Smog sniffing robots!

[Will Owen <nashwill@domain.elided>]

Hey there -

In v8, #44, Luke Kowalski had his ire provoked by a
proposed program wherein California would place
high-emissions sensors beside some roads, hooked in to
a camera, so that if the machine decided that my car
was emitting too much it'd take a picture of my
license plate, and then I'd get an invitation in the
mail to come get the car's breath checked. Luke thinks
this is tyranny, pure and simple, asserting that a
demonstrably fallible machine is gonna be judge and
jury on a case that's really none of the state's
business.

Since we aren't supposed to talk politics here, I
won't address his comparing any "big" government to
the erstwhile Polish one...but I think most of us
agree that reducing vehicular emissions is a good
thing, a program that has made at least Southern
California air a whole lot better than it was ten or
fifteen years ago. There are some things I'm happy to
pay the government to do, and that's one of them. 

What's more, exactly *because* one of my cars is not
subject to emissions testing, I don't really know
whether it's a "gross polluter" or not, and if it is I
need to know so that I can fix it. As just a cursory
reading of the bill will tell you, the summons I'd get
is not to court, but to a testing station, and THAT'S
where my car's actual emission status would be
ascertained. It's like a Breathylizer roadblock or a
random license check - a pain in the ass, but if it
helps to keep drunks and unlicensed drivers off the
roads, I'll deal with it.

Fact is, there's no excuse for any car to be shoveling
out noxious gases, however old it might be. We've seen
testimony to the effect that a properly tuned Alfa of
any age can put up decent numbers in every category,
and I've heard and read of cars ranging from MGs to
elderly Fords testing well after a proper tuneup. So
let's not worry too much about that hotrod '56 Chevy.
On the other hand, if the California DOT finally does
something about those ghastly, smoke-belching Waste
Management trucks, more power to'em!

Will Owen
People's Republic of Pasadena, CA
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