CA smog news - longish

["Luke M. Kowalski" <interfaces@domain.elided>]

Scroll on if you do not live in CA, or if you like the government
monitoring what you do and where you do it (it is your right).

thx, luke, Belmont, CA (Ex Wroclaw, Poland, a nasty soviet experiment
in big government)-  74 Spider

Forwarded from LeoT, a righteous cat who keeps tabs on this stuff...

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EMAIL #7  Remote Sensing

The 2001 legislative is coming to a close. The good news is that SB42 
is
still intact. 66-73s are still exempt from their Biennial Smog Check
but not from having the smog equipment on the vehicle.

However, Remote Sensing is in the Contract Bid Stage. It is 
solicitation
# 49696 from the State of California. Remote Sensing is nothing more
than a laser beam across the freeway on ramp. They sniff your exhaust
and take a picture of your license plate. If you are outside the remote
sensing cut points they call you in for a smog check. It is a $500 fine
if you dont show.

This specification went out for bid in June 2001 and is due back
September 10, 2001. At that time contract award is scheduled.

If you think SB42 will protect your modified vehicle, you are WRONG. No
vehicle is exempt from Remote Sensing. If Remote Sensing is built, your
55-57 Chevy/TBIRD, 60s impalas, Mustangs, Camaros, even street rods are
in jeopardy. You can be called in for a smog check..

Will California do that? That is undetermined at this point. However 
the
pressure must be kept on the legislature, California Air Resources and
Bureau of Automotive Repairs to keep that from happening. The following
are addresses to write to:

Dr. Alan C. Lloyd
California Air Resources Board
1001 "I" Street
P.O. Box 2815
Sacramento, CA 95812
Phone:(916) 322-2990
FAX:(916) 445-5025

Governor Gray Davis
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 445-2841
FAX: (916) 445-4633

California Inspection & Maintenance Review Committee
915 L Street, Suite 1435
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 322-8181
FAX: (916) 445-7124

Doug Laue
Chief of the Bureau of Automotive Repair
10220 Systems Parkway #D
Sacramento, CA
(916)255-4200

Kathleen Connell
California State Controller
P.O. Box 942850
Sacramento, California 94250-5872
(916) 445-2636


Find your legislator: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html


There are several problems with this Remote Sensing request for quote:

1. The license plate reader accuracy specification is only 50% -- page
23 of On Road Emissions Measurement System  (OREMS) Specification 
Solicitation #49696 Version  That means (flipping a coin)  Heads you
were there, Tails You were there. This specification has a 50% false
fail rate built in. The specification is out for bid now and is due 
back
on September 12, 2001. To highlight how important it is to stop this
system from being built with a 50% false fail rate built into the
contract, a superior court judge just threw out 300 tickets for Red
Light photo enforcement because the license plates could not be read.
2. Freeways with Sound Walls will tend to trap air pollution from
vehicles and raise the ambient level of Hydrocarbons, Carbon Monoxide
and NOx. The specification does not account for that adequately.
3. Freeways with high crosswind and a gross polluter on the freeway 
next
to the Remote Sensing System will result in the exhaust from the gross
polluter mixing in with your exhaust and causing you to fail the Remote
Sensing Test. Then you might get tagged for someone elses exhaust. The
specification does not adequately account for this condition.
4. Some freeways have shrubs. Some do not. Shrubbery will absorb
pollution. The system specification does not address this issue.
5. In a two-lane on ramp, it is difficult for the laser beam to 
separate
the exhaust from two cars entering in parallel or staggered. This is
particularly true if a 55-foot semi tractor and trailer passed through
before you. The wind turbulence caused by a semi makes the exhaust
pattern unpredictable.
6. The specification does not address what to do with diesel vehicles,
alternate fuel vehicles (Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), propane or
electric/hybrid electric), or motorcycles. I am requesting vendor
Engineering Specification Sheets for the detector from Bureau of
Automotive repairs.
7. Since the process starts when a vehicle breaks the laser beam and
ends when vehicle exits the laser beam unique measurement of both
vehicles exhaust is a very difficult problem as well as tying it to the
correct license plate. This will contribute to inaccuracy of the 
system.

8. It is my understanding that 3 wheel motorcycles have an exemption as
a specially constructed vehicle because they are custom built. With
remote sensing the motorcycle exemption would go out the window.
9. Remote Sensing will not handle rain/moisture. The vehicle data for
cars going through in rain is invalidated.
10. If Remote Sensing is placed at metered on ramps, any measurements
taken while the metered on-ramps are operating is questionable.
11. The specification does address what to do with non-California
Jurisdiction License Plates (example  military and Oregon, Nevada,
Arizona)
12. The system will not be able to see the vehicle license plate for a
passenger or light truck vehicle that is towing a trailer. It cant
handle a vehicle with a license plate in the rear window or a license
plate on the tow frame of a tow truck.
13. The specification does not handle Semi-Tractor Trailers.
14. Remote Sensing was not required by California Air Resources Board 
as
a condition of sale in California because it did not exist until about
1990, therefore it is illegal to require it of fleet vehicle that 
didnt
go through it.

I could go on, but the point is IT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE TO TAG THE WRONG
CAR --- PERIOD. I am therefore asking each one of you to contact your
legislator http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html, Governor   Gray
Davis, CARB, BAR and the California State Controller (Kathleen Connell)
and tell them not to fund California Solicitation #49696 on Remote
Sensing.

I have heard projections of as high as $800,000 per system. If 10 are
bought that is $8 million. If 100 are bought that is $80,000,000. It is
your tax money for a system that is questionable at best.
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