RICHMOND, Va. -- White vans that are occasionally spotted along the entrance ramps of northern Virginia highways and other roads are on a mission.

The vans are checking for vehicle emissions violators using remote sensing devices.

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality officially launched the enforcement program this month. Officials said emissions violators could receive a letter in the mail from the state warning them to have their cars checked and fixed, or pay a fine



http://www.nbc4.com/news/9517821/detail.html


does that mean modding our cars will be trouble? all this global warming stuff is really getting bad. I hope VA/MD emission laws don't change too much

 

I would imagine if you have the cat off you might get a ticket. Interesting to be doing this in VA. Here in LA, where we would need it, they would probably find too many cars to deal with.

 

this global warming stuff is getting bad? supposedly, the great minds behind these theories are actually saying that it's already too late, we've already effed ourselves. they say that even if we 100% stopped burning fossile fuels today, the damage is already done to the extent that we're already going to cook. it's just a matter of how soon, and so the best we can hope for at this point is to prolong the inevitable for as long as possible.

I know, this is not the point of this thread. I just wanted to throw that out there, because I love to spread pessimism every chance I get! mwahahaha!

 

intresting, but i gotta hi-flow DOT approved cat, so i should be fiine... if they change it that is.

and i dont think global warming will hit our generation so to say (yes it will get hotter), but i think we will survive through it... i hope =\

 

we'll, I'm not saying we will personally bake, but the Earth, so they say, has been irreversibly doomed to overheat soon enough.

I personally subscribe to the theory that Earth is still emerging from the last ice age, and naturally must get hotter before it gets cooler. that said, I still advocate for the conservation of resources and the reduction of greenhouse gasses because I do think we're killing the planet, but in a myriad of other ways.

 

gettin deep in here =]

 

yeah, back on topic, I'll be really sad if I start seeing these mystery mobiles on the highway. thanks for the heads up, and I'll definitely keep an eye out for them.

I wonder though, how can they tell if you have modifications really? I mean, the way I understand it is that they use whatever kind of sensor to detect the level of emissions behind your car or something as you drive past, but there could be a million things that would throw that off. for example, it might be really windy and it would blow away too fast, or you could be following a semi and the air could already be filled with crap when you roll through. and as far as that goes, how would they account for the different levels of emissions produced by different types of vehicles? surely some big diesel pickup truck (or anything more than a few years old, really) is going to produce more than my tC even if I did rip the cat out.

so not only does it seem not very feasible to accurately measure the emissions of a moving car from the side of the road, but it also seems quite unfair that a new ULEV-II car would ideally fail because of aftermarket parts while some fat a$$ in a Hummer is held to lesser standards. [/rant]

 

haha yeah, I don't know how they are planning to measure our emissions, however I sure hope we don't turn into another California

 

I wonder if it checks for sound also.. alot of harleys would probably set off some false alarms.. haha