State Officials Plan Push to Corral Smoking Vehicles

Tuesday, May 14, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

The Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety is plugging a state smog line, 486-4582, which allows motorists to phone in complaints about smoking vehicles.

The state Bureau of Enforcement has received 2,500 complaints on the line so far this year, compared with 1,500 for all of 1995.

A law enacted by the Nevada Legislature allows the state to suspend registrations for failing to comply with motor vehicle emissions regulations. If a vehicle with a suspended registration is stopped by law enforcement officials, it can be towed and impounded.

DMV spokeswoman Claudia Collins said the department is getting serious about removing registrations for vehicles in non-compliance.

The program targets the 10 percent of the vehicles that create 70 percent of Nevada's auto emissions problems.

Under the program, the Bureau of Enforcement fields complaints from the toll-free hot line and contacts the vehicle's owner. A letter is sent requesting the owner repair the vehicle and bring it into compliance with state regulations within 10 days.

A repeat complaint triggers a certified letter, requiring the owner to bring the vehicle to the state's Emission Control Laboratory for an emission test.

"If the owner fails to respond in 30 days, the registration can be suspended," Collins said. "If the vehicle is then stopped by law enforcement, it can be towed and impounded.

"We're cracking down," Collins said. "We can get the out-of-state people, too."

Michael Naylor, director of the Clark County Air Pollution Control Division, said the state law targets the smoke and soot that vehicles inject into the air, contributing to the haze problem in the Las Vegas Valley.