While back in New  York, I had to bring my car in for the annual safety inspection. In my travels I have realized that fewer and fewer states are requiring annual safety inspections. The evidence lays on the side of the road. In states without these inspections, you can see a littering of abandoned cars on the side of the road, not in good enough working condition or value to keep, random car parts scattered all across the highway system, fender benders that were caused by worn out brakes. In states with strict safety inspections, you simply don’t observe this phenomenon. According to trusty wikipedia, (and AAA) 17 states still require safety inspections, and a handful of states require safety inspections only upon sale or registration changes. Some states, in some metro areas are required by the clean air act to do emissions inspections, but those are not the same as safety inspections. And many states require VIN inspections: A VIN inspection is a physical examination of your vehicle to determine whether the VIN on your vehicle matches the VIN on the title or primary ownership document.

So what is the purpose of a safety inspection?

  • Helps make sure every vehicle registered in this state meets the minimum standards for safe operation on public streets and highways.
  • A properly maintained vehicle is safer, performs better, uses fuel more efficiently and saves the owner money.

So what is part of a safety inspection? In NYS the list has the following click this NYS link:

  • Seat belts
  • Brakes (checks 11 items about brakes)
  • Steering, Front End, Suspension, Chassis, Frame and Wheel Fasteners (checks 7 items)
  • Tires (depth, condition, pressure)
  • Lights
  • Windshield and other glass
  • Windshield wipers and blades
  • Horn
  • Mirror
  • Fuel Leaks
  • Emissions

There are only a few states that have no safety, emissions or VIN inspections – and one of them is Michigan. I would much rather be driving around in a state where I know that all or most of the cars driving around me are as safe to operate on the roadway as they possibly can be. Driving requires a mutual trust among all roadway users for our collective wellbeing, and safety inspections level that playing field of wellbeing. While it may increase the cost of owning a vehicle, those costs are taken by the private vehicle owners, in states without them, the cost is taken by the general public in the form of insurance premiums, deaths and injuries, or costs to dispose of abandoned cars.

In some respects it comes down to whether the state views driving as a right or a privilege.  Public transportation is a right – private transportation is a privilege. However, Michigan, because of the auto-centric economy has commonly viewed driving more as a right than a privilege, and has focused public dollars far more on providing infrastructure for private transportation than making sure public transportation is at least viable. So, in New York or DC for example, if some of the costs related to safety inspections is too much of a burden, they have the option to take public transit or already live without a car in a location where life is possible with public transportation. In Michigan, that is not often a realistic option (although it’s changing), so some people see forcing someone to fix their car who can’t afford it is an undue burden. The cost of complying is a false argument because annual safety inspections are able to catch things before they become catastrophically expensive, or before a they cause a crash, saving everyone money. Additionally, the availability of public transportation is not a good enough reason to eliminate inspections: West Virginia, Vermont, New Hampshire, Utah and other states with large non-urban areas require safety inspections, and there is no epidemic with people stranded in areas with no transit who can’t afford to fix their car. These states simply have a safer stock of cars that have been better taken care of throughout their lifetimes.

The point is – safety inspections are indicative of a state’s mindset on driving – whether it is a right or a privilege  and whether government has a role in keeping us all safe from the inevitable failings of other people’s personal responsibility, or whether we are all on our own and it’s survival of the fittest. Is Michigan going to transform it’s thinking? It may be starting to – and I hope to be a part of that.

Pennsylvania Newspaper (1/8/2011):  “Despite other states’ moves, Pennsylvania’s vehicle inspection program going strong”

AAA Digest of Motor Laws: Safety Inspection state-by-state chapter.