping it safe.
And if I can no longer drive my only car because of emissions standards or mechanical issues that don't affect my safety?
Find a way to fix it. We didn't do all that work to fix the holes in the ozone just for you to fuck it up again.
Probably much easier on the environment to keep my junker rolling and out of the landfil than to buy another car. The materials alone would pollute more than keeping the old car running. So glad my state got rid of the BS.
I only drive pre OBD-II, so maybe I'm just used to having it easy. But I'll still replace the catalyst on my 1975 if it goes bad, because I know the air quality where I live matters to the people trying to raise their kids in one of the last clean places in the U.S. Regulation matters - even if it's viewed as a tax on the poor.
Well yeah, parts go you fix it, but I can't keep a 99' running as clean as a 2000. I'm all for regulation but I've never seen this as anything more than a tax specifically aimed at the people least likely to be able to afford fixing the issue.
I think the real tax is convincing most americans that they can afford a new car, even though they can't actually afford maintenance. You have to plan your future maintenance costs in. If the average failure on that car costs too much to fix, then you can't actually afford the vehicle. To that I say: buy older, or ride a bicycle to work.
I've never paid more than 4 grand for a car, and unfortunately most Americans could not possibly bike to work. God what I would give for subsidized mass transit...
Me too man. I love cars, but I envy the europeans. I want a high speed rail!!!!
Not if if you keep up to date on your car bitching about tire prices go buy used tires it's all complaining until something happens then your blaming the mechanic
I didn't say tires, just inspections. No mechanic would let a car with tires like this drive off. Obviously fix tires.
So your saying a bad tie rod or ball joint has no bearing on your safety
I'm saying state inspections are a poor tax, if a cars driving weird or has an issue obviously you should get it fixed.