Speaking Of Inspections
Yesterday’s entry got me to thinking.
In Connecticut, when I was first licensed, driving was a precarious dance between you and the state cops. Get a ticket and your license was suspended for a month, no fix; two stops and it’s two months; three and you’re off the road. Traffic fatalities went way down, as nobody wanted to be without wheels for a month or two, and those who got stopped once knew they had only one more chance; those with two knew they were dead next time.
Cars were a different matter. If it ran and could do so without dropping parts all over the road, you were legal. There were lots of things you did not need (turn indicators, for instance), but if you had them, they had to work. Ours pooped out, so we just unscrewed the lever so we “didn’t have it.” I would imagine inspections are better these days.
In Massachusetts, I worked in a garage where we did inspections. Not much to them in those days, but we did check for the essentials. Brakes, lights, wipers and a couple other things. Basically, could you operate the thing safely on the road? Cars we owned and leased out got their inspection at the gas pumps; we knew what we had.
In Pennsylvania, I don’t do inspections and I’m not sure what they look for. I know emissions are a big thing, but since I drive less than 5,000 miles per year, I am exempt from that bother. Seems to me that someone driving that little would have more of an emissions problem than someone who regularly blows their carbon out.
In Connecticut, when I was first licensed, driving was a precarious dance between you and the state cops. Get a ticket and your license was suspended for a month, no fix; two stops and it’s two months; three and you’re off the road. Traffic fatalities went way down, as nobody wanted to be without wheels for a month or two, and those who got stopped once knew they had only one more chance; those with two knew they were dead next time.
Cars were a different matter. If it ran and could do so without dropping parts all over the road, you were legal. There were lots of things you did not need (turn indicators, for instance), but if you had them, they had to work. Ours pooped out, so we just unscrewed the lever so we “didn’t have it.” I would imagine inspections are better these days.
In Massachusetts, I worked in a garage where we did inspections. Not much to them in those days, but we did check for the essentials. Brakes, lights, wipers and a couple other things. Basically, could you operate the thing safely on the road? Cars we owned and leased out got their inspection at the gas pumps; we knew what we had.
In Pennsylvania, I don’t do inspections and I’m not sure what they look for. I know emissions are a big thing, but since I drive less than 5,000 miles per year, I am exempt from that bother. Seems to me that someone driving that little would have more of an emissions problem than someone who regularly blows their carbon out.
posted by Tom Carten at 12:58 PM
2 Comments:
Seems to me that someone driving that little would have more of an emissions problem than someone who regularly blows their carbon out.
I agree wholeheartedly. The worst thing that ever happened to my little 1973 Dodge Dart was moving close to my job. I did a total of 3 miles/day---in five separate hops. That carbon never got blown out!
I had that car 15 1/2 years, and swear I could have had it another 15 if I had put more miles on it.
Mom drove her Plymouths for (1) 150k and (2) 180K.
Left home, drove about 5 minutes at 30 to 40mph, then about 30 minutes at 60mph, then about 5 minutes at 30mph. Repeat for return trip.
That was her work life. Probably ideal for a car.
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