I have a question that's been bugging me ?!

[brit girlie]

Listen lads, please tell me this- I enjoy watching 'Pimp my Ride' on 'the telly' but I am amazed at the state of their cars (pre-pimped of course :D ). There's no way the public would be allowed to drive a car in that sort of condition over here- I mean most of the cars are literally falling apart :eek:

Over here in the UK we have to take our car (or motorbike, bus etc) to a Government registered garage for a M.O.T Test (Ministry of Transport), if your car fails the check (my old car failed once for a tyre tread issue :( ) then you cannot legally drive your car on a public highway until you have fixed it and taken a re-test. Without that certificate then you cant get your car tax which is also an offence.
Now I'm not a cop (Prison Officer) so forgive my ignorance....don't you have anything like that over there ? Oh, and do you have to get car insurance by law?

thanks

[pkagel]

Nearly every state that I know of req's insurance, doesn't mean they have it, just that they are supposed to.

As far as safety tests go, "Pimp my ride" is filmed in California which has no safety test req's to get your yearly tags so unless an officer pulls one for being a hazzard then they could drive forever. I've seen much worse driving around than what you see on that show. Some states have safety tests but it is up to each state to determine what constitutes safe and unsafe if they have any test at all.

[winq]

I can only vouch for New york state, were annual safety and emission checks are required. Liability insurance is also a must.

[brit girlie]

Ok i get that -thanks, but what happens if you drive from one state that doesn't require insurance etc into one that does :confused: Are you then committing an offence in that state?

The differing State laws kind of give me the impression of a 'patchwork' of small almost countries........now why does that bear some resemblence to the "ill concieved" European Union......glad there's clear water between us and those 'crazy Europeans' :D :D ;)

[winq]

Each state regulates their own vehicle and traffic laws and those laws are derived from state legislatures (NYS ie: assembly and senate). But those laws have to follow federal guidlines, or they can be viewed as 'unconsitutional' and overturned in court ie: federal court. (I'm trying to simplify something that can be very complicated). Where i work, we don't issue a summons for uninspected or uninsured if the state were that particular vehicle is registered in does not require it. Suspensions are a different situation and can be enforce across state lines. IE: out-of state license suspension = unlic operator, or reg susp = unregistered veh.

But they society is today almost everyone has vehicle insurance, even if not required. or someone might end up owning your car or house.

[kirch]

I happen to live in one of those states where auto insurance is not required. It means all us conscientious drivers have to add 'Uninsured Motorist' riders to our polices, in the event we're struck by a vehicle with an uninsured or undersinsured driver.

I can only speak for my area of the U.S. In Wisconsin, we do not require any regular inspections for safety. There are some areas (I think) that require inspections of pollution control devices, but that's only over in southeast (i.e. most populated) part of the state. There is, of course, an entire book's worth of equipment standards for vehicles in this state, but fines are generally not that large. As a result, you end up seeing some real hoopties rattling down the road. And I would posit that virtually every vehicle in the state would have some problem passing a comprehensive, strict standards test.

Why? Probably because we tend to be a nation of rugged individualists. Some of our national flags (and, I believe, even some current states' flags) had a rattlesnake pictured with the words "Don't Tread on Me". Individual rights here in the US tend to be a bigger deal than I've seen in other parts of the world. Of course, I'm painting with a pretty broad brush here, but I suspect you get the point.

As for the "patchwork" mentioned earlier, you're pretty much right on the money. Keep in mind that our country's official name is the United STATES of America. The thirteen colonies originally saw themselves as individual states (in other words, independent self-governing political areas) joined together for mutual interests and protection from the empires of Europe. Almost 100 years later, we had a civil war that wasn't really about slavery (despite what much of the hoopla surrounding the recent Martin Luther King Jr. holiday suggested), but about individual state's rights to choose their own path. That was the point our government became primarily centralized. But the old system still remains for many things.

As a result, states still retain the right to determine their own motor vehicle laws.

[Blue Is Blue]

In Illinois, no safety test other than a vehicle emmissions test, though as a previous post stated, officers can stop any vehicle that violates the vehicle code which does spell out safety requirements from size of tire tread to placement of mirrors and on and on.

And speaking of patchwork, consider this. Up until very recently, each state had different laws regarding an out-of-state officer's ability to carry their firearm. So an off duty officer could take a cross country road trip and go from being perfectly legal to committing a felony and back several times in the same trip.

[miked6]

This is America! That is why we came over here...to evade the grips of tyranical dictators telling us how much tire pressure, and windshield visisbility we must have. lol :p

[brit girlie]

This is America! That is why we came over here...to evade the grips of tyranical dictators telling us how much tire pressure, and windshield visisbility we must have. lol :p


......and God help anyone who trys to tell you to replace your wiper blades or remove your plastic Bart Simpson air freshener dangling from your rear view mirror :D :D ;)

[theheights109]

In the wonderful state of Maryland it is a JAILABLE offense to drive an uninsured vehicle. On the flip side of that, it is not jailable to drive without a driver's license.....that's just a $320 citation. I think that it should be the other way (actually, they should both be jailable in my opinion!!)

[pkagel]

......and God help anyone who trys to tell you to remove your plastic Bart Simpson air freshener dangling from your rear view mirror :D :D ;)
From my cold dead hands!!! :D

[hemicop]

Each state sets down it's own motor vehicle laws as was mentioned earlier. Some are strict,some aren't. Most states Do require Insurance but out here with a VERY large (illegal) migrant population people insure their vehicle month-to-month & if they can't afford it for a month or two,they still have the plates on the car & don't worry abbout it.. It's a BIG problem here. Az. doesn't require a safety inspection as do some states & car's newer than 1967 are required to have emissions checked every year. Vehicle enforcement is very discretionary here so you'll every manner of clunker running the streets.

[pumpkin]

I happen to live in one of those states where auto insurance is not required. It means all us conscientious drivers have to add 'Uninsured Motorist' riders to our polices, in the event we're struck by a vehicle with an uninsured or undersinsured driver.

Even in states where insurance is mandatory, it is important to have uninsured and underinsured motorist on the car insurance policy... it's very easy to pay for the first month's coverage, get an insurance card, then cancel the coverage and get a refund. Meanwhile, the driver has a card that looks good for a year. :mad: I don't know of any way other than to call the insurance company to verify that the insurance is still in effect, and I don't know that the insurance company would actually give that info over the phone (privacy concerns). And then there are the phony insurance cards... :mad:

[Resq14]

I don't know of any way other than to call the insurance company to verify that the insurance is still in effect, and I don't know that the insurance company would actually give that info over the phone (privacy concerns). And then there are the phony insurance cards... :mad:

Get this: new law in my state. Insurance companies are MANDATED to report ALL policy cancellations and expirations to the state. When this happens, the vehicle registration listed on the policy is suspended, much like license suspension. It's an arrestable offense.

Now the problem is, the state in its infinite wisdom did not require insurance companies to do the reverse: notify the state when coverage BEGINS on a vehicle. This could easily be done by linking policies to VIN's. So we have tons of people driving around with VALID insurance but suspended registrations only because they changed insurance companies. It's incredibly dumb. I only take action on those failing to produce a valid card, or with enough history to make it seem valid. Or I just tell them to call DMV and get it fixed.

A good example of a half-*****ed idea. Now if they fixed the law... that would be great.

[Redders]

In the wonderful state of Maryland it is a JAILABLE offense to drive an uninsured vehicle. On the flip side of that, it is not jailable to drive without a driver's license.....that's just a $320 citation. I think that it should be the other way (actually, they should both be jailable in my opinion!!)


LAMO!! Just goes to show how different parts of the country are. Nebraska No Ops is a 75.00 in fines and 44.00 in court cost.

[SWATcop]

I'm sitting here almost laughing reading these posts. You should come visit sunny Florida. Now I'm not talking about Miami or Fort Lauderdale, I mean the REAL Florida. Back woods, dirt roads, rebel flag flying Florida. The stuff you don't see on commercials or brochures. You want to talk about some ridiculous vehicles? No hoods/fenders, no exhaust, 46" tires on 4x4s, the list goes on and on. No state inspection. You're legally allowed to ride in the back of open pickup trucks (as long as you're over 6 years old) and you can register and drive dune buggies on the street. This place is friggin' CRAZY.

[Metro174]

In the wonderful state of Maryland it is a JAILABLE offense to drive an uninsured vehicle. On the flip side of that, it is not jailable to drive without a driver's license.....that's just a $320 citation. I think that it should be the other way (actually, they should both be jailable in my opinion!!)

Come October 1, you may actually get your wish.

[MTMCSCop]

Up here in frontier country, if it rolls on 4 wheels and is held together by duct tape and bailing wire, it's good to go. CMVs are a different story, however.

Your best bet up here is to get a horse and a covered wagon. You can get stopped and claim a "homestead farmer exemption." :p MT is stuck in the 18th century.

[SlowDownThere]

As a general rule, if it's legal in the state where it's registered, it can be driven in another state. For example, many of the southern states allow for very dark window glass. Most northern states don't.

If a Florida is driving on NY streets with dark windows, it's legal. Same with insurance.

[oldcop1971]

Hey, if we had inspection laws, we'd lose most of our PC for stopping these dirtbags. "No Tag Lights" is a great law!
lol

[j706]

Indiana has no vehicle inspection. Insurance is mandatory as it should be. We cite lots and I mean lots of drivers for no insurance. It is a mandatory 90 day license suspension. Most of the ones we cite for no insurance also have suspended operators licenses.We can impound any unsafe vehicle,however I have never done so.

[lexcoptk]

As a general rule, if it's legal in the state where it's registered, it can be driven in another state. For example, many of the southern states allow for very dark window glass. Most northern states don't.

If a Florida is driving on NY streets with dark windows, it's legal. Same with insurance.


Not everywhere. If you drive a motor vehicle in the state of KY, no matter where it is registered, it is required to be insured while operated in KY (KRS 304.39-090).
Now as for vehicle inspections, I wish. I have seen some vehicles on the road that were just rolling death traps. Vehicles that are brought in from out of state must be inspected before they are registered in KY, but if the car is already registered here there is no required inspection. I think we should have some type of mandetory inspection as well as tougher Operators Licensing requiremnets, but that is a discussion probably best left to a thread of its own. (Hold that thought.)

[Dale Parker]

Vehicle inspections serve mainly to put money in inspection stations pockets. I have seen escapees from junkyards with new inspection stickers. Also as a Criminal patrol officer I loved the PC these heaps gave me. Got lots of dirtbags off the streets using the PC.

[2209]

Insurance is a most in SC. But the state no longer requires yearly inspections.