Date: Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:19:46 -0500
Reply-To: David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Subject: Inspections and traffic laws was Re: HIDs?
In-Reply-To: <bbb34d60911120041v662f7c78n2fce22c5fd7c524b@mail.gmail.com >
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At 03:41 AM 11/12/2009, Janne Ruohomäki wrote:
>I think previously, before this E-approval thing, they used to be more
>interested in the shape of the light pattern here. And they are still
>if You have something wrong with it, but they cannot fail the
>inspection just because the pattern if You have all the parts
>E-approved and meant to be used with each other. They have a device
>specifically for checking the lights here. And yes: the conversion to
>HID without correct reflector would probably be noticed by experienced
>inspector.
Whereas in all of the US-east coast states (Rhode
Island '92-now, Massachusetts '79-'91, Maine
'72-'78 and '80, Maryland '72, Florida '71-72)
where I've had vehicles inspected, not inspector
has ever even glanced at the headlights except to
make sure they light up. I suppose if one of the
cars had thrown a flapping bat symbol on the wall
they might possibly have noticed...or not. Same
with all other lights. I've never had an illegal
driving or fog light installation but they never
appeared to pay the slightest attention to the
installations I did have. Rhode Island and New
Hampshire care about holes in the sheet metal,
Maine and Massachusetts don't. No inspector has
ever lifted the hood (bonnet) or engine hatch.
Typical check is, lights, horn, wipers all light
up, no cracks in windshield (windscreen)
handbrake effectiveness in Maine, audible exhaust
leaks (possibly at-a-glance visual inspection in
Rhode Island and Massachusetts?), brake lining
thickness, wiggle test on lifted front wheels to
make sure the suspension is actually attached to
the vehicle reasonably snugly. In Maine at
least, if you have multiple-segment tail lights
(think late-'70s Detroit iron) all the segments
must light up. In Maine in the '70s you could
have no more than 4 cm play at the steering wheel rim. (!)
For emissions, Massachusetts started using a
tailpipe sniff test while I was there; Rhode
Island already was when I came and a few years
ago shifted to a dynamometer test; now on OBD-II
vehicles they simply query the ECU. Rhode Island
waives the fuel cap pressure test/gasket
inspection for Vanagons, incidentally, which
leads me to suspect that it's waived for all pre-OBD-II vehicles.
None of these states have had any official
interest in non-obvious vehicle modifications
like the TUV in Germany does -- I can't say for
obvious ones, but in various places in New
England there are some pickup/SUVs with wheels
and tires that lift the chassis maybe as much as
40 cm (?) for flotation on marshy ground and I
don't *think* there are any additional inspection
or certification requirements. Likewise "hot
rods" i.e. Model A or similar bodies with
uncovered V8 engines and (I certainly hope!)
modern suspensions. There *is* official concern
about wheels that that protrude from the fender
wells, but I'm not sure it's rigorously enforced
-- undoubtedly some of the big-tire marsh rigs flunk this one.
Rhode Island (the state you can put in your
pocket for later but the name will stick out --
its full name is "The State of Rhode Island and
Providence Plantations") presently charges USD39
for a biennial safety/emissions inspection.
Motor vehicle regulations are largely left to
individual states; however whenever the federal
gov't feels strongly about an issue is simply
threatens to withhold funding assistance for
highways unless its desires are met. This is
commonly how traffic laws are changed in
Massachusetts, a curious example of New England
cussedness. The three issues I'm aware of there
over the last 40 years or so are passing
(overtaking) on the off side, right-of-way at
rotary/traffic circle entrances (where MA hung on
to the physically ridiculous "entering has
right-of-way" for probably twenty years after
everyone else had seen the light; and right-turn
against the lights unless otherwise posted, which
happened while I was in state and was
amazing. They finally gave in to the Fed at gun
point and the absolute last minute -- and the
weekend before the law went into effect they put
up 100.000, that's one hundred thousand,
no-turn-on-red signs. They gradually came down
over the next ten years. On the traffic-circle
issue they didn't bother to educate older
drivers, so during an entire generation of
drivers you had no freaking idea what anyone was
going to do in a rotary. A law-abiding driver
could easily get into a crossing collision
leaving the rotary or a rear-ender
entering. This faded as the new generation took over, in the late '80s.
Rhode Island, having only 1.2% the area of
Finland, has the curious habit of putting warning
signs when a multi-lane highway loses a lane --
exactly at the point where the lane goes
away. Most other places give you a little more warning.
Finland has slightly more area than our eleven
smallest states combined, BTW, and the entire
country has 74 times the area of Finland. :)
Yours,
David
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