In reality, the guy has no money to get a different truck. So they just drive without the inspection sticker. Mandating inspections does not magically remove unsafe vehicles any more than mandatory insurance guarantees someone will not be driving without it. Safety inspections hurt the vast majority of people who follow the laws. Find a study that shows safety inspections reduced accident rates…if it existed, opponents of the changes would be waving that like a flag…
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I would prefer to NOT share the road with people who drive cars in this condition:
I have actually seen this exact type of situation a couple of times, in parking lots.
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So, you think that gives him the right to put the lives of everyone he drives past in danger? Where do you live that the rights of one tramples the rights of another…
His rights end where mine begin and if he cannot drove a vehicle that is safe to operate, then he does not deserve to be on the roads.
And Indiana takes pride in being the home of the Indianapolis 500,
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About 20 years ago I was able to read a study that compared 2 Western states of similar size and population–Oregon and Utah–for highway deaths per million miles driven. The study showed that the difference between the 2 states was statistically insignificant. Utah had mandatory safety inspections, Oregon didn’t. Utah has since discontinued their passenger car safety inspection program.
I think a lot of what you describe as being good reasons for safety inspections are regional. Here in the Pacific NW, unless you launch your boat into salt water regularly, rust is unheard of. We also don’t throw salt all over the roads when it snows. So we don’t see trucks fold in half when the frame is rusted through. When Utah was doing safety inspections, visible fluid on rack and pinion bellows was enough to fail an inspection and prevent the driver from registering the car. I think that’s excessive.
As for the guy in the picture above, driving a truck in that condition for that long is just dumb. People afford what they want to afford. We can’t legislate common sense into everyone.
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Ah, combining a finned drum brake with a disc😀
Of course not. But the reality is- that doesn’t stop them. Quite the leap- because I pointed out they ignore the laws, in your eyes I somehow condone it… 
Yeah, a buddy mechanic had some guy come in complaining of noise. Brake rotor pad contact ring completely separated from the hub. Gave him estimate, guy refused and drove off like that. You can’t fix stupid and you can’t eliminate that kind of ignorance by mandating inspections. They just drive without…same with insurance.
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Ive only been to south bend a couple times, once to notra dame and the other to the studebaker museum but the pot holes were pretty bad.
Your statistics are hollow and being handpicked, they are suspect to say the least… Using your two example, Oregon and Utah is like comparing tossing 100-one dollar bill into the air in the forest and tossing those same dollar bill in Times Square on New Year’s Eve and expecting to get everyone back when compared to an Interstate that actually has “real Traffic” every-day, all-day…
That truck could crash and rolled over in Oregon or Utah and not even be noticed for days with so little traffic. It would probably only be considered a “disabled vehicle…”
Interstate I-5 in Oregon is the state’s busiest road and Interstate I-15 is the busiest in Utah… and the traffic on these two main highways is like tossing the money in the forest… Very little risk, they have miles and miles of nothing, connecting distance cities and towns.
It does not even begin to compare to driving a million miles on my state’s busiest Interstate I-95 and the risk goes up astronomically. Like trying to get your money back after tossing in the air in Times Square…
If that truck crashed and rolled over on I-95, it would be a matter of life and death for many, many innocent folks unlucky enough to be in the vicinity…
I cannot even say this is like comparing a million miles of driving in Oregon and Utah with almost any place else id like comparing apples to oranges; it’s more like comparing apples to a volcano…
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That was exactly my point. That for many people who live in Western states, the idea that drivers should be required to have and pay for safety inspections is entirely ridiculous. And the study I read (which was so long ago I can no longer find it 
) shows the truth in that idea. It’s nobody’s ■■■■ business what shape my car is in. I pay for the roads as much as you do and I’m entitled to use them as much as you do. Cars don’t rust out here. Body panels don’t perforate. Mufflers don’t fall off. Keeping my car off the road because I might cause an accident? No thanks. Keeping your car off the road because you might cause an accident? Also, no thanks. I’m guessing there’s a greater chance of someone causing an accident because they’re eating french fries while driving than from the control arm falling off.
Now urban NY or Boston? I don’t know, I’ve never lived there. But if you happen to live in a dense area where rust breaks cars and potholes the size of lunar craters are the norm, I would expect safety inspections to be mandatory, administered fairly, and able to be voted in or out of existence for each locality or county affected.
I drive 38 miles to work, 30 of those miles are on congested interstates of which one 20 mile stretch routinely takes close to an hour. I see collisions on a regular basis. I only wish I could know which were caused by driver inattention and which were caused by mechanical issues that a safety inspection would have found.
I dunno. I’m approaching two million miles mainly in the Midwest and I’ve never had an accident due to mechanical failure. I’ve driven in stop and go traffic with a bad master cylinder. Driven home with metal on metal on the brake pads but you adjust your driving to compensate. And of course I had a surprise one year old tie rod break on the freeway but no accident. Actually I’ve never really had an accident except for the kid that hit me in the parking lot, and a few deer. I just don’t see how safety inspection would matter at all. A lot can change in a year.
Some folks think that laws are the solution to everything but in Minnesota fraud is illegal and that didn’t stop anyone. Might be time to re-think the role of government in a free society and oil up the handcuffs. Or so it seems to me in 2026.
Fraud is illegal everywhere
And it’s not stopping anyone anywhere
Let’s not make this political
Please
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Passing laws to require vehicle inspections, fuel use, and a host of other actions is already political. Time to smell the roses.
@ChrisTheTireWhisperer and @Old-Days-Rick are already ruining this forum
Please let’s not make it any worse
When that happens you’ll complain about how much it costs to put people in jail and keep them there. According to the attached document, it cost about $125,000 per prisoner per year to imprison them in Minnesota. The per capita cost won’t go down with an increase in the prison population. It already costs you more than $1.3 billion per year for all incarceration services.
Ruining the forum? By stating matters of fact and opinion? Discussions are healthy, even if there are opposing viewpoints. We learn so much by having a discussion.
What makes one person’s thoughts “wrong” and another’s ok? Who decides that?
Is the minority opinion always wrong? Is the majority always right?
I’ve been a listener of Cartalk and NPR supporter for over 30 years. I have just much right to be here as anyone else.
The facts I state can be backed up with mathematical formulas. I tried to research braking formulas however it goes way over my head.
I don’t dislike anyone here, I have learned alot here.
I feel it has gotten to the point I can make a statement that any logical person would agree with such as “impaired driving is not ok” and It would be picked apart and deemed wrong!
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Says who? Example
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Oh gezzz, if only we had a highly respected and professionally trained Brake and suspension ENGINEER on the forum that HAS DESIGNED and holds a bunch of patents in the field of BRAKES and suspension that KNOWS and UNDERSTANDS all those mathematical formulas and stuff…
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If that’s your position, then please do what @George_San_Jose1 did . . .
Become a lurker
Observe all you want, but in silence and from the shadows
But please don’t ruin it for everyone else
Show some respect and common sense
This was meant for you @Old-Days-Rick and your #1 fan @ChrisTheTireWhisperer
9 billion lost minus 1 billion prison cost, still gives us a net gain of 8 billion.