I hate these programs. It's not that I'm anti-green, I'm more of the practical type. Hear me out.
I just spent a few days in environmentally-conscious Vancouver. It made me think about pollution, especially the air type as downtown Vancouver is crawling with cars and trucks – no different really from any other major metropolitan area.
AirCare is BC's clean air emissions control program which started in 1992. Like Ontario's Drive Clean program, it requires that cars from a set model year and older be tested on a regular basis. In BC, 1991 MY and prior must be tested every year at a cost of roughly $25 and 1992 MY and later, every two years for about $45.
Here's the catch:
All cars need only to meet emissions standards that were established when the car was originally built. Therefore, Mr I'm-green-'cause-I-drive-a-24-year-old-Aries can pollute all they want so long as it's not more than what was considered OK in 1987. Newsflash: That well-maintained Aries K pollutes five to ten times more than a two-year old Hyundai Accent.
And here's the fun part. Because BC's climate is so fair, cars tend to last longer, much longer. I've been to Vancouver, Prince George and Victoria a few times and I always find some old gems (to me...) such as late-70s Toyota Corollas, early-80's Honda Civics and even the occasional Subaru Brat. This is only a sample of the wonderfully old and highly polluting cars on the road in BC. It is safe to say that BC's car park is not one of the most recent in the country.
Moving further east to Ontario and Quebec where the environment and weather patterns are far less jovial and kind, you'll find the average age of daily-driven cars to be younger. This is is especially true in Quebec where the excessive use of road salt gnaws relentlessly away at steel.
Ontario, as mentioned, does have mandatory emissions testing, but there is no such thing in La Belle Province. Of the great many good reasons for the absence of this get-up, we find costs (to the consumer and the government), questionable garage behaviour and, most importantly of all, the fact that no significant environmental improvements have been measured in areas where these programs are in place.
It is a well-studied fact that most cars’ (especially from the last 5-6 years) on-board diagnostics and emission controls are superior and more advanced than what a garage may have in hand to test your car.
It is therefore clear to me what needs to be done in BC in order to preserve its pristine “green” appearance: salt the crap out of the city in the winter and force citizens to buy newer cars, thus scrapping the old ones and making a real dent in emissions.
I just spent a few days in environmentally-conscious Vancouver. It made me think about pollution, especially the air type as downtown Vancouver is crawling with cars and trucks – no different really from any other major metropolitan area.
AirCare is BC's clean air emissions control program which started in 1992. Like Ontario's Drive Clean program, it requires that cars from a set model year and older be tested on a regular basis. In BC, 1991 MY and prior must be tested every year at a cost of roughly $25 and 1992 MY and later, every two years for about $45.
Here's the catch:
All cars need only to meet emissions standards that were established when the car was originally built. Therefore, Mr I'm-green-'cause-I-drive-a-24-year-old-Aries can pollute all they want so long as it's not more than what was considered OK in 1987. Newsflash: That well-maintained Aries K pollutes five to ten times more than a two-year old Hyundai Accent.
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| Photo: Honda |
And here's the fun part. Because BC's climate is so fair, cars tend to last longer, much longer. I've been to Vancouver, Prince George and Victoria a few times and I always find some old gems (to me...) such as late-70s Toyota Corollas, early-80's Honda Civics and even the occasional Subaru Brat. This is only a sample of the wonderfully old and highly polluting cars on the road in BC. It is safe to say that BC's car park is not one of the most recent in the country.
Moving further east to Ontario and Quebec where the environment and weather patterns are far less jovial and kind, you'll find the average age of daily-driven cars to be younger. This is is especially true in Quebec where the excessive use of road salt gnaws relentlessly away at steel.
Ontario, as mentioned, does have mandatory emissions testing, but there is no such thing in La Belle Province. Of the great many good reasons for the absence of this get-up, we find costs (to the consumer and the government), questionable garage behaviour and, most importantly of all, the fact that no significant environmental improvements have been measured in areas where these programs are in place.
It is a well-studied fact that most cars’ (especially from the last 5-6 years) on-board diagnostics and emission controls are superior and more advanced than what a garage may have in hand to test your car.
It is therefore clear to me what needs to be done in BC in order to preserve its pristine “green” appearance: salt the crap out of the city in the winter and force citizens to buy newer cars, thus scrapping the old ones and making a real dent in emissions.