Interesting link. It appears by one of the charts that vehicles have been contributing less to air pollution over the past 20-odd years, but industrial air pollution has been getting significantly worse.
Wondering if you have any stats on these two? Important to this thread’s theme, & maybe I’m missing it, but I don’t see that data in your link.
% of total road-vehicle air pollution in USA caused by pre-1996 models (OBD I & prior)?
% of total air pollution in USA caused by wood burning fireplaces & stoves?
If they upped the ante to $120,000, then I’d be interested … lol …
With elected politicians involved, you never know the conflicts of interest for programs like this. Is it really to remove polluting vehicles from the road? Or is it to allow the dealerships to sell more new cars? If it’s to reduce air pollutions, let’s see the numbers! What % of vehicle air pollution in Calif is caused by OBDI cars and earlier?
No dispute. But the question remains, are there unintended consequences? For example, if car owners feel the emissions-testing requirements have become too much of a burden, will they start voting for politicians who want to curb all emissions testing?
Tell me the specific chart and maybe I can respond. I don’t see any that address your question.
Concerning your OBD question, look at the CO graph in the Criteria Pollutant Trends Show Clean Air Progress section. The green shaded area shows a significant decrease in CO levels since 1990. It is reasonable to assume that as time goes on fewer OBD-I cars are on the road.
Good luck. Everyone seems to admit that the percentage of older cars that require testing is very low and getting lower every year. Not exactly a voting block that will hold much sway over elections…
No dispute that owners of pre-OBD II cars, not enough of them, don’t hold enough votes. But the OBD II car owners do. Especially the ones that have been trapped by ambiguous incomplete emissions system monitors, and when they ask their shop tech what to do, registration about to expire, are given the advice “just drive some more”.
I don’t really have a lot of compassion for people who keep taking advice from questionable sources and expecting a different result or those who plead ignorance for that matter. If I went to the town hall to register my vehicle, the place always seemed to be closed and some guy standing there told me- just keep coming back and eventually they will be open. If I complained about not being able to register my vehicle, would that be acceptable?
If the only place I could renew my vehicle’s registration never seemed to be open, never posted its operating hours, and I couldn’t accomplish it by mail, yes, that’s definitely something I’d politely complain about. I’m presuming the local town council posts it’s public meeting agenda well in advance, same thing.
lol … you seem to hold a very strong opinion on indoor smoking OMG. Maybe you can offer up an idea for this problem: Neighbor parking car occasionally blocks my driveway. I’ve complained several times, otherwise seems to be an ok neighbor, so asked why he continues to do this when he knows it bother me? Response: “I did it b/c I didn’t think you’d catch me”.
I have the same opinion. Keep that crap away from me. Banning smoking in public areas is by far the BEST law ever passed in the past 50 years. More than once over the years I’ve put a persons cigarette out in the beer or coffee they were drinking. Smoke at home, but NOT in public.
The first half is appropriate, the second is not. If you tell the guy specific consequences, he will know who did it or will blame you when it happens even if you didn’t do it. I’d probably think it too, but discretion is almost always the best course.
The point of the analogy is to highlight just how much one polluter can affect the greater majority. Back when cigarette smoking was prevalent, it was hardly noticeable. Same is true for cars. Now, if an oil burner or gas fuming car goes by, it is quite noticeable. It highlights the small percentage causing the most harm argument that almost everyone can relate to.
That being said, I still enjoy the occasional whiff of partially burned hydrocarbons from a vintage musclecar…
I enjoy hearing OMG’s straightforward no-holds-barred opinion on the matter. But if I did that here in the San Jose area I expect by the next morning, likely 5:30 am, I’ve have law enforcement at my door.
I doubt it is a major pollution source, rarely more than 20 minutes of driving, and obd I cars are such a small minority of cars on the road; but those here who concur with the philosophy that any add’l pollution source at all is bad and must be prevented, then seems to me that would also have to include treadmill testing. I’d guess the more major air pollution source caused by emissions testing is obd II cars (which comprise the vast majority of cars on the road), those owner’s driving for hundreds, maybe thousands of miles, trying to get one of the readiness monitor tests to complete.
