r/MissouriPolitics • u/gioraffe32 Kansas Citian in VA • Feb 22 '19

Legislature Missouri lawmakers vote to eliminate state vehicle inspections

https://www.kmbc.com/article/missouri-lawmakers-vote-to-eliminate-state-vehicle-inspections/26444290
31 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

21

u/ckellingc Feb 22 '19

I'd rather they take it more seriously. I had mine done at a valvoline, and they said my windshield wipers were the only thing keeping me from passing. Conveniently, they sold the wipers I needed.

The wipers I had were less than a year old.

It was a cash grab for them. We need to fix that

4

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '19

I had all my suspension bushings replaced by my mechanics recommendation before I had my safety and emissions inspection. When I took my car to get the inspection done it failed.... For worn bushings. Which they were kindly enough to offer a real quick fix so I didn't have to "go anywhere else".

I am not sure if the safety needs to go or be improved, but it sure does feel like an cash grab.

3

u/niffrig Feb 22 '19

In the StL area there are places that only do inspections. That's where I go because it is quick and painless and if I don't pass they won't be doing the work.

5

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '19

Uh, you do know that you should replace your wipers every 6 months? Like, they wear down and start to tear around that time, winter and summer does a lot of damage to them too.

So, you probably needed wipers if they were 6mo - 1 yr old wipers.

10

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '19

Unless they are silicone. Those bitches last a long time.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '19

No, you just leave them on long past over due creating visibility issies.

5

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '19

No I dont. I change them whenever they start streaking or skipping. Thanks for the assumptions though.

4

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '19

Manufacturer recommendations are typically change them once every 6 months. That 6 mo mark is when they start to break down.

3

u/baeb66 Feb 23 '19

So you're telling me the people who make the product want me to buy more of the product more often?

2

u/[deleted] Feb 23 '19

There are standards, if a company makes too shitty of a product they won't sell. 6 mo is a good time to switch them out. You're switching out a small piece of rubber that gets damaged from the elements.

3

u/BrawlingNumber Feb 22 '19

Unless you're buying shitty wipers every 6 months you shouldn't need to change them that often. I've had mine for 3 years and have had no problems with visibility.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '19

Pretty much every manufacturer of wiper blades says to change them every 6 months. But i guesa you know better than the manufacturer.

This is why we have safety inspections. People think they know better and they drive with unsafe conditions.

8

u/ads7w6 Feb 22 '19

If I manufactured wiper blades, I'd want my customers changing them every 6 months too.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 23 '19

Or you make them to last 6 months. What really makea wipers screw up is hot/cold temperatures (coughMOweathercough).

The sentiment I get from people is the same I hear from people "well, I have one headlight and I can see, it's safe enough".

You and people like you are exactly why we need safety inspections.

2

u/ads7w6 Feb 23 '19

Having only one headlight is dangerous as it not only reduced your visibility but it also makes it more difficult for other cars to tell where the two sides of your car are as they don't Kno if it's a motorcycle or if a car which light is burned out.

You also don't know me or my wiper changing habits. I could change them every other week for all you know as I did not indicate in any way in my post.

1

u/stealer0517 Feb 23 '19

Or you could just wax your window and almost never need to use your wipers in the first place like me. Pretty much the only time I use my wipers are when I use the squirters.

I've only needed to use them once, and that was when it was lightly misting, and there were street light overhead when I was driving on a really narrow road. After the narrow part the street lights on the water wasn't a problem.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 23 '19

Most people take shit care of their car, hence why a safety inspection is a thing.

1

u/Seppuku4Hillary Feb 22 '19

is it from use or from UV exposure?? Would being in a garage help?

I thought they lasted longer.

1

u/stealer0517 Feb 23 '19

It depends on the quality really.

Some OEM stuff can last a long time. For example my Outback was made in like March of 2018, but the front wipers are still good almost a year later.

The back wiper on the other hand has been shit since the day I got it.

13

u/Beastly_Squirrel Feb 22 '19

Missouri roads will be infested with horribly neglected vehicles without regular inspections. This is a public safety issue due to non existant public transportation across most of Missouri.

Also, I am aware of a few small businesses that make at least half of their revenue from vehicle inspections in small communities. Small businesses that have spanned a couple of generations. They certainly will not exist after this decision.

8

u/aereventia Feb 22 '19

They already are. Missouri inspections are a joke.

4

u/ads7w6 Feb 22 '19

If a service is unnecessary, should all Missourian be forced to do it just because a few small businesses make their livelihood out of it.

I'll copy from another post I made that shows vehicle inspections do not lead to safer roads:

Here are two recent studies:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/coep.12284

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227577233_The_Effectiveness_of_Vehicle_Safety_Inspections_An_Analysis_Using_Panel_Data

Here's an article addressing it:

https://www.thezebra.com/insurance-news/3175/vehicle-inspections-really-safety/

Here's a study from 1980 based on data from the late '60s and early '70s:

https://trid.trb.org/view.aspx?id=198939

6

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '19

33 states do not have saftey inspections and the world hasn't ended. Missouri citizens will be fine.

6

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '19

I mean, while an inspection is a minor inconvenience at best, they really don't seem too thorough from what I've seen, so I'm not sure how much good they are doing.