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It seems the state overhauled the safety check program by limiting the amount of safety checks each garage can do per day as well as requiring the photographs etc. Many places will now only do safety checks by appointment only. Some people have to take unpaid time off work so that they can get their vehicle "approved" for another year.
New cars have safety checks that are valid for two years. Prior to living in Hawaii I never lived in state that required safety checks. I understand that vehicle safety checks are not going to go away, but maybe they can be changed to once every other year (and while we are at it, how about the option to register a car for 2 years at a time instead of just one... if you want to). Lets face it a brake light is just as likely to burn out 24 hours after a safety check as it is in 24 months.
So my question is, is there a web site that lists the contact information for all our representatives so that I can tell them this is what the people want, and so do something about it?
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Where I came from, they did safety checks and registrations every other year. It saved the state a lot of money and the governed a lot of time. They even had a system where you'd get in line, input your phone number and they call you 15 minutes prior to your turn at the DMV. The system would tell you how long your wait was and how many people were ahead of you.
Puna: Our roosters crow first
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The Hawaii economy is based on fees, regulations, and a captive audience.
Be thankful the "safety check" doesn't include an actual emissions test.
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Amen! With an emissions program in place about half of the vehicles in Puna would fail and be considered unroadworthy.
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When I lived in Oregon we had emissions testing. I think every other year. There was a guy with a van called "The Emission Physician" right next to the testing place and he had the equipment to test emissions and for $29.99 he would stick a screwdriver under the hood and turn the screws whatever direction they needed to go in order for you to pass the test. For free, after you had passed the test, he would turn it back to the way it was since his modifications usually caused rough running or other problems. There were other "workarounds" to the nanny state's testing requirements, like registering your car at an address outside the city where testing wasn't required. But of course you needed to have a friend or relative who lived out there. Adding alcohol to the tank on testing day worked too. Also a fresh oil change would sometimes get a borderline vehicle to pass. The emission testing program is a boondoggle. The air quality improved because car manufacturers were required to produce cars that make less pollution, not because everybody has to jury rig their car to run cleanly for an hour every other year.
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Last safety check I did in February, I was told that they would not sign off on the vehicle if there were ANY stickers on the windows. Supposedly there was a pretty bad accident somewhere on the islands and it was determined that stickers on windows may have contributed to the situation.
Seems as if people are working around the law as per the link below:
http://khon2.com/2014/03/05/drivers-in-s...echnology/
Has anyone over on Big Island had an issue with stickers during their safety inspection this year?
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Help me hash out the pros and cons of making the safety check and registration an every-other-year event (registration could be annual if elected because not everybody can afford coughing up 2-year registration fees at once):
Pros: More convenient, less unpaid time off work, saves the state and the residents money, easy to implement, shorter/less lines at vehicle registration office, already implemented for new vehicles, more likely to achieve compliance when hassle is reduced.
Cons: People need to take some personal responsibility.
My next idea: Income tax credit for people living in private subdivisions based on their distance to a public maintained road to offset fuel tax. There are already provisions for this in the tax code, however there is currently no easy way to claim this. So its not creating a new tax exemption, just making the existing ones easier to file.
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quote:
Originally posted by terracore
When I lived in Oregon we had emissions testing. I think every other year. There was a guy with a van called "The Emission Physician" right next to the testing place and he had the equipment to test emissions and for $29.99 he would stick a screwdriver under the hood and turn the screws whatever direction they needed to go in order for you to pass the test. For free, after you had passed the test, he would turn it back to the way it was since his modifications usually caused rough running or other problems. There were other "workarounds" to the nanny state's testing requirements, like registering your car at an address outside the city where testing wasn't required. But of course you needed to have a friend or relative who lived out there. Adding alcohol to the tank on testing day worked too. Also a fresh oil change would sometimes get a borderline vehicle to pass. The emission testing program is a boondoggle. The air quality improved because car manufacturers were required to produce cars that make less pollution, not because everybody has to jury rig their car to run cleanly for an hour every other year.
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Yes there are scams for every event in life, but for every person taking the shortcuts there is someone actually fixing their cracked manifold or whathaveyou which does improve air quality.
Just like here there are the people who have a full wheel set that they keep in their garage just for safety check time and the rest of the year they run their illegal super wide wheel bs.
Cheaters exist everywhere and are not an excuse that a particular program is not viable.
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"Cheaters exist everywhere and are not an excuse that a particular program is not viable."
I was thinking the same.
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The tire swap thing is good revenue via "fixit" tickets if the po po were so inclined. I have 4WD, have tires within the fenders and mud flaps, and my truck goes wherever I point it. It's a real hazard if you are behind a fat tire truck from all the spray they produce. I guess it's an "all about me" generation thing.
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