Subject:
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Re: Cra pollution[ was: Re: Conversation w/ a LEGO Rep]
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Sun, 29 Aug 1999 01:41:02 GMT
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Viewed:
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1757 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, John DiRienzo writes:
> Not like you seem to think. First, catalytic convertors have been
> required for over 20 years (is that what you mean by a few?).
OK. I'm impressed. By a 'few' I meant that the requirement was introduced
sometime during the 1990s - but I'm not sure when. Does sound like
you are way ahead of Europe in that respect. Don't think most of us
had even heard of catalytic converters 20 years ago. And I have
to admit I think they only appeared here that soon because the European
Community forced it on us. At the time we had a Conservative
Government and in the UK the Conservatives don't particularly care
about environmental issues - so most of the environmental legislation
at that time came from Europe.
> Second many
> states have emissions tests that are quite strict, and have had those for
> years. Finally, we have had a luxury tax and a gas guzzler tax that • applies
> to luxury cars with V8 or bigger cars, or even cars that are unnecessarily
> expensive, even if they do OK environmentally. The fact that we aren't
> taxed as harshly as you in all walks of life makes it possible for a high
> percentage of the people here to afford to drive, even with all these auto
> taxes, whereas your people can't afford a vehicle after paying their
> numerous (and high) taxes.
That's not really true. The vast majority of households here have a car -
can't remember the exact figures but I think it's something like 18ish
million cars out of a population approaching 60 million.
So what is the typical miles per gallon you get? And how far does a
typical US car owner drive per year? (For UK: between 10000 and 12000 miles).
> There are politicains who are going way too far (in most American's
> opinions) regarding raising the cost of driving and owning vehicles. Such
> as, if your car doesn't pass the emission test, it becomes state • property -
> do they do that anywhere else?
Hmmm - is that if it doesn't pass when you actually take it in
to the garage for a scheduled
check (in which case it would be very unreasonable), or if you get stopped
by
the police driving a badly polluting car?
In the UK, if a car fails its MOT for any reason (including emissions test)
then it won't get an MOT certificate until you've had the problem fixed
and the car has been retested. Without an MOT certificate you can't
drive the car. There's no question of your car being taken away
though.
The closest we've come to what you've described is that some
parts of the country have recently become a lot stricter about car
tax. (An annual tax of about $200 per car). If your car is not
displaying a tax certificate, it may now get towed away. You'll
be given a period of time in which to pay the tax and get your
car back - if you don't pay in that time, the car will get scrapped.
It's still only an experiment - but I expect it will become permanent.
The car tax incidently serves as an extra 'safety' check. You can't
actually pay the tax and get your certificate unless at the time you
pay it, you produce an up-to-date MOT certificate and insurance
certificate.
Simon
http://www.SimonRobinson.com
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