Drive-by emisissions monitors being set up in south east Michigan
The Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) announced that they are going to be setting up drive by emissions test monitors over the next month. The monitors will be situated on highway ramps to measure the emissions of passing vehicles. Like red-light monitors, they will be equipped with cameras to photograph your car if you get a poor rating. If your car is spewing too much bad stuff, they'll send you a letter suggesting that you get your car checked out.
The machines will be out in the open and there will be a sign that tells you right away if you got a good, fair or poor rating. They estimate that only about one percent of cars will get a poor rating, but there will be no mandatory testing or repairs. This is strictly for information purposes and it would be interesting to see how accurate the results are.
[Source: SEMCOG]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Joseph 6:19PM (4/25/2007)
Neat! I wonder what happens if teh car passing by gives off no emissions (an EV)
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adam 7:45PM (4/25/2007)
I wonder how it will judge motorcycles? A typical motorcycle may pollute 20-90 times more than an average car.
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markf 8:09AM (4/26/2007)
" .. they will be equipped with cameras to photos of your car ... "
The Autoblog Green ad says they are loking for new writers. Perhaps some can be hired who actually proofread what they write before posting it.
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Guenther 8:55AM (4/26/2007)
Josef- nothing happens.
Adam- many new bikes have fuel injection and a catalytic converter. Plus they have far lower CO2 emissions.
markf- I suppose you're making a funny.
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valkraider 11:38AM (4/26/2007)
This is fairly ridiculous.
How on earth can they tell what is going on?
How can they deal with things like this:
Wind or Excessively stagnant air. Different engine configurations (is it a diesel VW or a gas VW?). Model year (Is it a 2007 or a 2004?). Is the engine warmed up? Rain? 4cyl or 6cyl or 8cyl engine displacement?
What happens if the air is somewhat still, and a really bad car drives by before a clean one - will the sniffer capture the second due to lingering results from the first?
How will it tell if the vehicle is under load or not?
There are just too many variables that a roadside sniffer can't capture.
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Ale 11:24AM (4/27/2007)
But, in Italy, smog is business for cities...
http://dallapartedichiguida.blogosfere.it/2007/04/zone-a-traffico-limitato-dal-1992-il-business-dei-comuni.html
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