Leave me a noteRoute to Soliman Valdez's team 10 report
During this week's search, I started at the Yahoo homepage and went into the Usenet newsgroups. One article that I found rather interesting was about the Smog laws in Missouri. As you may know, car emissions are a big factor in the depletion of the ozone layer. Keeping this in mind, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) passed the Clean Air Act in 1990 which stated that automobiles had to pass a smog/emissions test yearly to cut down on the noxious pollutants. In many of the major cities across the United States (California for example) it has slowly reduced the smog content.
One interesting note within this article was about how the state of Missouri has stated that smog tests for automobiles that were produced prior to 1972 was not necessary due to the fact that those cars did not come equipped with certain emission reducing features (such as a catalytic converter). If the car was not designed with these features then it would not be possible to find any kind of parts (genuine or after-market) to install which would cut the HC's (hydro-carbons or unburned fuel) and CO (carbon monoxide) emissions. Furthermore, the amount of cars which date back that far that are in operation at this time is so few that I'm sure it would not pose a vital problem to the situation.
The article goes on further to talk about the difference it makes where the car is licensed registered. If for example the car is registered within a rural area then it is not required to comply with emission tests. On the other hand if the car is registered in a major metropolitan area then the test is absolutely necessary.
In my opinion it does not matter where the car is registered or not because regardless of where it is parked each night the person driving the car travels all over, rural or big city. I think that if the car is registered (production date of car prior to `72)then it should have to pass an emissions test yearly.
As for the implications for traffic psychology, I think that by making this requirement clear across the board, it would prevent any driver from feeling exempt from any kind of law. The law is for everyone, not just for those who live in big cities, therefore everyone should have to comply with them. I think that in the long run it would also serve in the best interest for all people that emissions be controlled because after all, the results of this increasing situation could result in the destruction of the only home we know, our planet.