Remote smog tests to be done in traffic

Tuesday, April 2, 2002 | 9:04 a.m.

Thousands of area drivers will get a free smog check on their cars this week, courtesy of the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles.

The DMV will conduct remote sensing of vehicle emissions at five locations around the Las Vegas Valley. Sensitive electronic equipment will test the cars as they drive by, then photograph the license plates of vehicles that fail the test.

Drivers with cars that fail the remote test will get a letter asking them to come to the DMV Emissions Test Lab on Sahara Avenue for another test, at no cost, department spokesman Kevin Malone said.

If they fail the second test, the drivers will not be able to renew their automobile registration until the car is repaired and retested, Malone said.

The impact is limited, he said, because cars in the valley have to pass a smog check before yearly registration anyway.

The department expects to test at least 20,000 vehicles over five days in the program, which was mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency. DMV officials said the goal is to help improve the region's air quality.

"The data helps us evaluate the effectiveness of the DMV's emissions program," Jim Parsons, administrator of the department's compliance division, said. "It helps local, state and federal authorities estimate the overall level of vehicle emissions. We also use it to identify specific vehicles which are violating emissions standards."

Ron Smolinski, Clark County Air Quality Management program director, said the information gathered through the testing will help the region in several ways.

It will help enforcement, a key component in maintaining or improving air quality in the valley. The testing also will ultimately give the county program more information about what kinds of pollutants the cars are giving off, and what effect the use of cleaner-burning gasoline has on the air pollution problem, Smolinski said.

The valley is under a federal mandate to control several kinds of air pollution, including carbon monoxide, a potentially dangerous gas produced by gasoline-burning engines. As part of the air pollution program, the county limits gas sales to cleaner formulations from Oct. 1 through March 31.

American Civil Liberties Union attorney Allen Lichtenstein said the public testing of tailpipes does not appear to raise any legal issues because it is done in a public area.