Comments about ‘Utah lawmaker looking to loosen safety inspection requirement’

With ample data from other states which eliminated the inspections with no adverse impact on accidents, this is a great idea.

This is a prime example of common sense elimination of a well-intentioned goverment program that may have been beneficial half a century ago, but is now just a residual bureaucracy that perpetuates a "nanny state" mentality.

There should be overwhelming biparitsan support for a common sense bill like this!

At the very time when many households are having to stretch their budgets to the very limit, postponing a number of necessary expenses, just like human nature, the idea of postponing expensive brake replacement for another thousand miles, or replacing lights or horn or fix a broken distracting window crack...thus placing just one or two perhaps more innocent people in danger on the road is dangerous in itself. It is now when laws are needed at the very most to protect everyone of us when our individual liberty and freedoms to choose wisely are tested, some of us who even as adults may choose wrongly in the face of great stress and economic anxiety. To place the rest of Utahns at risk is fool hardy and not in the public interest.

I came from California where no such requirement exists. They also do not require a smog check for the first five years of a vehicle being sold. It is time for this dumb requirement to be eliminated. I have much better things to do with my 3 year old car than sit in a shop to have them tell me my car is perfect.

I think Rep. Dougall had a problem with a car and now wants to scrap the whole system.I have been a safety inspector and it was rarely that we didn't find a problem that was life threatening daily. Then the Emission system that he wants to change is mandated by the EPA not the state they tell us to jump we say how high.

Finally a Utah Representative has come up with a proposal to end a program that has long been proven to be ineffective and unnecessary. Congratulations to Representative Dougall. New Jersey ended their safety inspection program in 2010 with the Commissioner admitting there was no proof the program prevented accidents, and Washington D.C. did so too for the same reason. Bills are also being proposed and fought over in Missouri and North Carolina to end their programs as well. Anyone who wants to see these unnecessary inspections end should give support to Representative Dougall by emailing their own reps, attending hearings, and speaking out. It will be a hard fight. Hired gun lobbyists will be active behind the scenes trying to kill this bill or keep it from seeing the light of day. The safety inspection program is a money maker for the state, mechanics and car dealers, and even though there is no evidence these inspections decrease accidents, the financial incentive to keep them going is strong. The true cost of this program to Utah motorists is huge considering the unnecessary repairs, and wasted time getting these inspections, it will be a very good thing if they end.

I am all *for* keeping the roads safe, and thus in effect getting the bad cars *off the roads*.
I am also *for* keeping the cars not only safe but also within EPA set limits.
But ... ,
to pay 45 hard earned dollars for a 5 minute check (plugging in a computer and then printing out the sheet), is in my opinion *highway robbery* !!

I used to live in Europe and in Germany they have an agency called TUV. When they go over your car, they do a thorough job. Your speedometer accuracy is checked, your car rolls over a *pit* and the inspector goes underneath and checks for thru-rust spots, and anything he deems unsafe. They do an actual brake thickness check and test. Head-lights alignment check, a real *under load* engine running test, and who knows what else they did to my car.
I do not remember how much it cost, but it was worth it !!

What they do here, at least where I go, since it is the closest to me, is a complete joke and a half !!! Get in my car, drive towards some test bed to check brake action (they admit that they do NOT check actual brake pad thickness), then into a garage, and plug in the computer. Then rip off the printed sheet out of the printer and ask me for 45 dollars, then they have the gall to ask me if I would like to pay for my new sticker for an additional 10 dollars !!!

The only people who are against this bill are those who have their hands in the till. I can't count how many times over the years that I've taken my car to one shop for the inspection and they will fail it for some reason, then drive down the road to another and they will pass it. EVERYONE knows that there are mechanics out there who can ALWAYS find something wrong. Remember what your Dad told you, "Never take you car to a tire shop for an inspection, unles you want to buy tires." The whole program is a gigantic rip off. The electronics inside the cars themselves do a better job of telling us what's wrong then any shop can. Besides all the wasted time it takes Those who will fight it should move on to another niche market, like doing actual repair work that is requestd, not held over their head. Let's admit this program is not needed any longer.