Did You Fail The Mass Inspection? And Why?????

8 minutes for me today

 

Massachusetts isn't turning into anything. I honestly think Massachusetts is a political hellhole. All they want to do is make money by any means possible...

I would normally blame special-interest groups and lobbyists, but what the article you posted a link to seems to describe the exact opposite. For example, Pennsylvania is a beer enthusiast's nightmare. The sale of alcohol has been strictly controlled by the state (er, Commonwealth) government since Prohibition was repealed in 1933. The sales of hard liquor (vodka, whiskey, scotch, etc) is handled exclusively by the state, through an antiquated state store system. The city of Chicago has more privately-owned liquor stores than the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has state-run liquor stores in the entire damn state! I do not drink much hard liquor or wine, but as a barback at a restaurant/bar/music venue, one of my jobs is to pick up booze for my place of employment. As such, I deal with the state stores on a weekly basis. The employees are generally very nice (though every once in a while, you encounter an employee who is not a jerk, but just a total moron), but their hands are tied by an antiquated and bureaucratic system. Political affiliation DOES NOT matter here. I am NOT trying to start a debate. This is just about politics in general.

Almost 90 years after prohibition ended, grocery stores have finally started selling beer, and more recently, wine; However, it is still more convenient to buy beer at a licensed "beer distributors." The problem with beer sales in Pennsylvania is not with the government wanting to make money, or even with average citizens who vote for the wrong people. The problem in Pennsylvania is that owners of huge beer warehouses have had a monopoly for so long that they can't stomach the idea of grocery stores and gas stations competing with them. They hire lobbyists and donate heavily to the most influential politicians, and in exchange for the money and votes, the politicians tilt things in their favor.

EXAMPLE WITHIN AN EXAMPLE: Grocery stores selling beer have to get a special license that technically makes them a bar; Beer cannot be purchased at the normal checkout lines, and regular groceries cannot be purchased in the beer area. With the huge beer stores, if you go there enough, the owner and employees recognize you as a regular customer and stop carding you because they know you are over 21. By state law, employees of the grocery store "beer gardens" have absolutely no discretion. The customer could be a friend they've known for years, but it doesn't matter; they have to scan their ID every fucking time. This has succeeded in pissing off a lot of elderly customers. Even more annoying is that you are only allowed to buy 12 bottles of beer (two 6-packs or one 12-pack) and/or a certain amount of wine in one transaction. You have to bring your purchase out to your vehicle, then come back inside and get in line if you want to buy more; Then the process starts again! It does not matter if you were just in there minutes earlier and the cashier knows you are of legal age to be purchasing alcohol. They have to scan your license again!

The best part is that the employees hate this system as much as the customers, and realize what a pain in the ass it is. If you want to purchase more than 12 bottles of beer or however many fluid ounces of wine, at some grocery stores they will just let you bring your first purchase outside the beer garden (not making you go all the way out to your vehicle or even outside the store), and then come back for more. One grocery store in my area, which I will not name because I don't want them to get busted, ignores the law requiring customers to bring their initial purchases outside, and lets them ring up as many purchases as you would like! You still have to give them your ID for every purchase, but their willingness to follow the spirit of the law instead of the letter of the law makes this less annoying...

This is not about public safety! It's about making it so obnoxious to purchase beer at the grocery store that people will flock to the beer warehouses. However, one of my prayers has been answered...

It used to be that you had to purchase beer by the case at these distributors (24 pack for most; 12 for a few brands). Most people don't want a case for personal consumption. Just recently, a law was passed that allows these place to sell beer by the 6-pack!

That's an example of special-interest groups influencing the government to do things their way...

 

The OP's included article makes it seem like the state just wants to make more money. If a vehicle has a rusted frame (what vehicle is known for that? HINT: A lot of people on this site drive 'em ), or has some sort of major defect that makes it unsafe to either the driver or other motorists and pedestrians, then by all means it should fail inspection and not be allowed back on public roads until the problem is fixed. Major problems in my opinion include brakes, tires, airbags, seatbelts, structural integrity, and lights. However, if a vehicle has a front license plate that is slightly off-center, who cares? If somebody's otherwise safe and well-maintained vehicle has one burned-out headlight or taillight that they can't afford to replace at the moment, who cares? Seriously!

What I meant by saying this is the opposite of the Pennsylvania alcohol situation is that the people who do the inspections are advocating for stricter laws in order to make more money; The state is forcing garages, even those that do it by the book, to buy these new machines that cost as much as a decent used vehicle!

 

Damn you are one serious thought MoFo I dig it

 

It's also worth noting that all of the most desirable states to live in require statewide emissions testing

Was that directed at me..?

Thanks, uh...I think...

Honestly, I shouldn't complain because I am OCD about taking care of my truck and it has never even come close to failing inspection; My biggest gripe, in Pennsylvania at least, is that emissions testing and safety inspections are done by the very places that make money by fixing vehicles (garages, dealerships, etc), and dishonest is rampant. Honestly, I think it's a conflict of interest for the people who make money fixing vehicles to perform emissions testing and safety inspections. My dad feels the same way. Luckily, we have an honest mechanic. My second biggest gripe is the inconvenience of having to make an appointment, and then having to leave my truck with the mechanic or dealer for pretty much an entire day. I prefer to use my dad's mechanic, but recently I've been using my local Toyota dealer again because they're closer to my work, and provide a free loaner vehicle for 24 hours.

The other thing is that it has turned into a cash-cow for law enforcement agencies across the state. Luckily, this only applies to commercial vehicles (mostly dump trucks, huge box trucks, 18-wheelers, and other large commercial vehicles that typically require a CDL to drive). They set up random DOT checkpoints, and all commercial trucks are required to stop. Various law enforcement agencies (local police and the Pennsylvania State Police) have been sending their officers to "DOT school," where they receive extensive training in doing these roadside truck inspections. I do not blame the cops at all, as they are only doing their job. I also think it is very important to keep potentially unsafe vehicles off the road, and fine violators as an incentive to fix their trucks and don't do it again.

The problem starts when various jurisdictions become greedy, which is inevitable. They care more about making a percentage of violations they hand out. Just continue reading...

There's this guy I know who I run into at car shows from time to time. He shows his custom Ford F350 dually, and he has been making a living as a truck driver for years. He is OCD about safety, always keeps his truck in perfect condition, and has no sympathy for people who get busted for various violations...

However, he told me just last Saturday at the Vargo Dragway Reunion car show, that cops will literally create their own violations if they can't find preexisting issues with the vehicles being inspected. He told me that on one occasion, he saw a cop who inspecting his semi actually reach underneath the truck and rip out wires, then write him a ticket for the so-called "violation." What's even more obnoxious is that this guy did not mouth off or otherwise show disrespect to the cop. The police are often under so much pressure to meet a quote and generate revenue for their jurisdiction that honesty an integrity go right out the window...

DOT checkpoints have become such an epidemic in my area that a was created for the sole purpose of warning drivers about them...

 

Yes it was nice read

 

I would also like to mention that I have been pulled over twice in the nearly 7 years I've had my driver's license. The first time was for driving 43 MPH in a 25 MPH zone (fought the ticket and got it substantially reduced, with no points on my license), and the second time was for making a left turn and blowing a notoriously long red light in the process, at a confusing 3-way intersection (got off with a written warning because I was so polite to the cop). Both traffic stops were at night, and one of the first things the cop did was shine his flashlight on my inspection stickers (located in the lower left corner of the windshield in PA). In both cases, my inspection stickers were valid.

 

i have two relatives that left Ma 15 years ago for florida due to things you mentioned plus more. They literally won't come up here even if its just to visit.

 

My boss wasn't so lucky. She lived for many years in Nebraska, which does not require inspections, from the age of about 13 when she moved there with her family, until she finished college and moved out on her own in her early 20s. She also does not have any interest whatsoever in cars and trucks, and seeks advice from her automotively-inclined friends like me when she needs it. Since she's lived in Pennsylvania, she's never never had a vehicle of her own. She has a vehicle provided by the owners of the bar she manages, which is titled to their company, and she is covered under the company insurance policy. With the exception of insurance, she pays for stuff like routine maintenance herself. Unfortunately, the concept of annual inspections was completely foreign to her. She got the oil changed every 3,000 miles and had the vehicle thoroughly looked over by her trusted mechanic whenever it went for routine maintenance. However, it never occurred to her what those two little stickers in the lower left corner of the windshield were for.

This happened in December 2014. The vehicle, a 2005 Honda Element, had only 80K miles or so on it at the time and was in what I would consider to be near-mint condition (TRANSLATION: There was nothing wrong with the vehicle and it was not unsafe in any way; the inspection stickers were just expired). My boss did not understand what a state inspection was, and the stickers expired in September 2014. Somehow, even I didn't notice this! I didn't even notice it on December 23rd, 2014; On this day, my boss and the owner of the bar were busy doing something, and it suddenly occurred to them that the Element was overdue for an oil change; Since they were busy, I was tasked with driving the Element to the local express lube for an oil change. I didn't notice the expired inspection sticker, and if the grease monkeys noticed it while changing the oil, they didn't say anything.

It should also point out that on that same day (December 23rd), my boss finally went to the DMV to exchange her Nebraska driver's license for a Pennsylvania license. I drove her there since her out-of-state license had been expired for almost a month. Luckily, Pennsylvania has a 6-month grace period for the transfer of expired out-of-state driver's licenses. If your license is expired more than 6 months, you have to start from scratch, get a Pennsylvania learner's permit, and take the necessary written and driving tests. My boss's license was not suspended or anything, just expired. All she had to do was show her birth certificate and some other paperwork, and take a vision test; Less than an hour after arriving at the DMV, my boss got her Pennsylvania license!

The day after my boss got her Pennsylvania license, she was driving about 15-20 minutes from her home in another county. A cop pulls up beside her at a red light, happens to notice the expired inspection sticker, and tells her to pull over (no lights or siren). THANK GOD my boss had finally gotten her license transferred; I don't even want to think about what could have happened if she got pulled over driving a vehicle with expired inspection stickers, on an expired out-of-state driver's license. The cop tells her that he would have cut her a break if the vehicle was newer, since she'd broken absolutely no other laws, and he'd pulled her over solely for the expired inspection stickers; Unfortunately, he said, he had no choice but to write a ticket for expired inspection since the vehicle was almost 10 years old (2005 Honda Element; this was December 2014) and the stickers had been expired for three months. WTF?!?! What does the age of the vehicle have to do with it? It's not like it's some 25-year old heap that shouldn't be on the road; That Element to this day is in mint condition! Also keep in mind that this was Christmas Eve! My boss was very polite, explained that she'd just moved from a state that didn't require inspections, and wasn't familiar with the laws in PA. She still got a $128 ticket! Didn't realize the Grinch and Ebeneezer Scrooge moonlighted as cops...

The owner of the bar paid the ticket since it was her car, and my boss and I still joke to this day about how lucky she was that she'd transferred her license the previous day.

The Element was subsequently taken to the mechanic right after the holidays, and passed inspection with flying colors!

 

What I'm trying to say is that it's just another thing that allows the allows local townships to rake in mass quantities of cash...

If a cop pulls over a genuinely unsafe piece of shit with expired inspection stickers, then the driver deserves that citation! People who have a vehicle that is just fine, but merely forgot to get their vehicle inspected because of their busy schedule, don't deserve a ticket that in some cases can cost as much as a monthly car payment...

 

@Unchained 5150

I'll end with this...

One time right before Christmas in 2016, I hung out with my friends and coworkers at the bar in Doylestown where I work, and I eventually ended up at the nearby apartment of another friend. Over the course of that evening, I had two beers and a glass of wine. By the time I got in my truck to go home, I was sober.

NOTE: I'm HUGE! I'm 6 feet tall, and weighed over 260 pounds at the time. Earlier that year (in September), and don't worry I left the Tacoma at home and took an Uber back home that night, I consumed a flight of tequila (equivalent to 5 or 6 shots) in less than 10 minutes; Over the course of that night, I also drank 5 or 6 pint-sized beers and a car bomb. I ended up passing out on the front steps...

Forgot to mention my friend's band was performing at the bar where I work so that's where I was drinking; As an employee, I am universally well-liked by all my coworkers including the bouncers. At any other bar, the bartender would have flagged me and bouncers would have kicked me out. The head bouncer walked me up the steps to the sidewalk, and sat with me on the bench until my Uber showed up...

The bouncers told me that if more drunks were as well-behaved as I was, they'd be out of the job...

I woke up the next morning without so much as a hangover, and my neighbor helped me install a new stereo and backup camera in my Taco.

TRANSLATION: Two beers and a glass of wine over the course of 2 or 3 hours? A guy of my size and weight is going to be SOBER.

I got the in Tacoma, put Meat Loaf on, and headed out of town jamming to Bat out of Hell. While on South Main Street, I saw a marked Chevy Tahoe of the Central Bucks Regional Police make a left turn from a side street and get behind me. I thought nothing of it, but it didn't hurt to be cautious; I made sure I was doing the speed limit (25 MPH in this case) and kept glancing in my rear view mirror.

The only thing I can think that might have attracted that cop's attention is that my truck didn't technically have a title at the time. My dad and I had just gone to a local notary and he had transferred the title to me early that month. I had a temporary registration slip from the notary in the glovebox, but the new title with my name on it didn't arrive in the mail until a couple weeks later. The insurance was also totally in my name. I have no idea what a run of my license plate would have brought up.

In addition to that, I'd been in a minor fender bender right after Thanksgiving. My front bumper was pushed in on the left side, my grille was loose, and my left headlight was pointed down A LOT. There was no mechanical damage, and the only reason my truck was still damaged was because my body guy was swamped and I couldn't get it in for repairs until after Christmas.



The headlight still worked, though. I'd just gotten truck inspected in October 2016, so my inspection was good. The registration was good until August 2017. I've never been arrested and I had a clean record. I have no idea what got that cop's attention, but the next thing I knew this cop was riding my ass. He was tailgating me so closely that if he'd seen another vehicle following me as closely as he was, he would have pulled that vehicle over.

Anxiety immediately started to set in. My lights were on, I was going the speed limit, and I wasn't swerving or doing anything "DUI-like." Everything on my truck was legal and up to date. The first thing I thought was "what the hell did I do wrong?" I also a bit worried because even though I was sober, I was not in the mood to answer questions about what I'd had to drink that night, or do any field sobriety tests. The Tahoe followed me for what seemed like any eternity, and then abruptly turned right into a housing development. I drove home without incident.

I have no problem with the police whatsoever. While I was driving home from my pizza delivery job in October 2015, my Tacoma was hit by a drunk driver. I am glad that the police are out there patrolling, and I hope they serve up a nice steaming dish of DUI justice to someone who deserves it. However, drunk drivers and the police officers who are patrolling for them, are the two biggest reasons I hate driving late at night. I've been hit by a drunk driver while driving at night, and I definitely do not want to go through that again. As a barback at a restaurant, it is inevitable that I often drive home late at night. When I go out drinking, I make plans in advance to get home safely and never drive drunk. When I'm coming home from work, however, I just want to enjoy my drive home in peace. I actually subscribe to a DUI checkpoint website that tells me where all the checkpoints in my area are, so I can avoid them...

 

Just had a friend get failed in Worcester for aftermarket lights made by Spyder. I will find out which place he went to.

 

Cancel that he thought it was a funny joke he passed

 

Exactly what I did I hit him upside his head

 

Made me shit bricks.... These chinese headlights are stuck in my chinese grill realllll good

 

I have a fogged front light and a cracked rear tail and passed.

They let me pass on EX wife Sienna van with its non factory tint since it was passed for 10 years that way

Passed my 95 F350 4x4 CCLB 7.3 turbo with 4 in lift and 35s with a barely working e brake. Guy really liked my truck too.

 

Sweet sounds like it was a bunch of hype in the beginning. I do know of 2 people that failed in my town. One for his wheels sticking out like 4 inches past his fenders, and one for extremely dark tails

 

You don't like vehicle inspections? Move to Florida or South Carolina! All they care about is that it's registered and insured!

I sometimes ask myself why I don't leave the Uncommonwealth of Pennsylvania. Honestly, it's because of family and friends, and the close proximity to places like the Jersey Shore, the Poconos, the Carlisle Fairgrounds, DC, and NYC.

 

The government seems to get a hard-on from clamping down on the two things that bring Americans the most pleasure...

Cars and trucks, and alcohol!