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Checking
Tailpipes
Car
inspections in Virginia
Driving
in the Old Dominion was risky business in the early
20th century. Back in 1906, when Virginia first
required drivers to register their new-fangled
vehicles, safety standards didn’t exist. It would
take 20 years before the General Assembly enacted a
law requiring brakes, horns, mirrors, windshields,
exhaust systems and lighting on Virginia
automobiles.
By
then, the Virginia
State Police department had been established to
help enforce motor vehicle laws. Its Division of
Motor Vehicles hired 51 inspectors to monitor the
new safety standards, but with motor vehicles
totaling almost 400,000 by 1933, this small force
was soon overwhelmed. That year, the state began
semi-annual inspections of an automobile’s
mechanical parts and glass.
The
twice-yearly inspections continued for almost 50
years, until 1982, when the state legislature voted
to adopt an annual inspection schedule. The Virginia
State Police were pleased, arguing that the
semi-annual inspections were a nuisance to drivers
– and probably a headache for state troopers, as
well. Gas station owners had lobbied against the
legislation, insisting that cars were safer with the
more frequent inspections.
A
study conducted after the new inspection schedule
went into effect, however, challenged that argument.
In 1986 the Virginia State Police found that 2.8
percent of traffic accidents were due to defects
that might have been discovered in inspections. Five
years before, when semi-annual inspections were
still conducted, 3.6 percent of traffic accidents
were due to defective parts. (“Result of Va. Car
Inspections Surprising: Fewer Accidents Tied to
Defects Despite Less Frequent Checks,” The
Washington Post, July 3, 1981.)
Today,
the annual vehicle
safety inspection is a 23-step process that
involves checking brakes, headlights, signal
devices, steering and suspension, tires, mirrors,
horn, windshield and windshield wipers, exhaust
system, hood, air pollution control system,
driver’s seat, seat belts, doors, fuel system and
floor pan. More than 4,500 Virginia gas stations,
car dealers and other locations conduct the yearly
event.
But
the 1.4 million cars in northern Virginia must
undergo yet another indignity – the emissions
inspection – albeit for a good cause. The Virginia
Department of Environmental Quality administers an
"Air
Check Virginia" program, which requires an
emissions check every two years for cars registered
in the counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun,
Prince William and Stafford, and the cities of
Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas and
Manassas Park.
Such
car emissions tests began in northern Virginia in
1982 as a response to an amendment to the 1970
federal Clean Air Act, administered by the
Environmental Protection Agency. The agency
threatened to withhold air and water pollution funds
and highway construction money in areas such as
northern Virginia that had not met federal air
quality standards for ozone and carbon monoxide
levels. In government jargon these regions are known
as “non-attainment areas.”
Initially
there was opposition to the proposal in the Virginia
state legislature. One Fairfax delegate even
suggested the tests might be part of a government
policy “to force people out of their cars.” The
bill’s sponsor then quipped, “Yes, it’s a
Commie plot.” (“Car Emission Inspections for N.
Va. Are Opposed,” The Washington Post,
January 25, 1980.)
The
initial test involved placing a stainless steel
probe in a vehicle’s tailpipe while the motor was
idling. The probe was connected to an analyzer that
measured hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide levels. In
many cases now, the test takes place on a dynanometer
– a treadmill of sorts – at 15 mph to 25 mph to
replicate highway speeds. Most 1996 and newer cars
receive a test of the vehicle’s on-board
diagnostic computer system rather than the older
tailpipe test. The 1990 Clean Air Act amendments
required all vehicles to have such a system
beginning in 1996. The new test measures
nitrogen-based pollutants and monitors the escape of
fuel vapor, which the old test did not.
Things
could have gotten more complex in the mid-1990s, but
northern Virginia drivers got a reprieve of sorts.
The EPA backed down from new emissions testing
provisions that would have required the tests to be
conducted in central locations (“Tempest in a
Tailpipe,” Governing, February 1995). When
other states piloted the new requirements, motorists
had to wait up to three hours for their tests and
found staff unfamiliar with the newly mandated
equipment. Virginia was allowed to continue to
perform the tests in local facilities. Such
convenience seems to have helped.
While
less than perfect, air quality in the region has
noticeably improved since 1990. Last week, Al Gore
motivated the Oscars ceremony to go green. Whatever
Virginians think about global warming, at least
their rides are safer and cleaner. And, if those in
our northern climes are shopping for a Toyota Prius
or Honda Insight, no more emissions checks!
NEXT:
From Smarts to Smokers: How the Old Dominion Rates
--
March 5, 2007
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